Well if a BHD won't fluff hair off your arm, it may well be sharp enough to kill but the real object is to get the deer, bear, elk, moose or whatever into the truck, and the sharper the head, the more blood there will be on the ground.
Shot placement is the most important aspect of game recovery but as I've said in the past, an animal can be killed with a well placed target point but there won't be any bloodtrail to follow.
Here's a over exaggerated burr,
There is a razor sharp edge beneath the burr. Now how do we get it off withou chasing it back/forth all day? Simple... make sure the burr is completely folded or stropped over to one side of the blade, NOT straight out off the edge like it is in the picture. Now with a medium or fine grit stone, or even a file if that's what you like, make a light pass straight into the edge in order to shear that burr off. If you're using a file it will only take a couple of very light passes. If your using stones it will take a few more but either way, make sure that the stone or file is moved into the edge and there's no way that the burr can "escape" to the other side.
Alternatively, a light burr can be stropped off by working it back and forth on a piece of leather or cardboard just like a piece of metal will break if it's bent back/forth repeatedly.
posted
One thing many people have problems with in terms of removing the burr is they don't actually remove it but just straighten it out. This results in something called a wire edge and you will frequently hear people complain about the quality of steel used in knives that "roll the edge" when in fact what they have done through bad sharpening technique is created a wire edge on a blade that in fact "feels" sharp but is too fine to do any real work. You can test for a wire edge but taking what you think in your finished edge and taking a few cuts with some pressure across the grain of any wood. Most any wire edge will fold after two or three passes. A true edge should be as sharp as before.
Posts: 316 | From: KY | Registered: Jun 2011
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posted
sharpening things is an art and also can drive you crazy,as you all my knives pop hair I use a 3 side jewel stick,after 15 years of trad hunting and sharpening broadheads I decided to use the accusharp it put more of a serrated edge on the blade not that good at shaving hair but cuts great and easy to use for 3 blades I use the jewel stick,I personally like the more rough but very sharp edge over the fine shaving edge,THEY BOTH WILL WORK,also make your edge with a sharpie marker and you will see where you are cutting steel when working it,good luck!
Posts: 56 | From: NY | Registered: Jul 2007
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quote:Originally posted by xtrema312: So how do you know you have a burr? What do you look or feel for and how do you check it to make sure your are ready to work the burr? I wonder on my three blades if I am getting one or not.
You should be able to feel it as you run your finger along the edge. You want to be able to feel the burr along the entire length of the edge. Then you know you have established a new edge the entire length of the cutting surface. Then you work on the other side and raise a burr in the opposite direction. Once you have established a burr on both sides you can begin reducing the burr to establish a fine edge.
BTW, the above holds true for single bevel broadheads as well... You need to establish an edge on the opposite side of the bevel...its a smaller, very fine edge mind you. But you need to establish an edge on both sides of a single bevel as well...
Exactly. If there is no burr, when you gently pull your fingertips out from under the blade, it will feel smooth as glass. Once you have a burr it will feel slightly coarse and ragged when you do the same thing. One way to know for sure is to use a piece of wool or a cotton ball. Hold that to the blade and pull straight out away from the cutting edge. If there is a burr there it will snag the fibers of the wool or cotton ball. oh yea, and once you have the burr... it's all over but the shoutin'.
quote:Originally posted by 2020: sharpening things is an art and also can drive you crazy,as you all my knives pop hair I use a 3 side jewel stick,after 15 years of trad hunting and sharpening broadheads I decided to use the accusharp it put more of a serrated edge on the blade not that good at shaving hair but cuts great and easy to use for 3 blades I use the jewel stick,I personally like the more rough but very sharp edge over the fine shaving edge,THEY BOTH WILL WORK,also make your edge with a sharpie marker and you will see where you are cutting steel when working it,good luck!
I wouldn't call it an art. I'd call it a learned skill. Most anyone can do it well with some instruction and the proper tools. No magic here--just a little practice and study and enough experience doing it to develop some technique.
Posts: 316 | From: KY | Registered: Jun 2011
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posted
I have put them to the side for now before I completely lost my mind. I have them to the point that just a couple of passes and i can raise a burr along the entire edge of my blade.
So I guess i just need to be real light back and forth. Every time I feel I'm getting it close and check it. It feels more dull than when I started haha. I am a visual learner so the photos help a lot thank you.
-------------------- Combo Hunter 46@28
I came from nothing and I brought it with me. Posts: 601 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
I think I am getting a wire edge on my three blade heads because I can feel drag on my fingers full length of both sides of the blades. So on a three blade head I really need to run a file or stone down the blade vs. working two blades at one time. Do I have that right?
I have been stropping two blades at once on the three blade heads. Should I really be stopping more like a knife and only one blade at a time to bend off the burr or is there something different to stopping a three blade head? Maybe my problem is I am not stropping correctly or it takes a lot more to bend off the burr doing two blades at a time.
