define sharp ? Sharpaphobia is GONE ! (KME)

[BradLantz]

I don't want just "sharp" and I am of the opinion what "sharp" is to some if not "sharp" to me.

To me, sharp is a Thunderhead blade - so frickin sharp if you try and shave hair with it you're likely to catch a bit of skin and slice your arm open. I want sharp that if you look at it you can feel the edge. I want scalpel unreal sharp.

I've never gotten it until tonight and I want to thank Ron at KME for it.

I shoot 53# or so, I like my ICS 400 shafts with weight tubes. I put 100 gr brass inserts in, and today put Zwickey 110 gr 5/16 ferrule Eskimoes up front with 30 gr adapters. they shoot very well, fly well, THUMP when they hit something.

Nice. Now I feel like a close to 680 grain arrow/head combo will work even if I have a marginal hit and get into thicker bone.

Now the test - to see if I can use my KME knife sharpener to make this Zwickey scary sharp.

Ron said this is the ticket, ya'll have said this KME is great. So after taking that Zwickey I shot into the ground numerous times today, I mounted it (which doesn't mount well IMO) and proceeded at a 25 degree angle. When I finished I stropped on a leather wallet and took it to my arm.

Not bad, but truthfully I was   :(    Not what I wanted.

So now what? Ok, Ron tossed in 2 diamond stones. What the heck, I mount the finished stone marked "sharp" and something else and start on the head, maybe 30-40 softer and softer strokes, and I can see the oil has a grey tint - I'm doing some damage in my honing I can tell.

Strop it again and to the arm I go .... WHOA BABY! That sucker tried to slice right in, you can FEEL the broadhead biting and trying to dig - ohhhhhhhh yeah baby, THAT'S what I'm talking about !

   


I already sharpened both my hunting knives and they're nice - but that dimaond stone ..... oh I've GOT to use that on my knives!

I have a Nov 7-14 hunt planned in KS, I feel good now with my equipment and shooting and broadhead sharpness.


THANKS KME - I'm A BELIEVER NOW

[Sharpster]

Brad,

Thank you very much and glad I could be of help but, here's a shocker for you: You can get the broadhead A LOT sharper than it is right now by finishing up with the white Arkansas stone.

I think the problem you were encountering was that you were trying to polish a blade that wasn't yet really sharp. Now that you have the bevels set with the diamonds go back over the head with the white Arkansas stone. I like to raise the angle about 3-4 degrees for this last step. That way you know you're working only the cutting edge and you'll also end up with a duplex bevel that will be both sharper and stronger than what you have now.

Diamonds are great for rapid stock removal but are pretty poor polishing stones compared to fine ceramics and Arkansas stones. Likewise the ceramics/Arkansas can't hog metal off anywhere near as fast as the diamonds can. Each type has it's place.

Give it a try and let us know how you make out. You're right on the verge of attaining an incredibly sharp edge. If you think those Thunderhead blades are sharp....

Ron

[BradLantz]

Ron - I'll do that tonight, using the white stone.

[snag]

What do you do to increase the angle in the final steps?

[Doc Nock]

Ron's been "tutoring" me. I think I should have started a local chapter of USA..."Unable to Sharpen Anonymous".

What I've been learning, painfully slowly cause I tend to be too danged literal, is that the KME equipment is exceptional, but its a precision tool that must be used as intended and any...ANY variations to a set process only leads to frustration.

I'd been using a draw through carbide sharpener as the only method I could use to get a blade "shaving sharp." Uh-huh...research shows it's setting a 20degree angle, which is pretty darned "thin."

A Thread on here about penetration and broadheads going in sharp, but coming out "dull" really caught my eye! I had to resharpen my heads almost daily from riding in the quiver foam, so they weren't staying too sharp.

In changing the bevel on a STOS (or other laminated blade), to a more durable 25-27 degree bevel there is that gnarly 2nd layer of metal that has to be reduced to the proper angle before you can get a sharp head.

That is why I'm going to buy the single bevel heads from Ron when they get the bugs worked outa the system to produce them in quantity! There is a lot of work hoggin off that extra metal!

I got frustrated and lazy thinking it was just taking too long--so I moved to the finer grit and then I didn't get a good sharp head! Doh! Operator error!

Once I got it through my noggin that it just takes time...THE FIRST TIME (only) to get off that extra metal... I started to have success.

Ron's sage advice was, "Don't move off the coarse stone till it's wanting to shave hair...then proceed to the finer grits to get a polished edge and watch how sharp--- SHARP really is.

yeah, right, ron!   :rolleyes:  Well, Doh!    Don't argue with a master!

I finally put aside my German stubborness and did exactly that and all I can say is that although I could "shave" hair with the way I used to sharpen broadheads before, now there is a phrase I've seen here that I now understand..."It blows hair off my arm!"

Meaning what? Well, Brad made a commment... about being careful that the blade doesn't stick and catch and slice you.

Brad, that is what my "other sharpened" heads did...they would tend to "stick and slice" if I wasn't careful---now with the way Ron's finally gotten through to me...I just touch heads done on his equipment to my arm and it takes the hair off so simply, it doesn't stick and slice anymore...it just "blows" off!

I still "slice" (nick) myself when testing with the coarse head for sharpness before proceeding cause now the "coarse" sharp is what I lived with before...thinking if it took off hair, it was deadly sharp. WRONG!  

The other thing Ron suggested above that helped was I quit stroppin my finished heads... For reasons I don't understand, I never get any sharpening motion the exact same angle two strokes in a row.

I just use Ron's finest stones now and go every so lightly equal times on each side reducing ## of strokes each side to one stroke each and ...Oh, my!

Ron promises me now that I got through that excess sandwhich of metal on my laminated blades, I will now be able to KEEP these bad boys extra sharp with little effort...but it's that first time that is a bear!

A deep offer of Gratitude to Ron for customer service that exceeds the industry, or any industry, to walk me through all my trials and errors and show endless patience with a knucklehead.

I never knew what a really sharp head was. Shaving sharp? Forget it...dry shaving sharp doesn't even explain the difference... but I can say that being 'able' to shave off hair vs. having the hair blow off my arm down to bare skin is something you have to see to understand the difference.

Now if I could just shoot something to test out the difference in blood trails! But that is another long story for another time...

[BobW]

Yep, been through a few coaching sessions with Ron too.  Excellent products, and the BEST service!  He wants you to be satisfied.

[Doc Nock]

Satisfaction, Bob, is one thing...teaching a dummy like me to use his good equipment might come under the heading of "above and beyond!"  

[Sharpster]

You guys sure you don't have me confused with someone else...?  

Snag, Brad is using the knife sharpener which is angle adjustable.

Ron

[Longbow rookie]

I heard that ole' Ron knows a thing or two...Ha!!

Finishing some necessary work tonight and then onto "sharpening for dummies - with the knife sharpener"  Ron

After reading a few of these posts I think I've figured out my problem.  I'm moving to the finer stones(white) too quickly...