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Thoughts on getting broadheads insanely sharp?

I've never shot for the heart; never made sense to me; why crowd the shoulder and risk lack of penetration? Ultimately, hypoxia/anoxia puts your deer down. Quickest way to do that is a bilateral pneumo/hemothorax, preferably a passthrough. It really doesn't take that much to get full penetration on deer; I've used trad tackle from 65 to 48 lbs and heavy, 11-12 grains/lb arrows, usually tapered cedar, and always with 2 blade COC broadheads, mainly because they are the easiest for me to get sharp. Deer ribs offer little resistance to arrows; lungs even less. Probably why, in my first season of saddlehunting, I'm setting up pretty low...8-12 feet. Don't like the shot angle when I get higher. That may change if I keep getting busted, but after decades of groundhunting, habits are hard to break.
 
paradocs said:
I've never shot for the heart; never made sense to me; why crowd the shoulder and risk lack of penetration? Ultimately, hypoxia/anoxia puts your deer down. Quickest way to do that is a bilateral pneumo/hemothorax, preferably a passthrough. It really doesn't take that much to get full penetration on deer; I've used trad tackle from 65 to 48 lbs and heavy, 11-12 grains/lb arrows, usually tapered cedar, and always with 2 blade COC broadheads, mainly because they are the easiest for me to get sharp. Deer ribs offer little resistance to arrows; lungs even less. Probably why, in my first season of saddlehunting, I'm setting up pretty low...8-12 feet. Don't like the shot angle when I get higher. That may change if I keep getting busted, but after decades of groundhunting, habits are hard to break.
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Help.
 
paradocs said:
I've never shot for the heart; never made sense to me; why crowd the shoulder and risk lack of penetration? Ultimately, hypoxia/anoxia puts your deer down. Quickest way to do that is a bilateral pneumo/hemothorax, preferably a passthrough. It really doesn't take that much to get full penetration on deer; I've used trad tackle from 65 to 48 lbs and heavy, 11-12 grains/lb arrows, usually tapered cedar, and always with 2 blade COC broadheads, mainly because they are the easiest for me to get sharp. Deer ribs offer little resistance to arrows; lungs even less. Probably why, in my first season of saddlehunting, I'm setting up pretty low...8-12 feet. Don't like the shot angle when I get higher. That may change if I keep getting busted, but after decades of groundhunting, habits are hard to break.
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The only problem with backing off the shoulder is you absolutely can’t risk a quartering to shot, and I believe you have less room for error before you get into 1 lung/liver hits. Those make for a long night a lot of times.
 
Hunter260 said:
The only problem with backing off the shoulder is you absolutely can’t risk a quartering to shot, and I believe you have less room for error before you get into 1 lung/liver hits. Those make for a long night a lot of times.
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Totally agree. With my tackle, shooting instinctively, I'd pass on the quartering-to shot for that very reason. Alot of time, they'll be broadside a few seconds later...slight quartering away, even better.
 
I was raised to, and I always advise anyone who cares to ask me to, only shoot a deer whose ass is closer to you than it’s heart.

(Of course I’m referring to archery)
 
paradocs said:
I've never shot for the heart; never made sense to me; why crowd the shoulder and risk lack of penetration? Ultimately, hypoxia/anoxia puts your deer down. Quickest way to do that is a bilateral pneumo/hemothorax, preferably a passthrough. It really doesn't take that much to get full penetration on deer; I've used trad tackle from 65 to 48 lbs and heavy, 11-12 grains/lb arrows, usually tapered cedar, and always with 2 blade COC broadheads, mainly because they are the easiest for me to get sharp. Deer ribs offer little resistance to arrows; lungs even less. Probably why, in my first season of saddlehunting, I'm setting up pretty low...8-12 feet. Don't like the shot angle when I get higher. That may change if I keep getting busted, but after decades of groundhunting, habits are hard to break.
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You're a doctor aren't you?
 
No you shouldn’t have, he shoulda learned to spell the easy words too

“Paradocs” had me thinking Airborne. Heck, they let everybody in Vet school, lol
 
Easy to sharpen get a diamond stone rough run 2 blades with moderate pressure 12 strokes in each side then count down to 11 then 10 etc... lighting the pressure then flip to fine diamond then do the same with light strokes then go to leather strip with some rouge light pressure remember to pull blades towards you all the time. Will get hair popping sharp remember to go slow even though it takes a few minutes to do it it is worth it. After I do that I run a thin coat of lip wax on it and rub it in You can do any 2 blade or 2 blade like this and even 4 blades. Just watch your pressure
 
Anyone use sandpaper taped to a mirror to sharpen? Pretty appealing as far as price and availability and ability to have many different grit levels.
 