When I use my Gatco sharpener on my knives and two blades I sharpen from the edge back. My edge seems good, but not quite shaving. It seems to hold up ok, but maybe it doesn’t last as long as it should. Do I still get a burr with this type of sharpening? Does it matter which direction I move the blade on the file or stone as it realtes to building the burr? I have noticed some people sharpen the three blade by going front to back and others back to front. I am not sure if the burr or lack of one is part of which way to go with the head.
This is all real interesting to me anyway. Thanks for the info.
-------------------- Firefly Long Bow James 4:14 60" MOAB 54@29 James 1:17 Michigan Longbow Association Posts: 3629 | From: Kalamazoo, MI | Registered: Jan 2009
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posted
When you strop it helps if you raise the blade just a little more than when you are sharpening. Just a degree or two. And remember, LIGHT pressure....
Posts: 316 | From: KY | Registered: Jun 2011
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I have written articles for TBM and Traditional Archer's World mags that address both issues (sharpening 2 blade and three blade BHDs). If either of you would like to give me a call I'll be very happy to help you out and I can email you the articles too. Lots of info on this thread... some good and some not so good. Thanks,
I will PM you my e-mail and give you a call after reading the articles.
I pulled out the pocket knife I just sharpened up last week and was able to shave hair no problem. I worked a little wood to make sure I didn't have a wire edge and it still shaved easy and smooth. Looks like I can at least get my knives sharp. I must say the edge feels just about like my broadheads. Broadhead feels a little rougher, but I did use a file vs. a fine diamond stone from the Gatco. Now I am not so sure my broadhead edge is a wire edge.
-------------------- Firefly Long Bow James 4:14 60" MOAB 54@29 James 1:17 Michigan Longbow Association Posts: 3629 | From: Kalamazoo, MI | Registered: Jan 2009
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Wish everyone could look at their edge under a 40X scope w/full field of view. No more mystery. Pic above is excellent example. A jig will help make sure your edge stays straight.
-------------------- Buddy Bell
Trad is 60% mental & about 40% mental. Posts: 4460 | From: Texas | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
Well, I don't sharpen my blades like grandpa showed me when I was a kid.
It's popular for people to shave "away" from the blade and it creates a bur that you have to work off. It's safer and you can do it quickly.
I sharpen in both directions with a very fine Arkansas whetstone with light strokes once I get the angle of the edge that I want with a file and then a more coarse stone.
I don't worry about burs, because they don't really develop the way I sharpen.
I polish blades, I don't sharpen them.
Posts: 284 | From: Arkansas | Registered: Jan 2010
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posted
I use a file 12-15 strokes, then a steel, to get them REAL fine. The lighter the strokes towards the end, the better. The blade will tell you when it's ready to hunt. High carbon Steel, although full of secrets like a dark eyed french Canadian girl at the beach in July, won't lie to you.
Posts: 627 | From: Maine | Registered: Dec 2009
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posted
I read Ron's articles and now I understand this little better. I always sharpened with strokes into the blade or both directions on knives and two blades. This doesn't create much of a burr or at least takes it off quickly so I never really get a good one. Most times I am working down the two bevels to an edge because I flip sides often.
Now I understand the burr is just a good way to make sure you get one side all the way cut down to meet the other side so you don’t have a flat spot on the edge. Then sharpen the other side to a burr again so you have them even. Then take off the burr to get the fine edge. Ron states that to take the burr off you go from edge to the back of the blade with a stroke like cutting a thin layer off the stone. I now understand he was saying in the post to do this at the same angle you sharpen the blade. That takes off the burr if the burr is folded to the side.
One of the big things I got from Ron’s articles was that you really do all this with the file or coarse stone. That is what does the sharpening. All the rest is more polishing the edge. I have probably at times not gotten sharp in the first place and was working down an edge with a little flat because I never got the bevels all the way together. I was just polishing down not getting sharper.
Now I also think that what I feel is just the edge and not a burr. I am running my finger across the blades at 90 deg and just feeling the edge. I think the idea is to feel more the side of the edge to feel the rolled over burr.
My two blades and knives are sharp with no burr. Now I just have to figure out the three blade heads. I have done the marker thing, and I think I have all my edges cut down. Now I am going to go for a burr before I flip to the next two blades. Do this three times to make sure I have all the bevels meeting, and then work off the burrs. I think I have that and it is just the wide angle on the three blade head and the fact I don’t have anything but a file to work the 3 blade heads on.
-------------------- Firefly Long Bow James 4:14 60" MOAB 54@29 James 1:17 Michigan Longbow Association Posts: 3629 | From: Kalamazoo, MI | Registered: Jan 2009
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If there is no burr, when you gently pull your fingertips out from under the blade, it will feel smooth as glass. Once you have a burr it will feel slightly coarse and ragged when you do the same thing. One way to know for sure is to use a piece of wool or a cotton ball. Hold that to the blade and pull straight out away from the cutting edge. If there is a burr there it will snag the fibers of the wool or cotton ball. oh yea, and once you have the burr... it's all over but the shoutin'.