raisins said:
Anyone use sandpaper taped to a mirror to sharpen? Pretty appealing as far as price and availability and ability to have many different grit levels.
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Yes, but not necessarily with broadheads. I am fascinated with sharpening knives; weird, I know.
I used to strop all blades with rubbing compound on leather as a finishing step but now I just slide an already sharpened blade on a good ceramic stick a couple times using (literally) little more than the weight of the blade. If that doesn't make your blade / broadhead sharp enough for you, you should really consider taking up reloading because archery just may not be for you...

hahaha
 
Scott can you elaborate on your sharpening process. I’m curious about sharpening ( do my broadheads regularly) but admittedly a little intimidated by knife sharpening
 
Jmarzey said:
I cant lie, this summer I fell into the heavy arrow, fixed head fad. After tinkering with it all summer long, and never seeing the light, I went back to a well balanced arrow with a fixed 3 blade broadhead. Now, I have killed two deer thus far with this set up and I could not be happier. One was a quartering away doe at 30, zipped through her and stuck 6 inches in the dirt. The second was last night, and it was another doe at 20 yards. Well I left my range finder in the truck, so I shot the deer a touch high. The arrow blew through the bottom of the spine and hit a rock on the ground which sent sparks flying everywhere (I had no clue what had happened). This dulled my G5 Montec M3 pretty good.

Now I catch myself sitting here trying to get this broadhead sharp enough to cut leather, because once again, I been watching too much youtube. I cleaned the edges up to make them even again, but for some reason these heads will NOT get as sharp as others I have shot in the past. So, I'm sitting here getting irritated, and it dawned on me that the dang thing wasn't that sharp out of the pack. With the tip of these heads being so sharp, I honestly cant see myself having any issues with the cutting surface not doing damage as it flies through vitals at 285 FPS.

Anybody else seem to get caught up in the latest and greatest things that we consume on the You Tube? I fight it all the time. Its crazy that two years ago I was killing deer with expandables, in a big heavy lock on lol. Now it makes me cringe
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I sharpen all of my knifes and Broadheads on an oil stone and can get them razor sharp. However, Montecs are a royal pain! It’s because the metal is molded and not cut from a single piece of steel. They come extremely dull so I start with the ruff side of my stone get an edge to work with flip to the smooth side then a leather strop I made from an old belt. That will get them to shave hair but they do not stay sharp very long. In and out of a quiver or after shooting an animal it’s back to square one. I’ve always used Muzzy and buy replacement blades which is a lot less time consuming. My experience with Montecs was with my children as they don’t pull that much poundage yet and needed a cut on contact head. Once they can pull back 50lbs I’ll never buy those again.
 
mattfish said:
Scott can you elaborate on your sharpening process. I’m curious about sharpening ( do my broadheads regularly) but admittedly a little intimidated by knife sharpening
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Oh man, you are giving me way too much credit for what I do. (!)

A couple years ago I read a BUNCH about knife sharpening and what I learned is that there are many different ways of accomplishing the task of 'sharpening' a blade. What is important is to know what is actually happening when you sharpen a blade - material is removed, a bevel or wedge shaped is formed, and the very edge of the blade should be true. If you look at the long axis of a laser-sharpened razorblade under an electron microscope it appears to be a jagged plateau as opposed to a nice image of a super-fine "V" shape. Broken glass or obsidian when broken is able to go all the way down to a single MOLECULE along it's blade length, that is sharp! We can never accomplish that mechanically no matter what we try to do.

My purpose in using a steel or ceramic stick as the final step is simply to align the steel fibers at the very end of the blade, trying to make it more 'obsidian like'.
You can do the same with a strop, but it is easier for me to do with a sharpening steel or ceramic rod because it is easier for me to keep the angle the same throughout the process.

I think many people have a tough time because they try to rush the process. Sandpaper and other sharpening tools should cut and remove metal not just push your burr to the other side of the blade. This happens if you press too hard and will frustrate you in the long run.

Three-blade heads get sharp but don't feel as sharp as two blade heads because the sharpened angle of the long axis of the blade is less accute; 33.5 degrees vs 20 degrees or so. It is sharp, just doesn't 'feel' sharp. Some folks change the end bevel of 3-blade heads by sharpening them on a conical stone. E.g., fine sandpaper glued to a pipe, this will give you less than a 30 degree angle and the head will feel sharper to you.

I read an article YEARS ago by Dean Torges on sharpening plane blades and cabinet scrapers to help my (then) bowmaking hobby - God bless Dean, but I blame him on this sharpening quest of mine...
 
mattfish said:
Scott can you elaborate on your sharpening process. I’m curious about sharpening ( do my broadheads regularly) but admittedly a little intimidated by knife sharpening
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Mattfish - there is not a knife in the world that is worth carrying when it is dull, regardless of it's purchase cost or sentimental value!
Get after it and make it SHARP!
 
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