Snuffer ?

[lpcjon2]

Who when sharpening Snuffers purposely changes the tip(makes it a lower profile) so it cant bend, when making contact with bone?

[NoCams]

I do. I simply take a 6" file and file the tip to a small pyramid to get rid of the needle tip. Look at the tip of a Trailmaker at the top of the home page and you will see what it should look like.

[Ward / Texas]

I do, but just to give it a bit of a more blunt tip and to remove the burrs.

[Tom Leemans]

me too

[mscampbell75]

I do!  

After sharpening. I lay it flat.  Pick up the back end and give it a pull down the stone.  Do it on all side making it equal.  

Almost like a tocar(sp?) tip on muzzys.

[DennyK]

I get rid of the needle tip.

[Guru]

I don't really see the need...with the width of the big snuffers(160's,only one's I use)the "angle of attach" is a lot more than say, a Woodsman. So there's a lot a metal up there to provide plenty of strength.

Only time I work a tip on one of my snuffers is if I mess it up on a rock or something. Then I'll pyramid the tip to get it sharp again.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I'm not changing anything about the tip, I'm just getting them sharp and the tip will take care of itself. Guru nailed it I think when he said there's plenty of metal up there to provide strength. If you send one crashing through a shoulder blade and bend it up, then you can work the tip down afterwards. The truly best tip for splitting bone is the Trocar tip like on Muzzy BH's, Thunderheads, and some others. That's as ancient of a design as the Romans and Spartans who used that Tri-edge design on their spears to pierce armor.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Only time I do that is if I bend it when it hits a rock. just like Guru said, the 160's have a different angle.

[NBK]

I use the 160's and they are alot beefier than the 125's at the tip.  That said I still pyramid the tip a hint more, but I do it at the beginning, then sharpen from there.  It seems to give me a better, more even tip.  This is my first year using the 160's though so it may just be habit that I feel I have to take the tip down!

[buckracks7]

It seems like normal sharpening with a file takes the needle point off.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Pyramid the tip if it makes you feel better, but I don't bother to myself.  The tip is a separate piece of metal from the blades (look close and you'll see the weld line) - this was done on purpose - the tip is harder than the blades.  Was designed to be tougher so as to not bend easily, but not hard enough to chip/break.

If you hit bone straight-on contact you'll see a little tip bend, but I don't worry about it.  Penetration worries are 99% a figment of people's imagination, assuming you are using reasonable equipment.  In 25 years I've NOT gotten exit holes on less than 5% of the animals I've shot (all with Snuffer 160 gr heads).

Ryan

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Originally posted by Ryan Rothhaar:
Pyramid the tip if it makes you feel better, but I don't bother to myself.  The tip is a separate piece of metal from the blades (look close and you'll see the weld line) - this was done on purpose - the tip is harder than the blades.  Was designed to be tougher so as to not bend easily, but not hard enough to chip/break.

If you hit bone straight-on contact you'll see a little tip bend, but I don't worry about it.  Penetration worries are 99% a figment of people's imagination, assuming you are using reasonable equipment.  In 25 years I've NOT gotten exit holes on less than 5% of the animals I've shot (all with Snuffer 160 gr heads).

Ryan

Ryan, while your here.....I have a question.
Is it possible to have one blade that's harder than the rest?
Every now and then I seem to hit a spot on a blade, usually just one, that the file just slides over and doesn't cut. I can feel it slip as the file moves over it and I have to work on just that one blade until it starts to cut without the file slipping past that spot then I can move on as usual.

Thanks,
SEMO

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Could be.  When we got out of manufacturing in the early '90's the new owners (Delta) had problems with heat treating for a while and had some hard heads.  Depending on the method Magnus is using there might be some hard spots.

This should be surface only and once you get thru the hard spot you'll be fine.  I hollow grind all my heads on a 6 inch bench grinder so I don't see the "orignal" surface when sharpening.

Do a search for my name and sharpening Snuffers, I did a pictoral a while back about it.  SteveO had brought it back up a couple times too.  I'd highly recommend sharpening Snuffers this way.  Looks harder to do than it really is.

R

[Kelly]

Ditto to what Ryan and others said!  Been using 160 grain Snuffers since Roger invented them and the 3 bladed Ben Pearson Deadheads(Roger made these, too) before that so I don't know how many years that is but figure it is over 40 and have never had a bent or curled tip from going through an animal. Sure hve had them when I missed and hit a rock or glanced off a tree but not from an animals bone.

Also, I too hollow grind sharpen my Snuffers with a 6" grinding wheel. Biggest thing to remember is go slow with light pressure.

[NBK]

Ryan,
Thanks for the response.  I love this site where you can get it straight from the horses mouth.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I looked it up Ryan and that's basically what I've been doing for the first step except I've been using a belt sander and placing them flat to do the 2 inside edges of the blade at once. Then turn and repeat until I've hit all 3 sides. I've found that this is the easiest way for me to keep the correct angles, then I hit them with a 6" bastard file with a medium/fine cut until they have a nice sticky burr edge and so far I've just left them with the burr edge without stropping either with a steel or leather. The burr edge seems like it's plenty sharp, but I may have to give that stone trick a try and see what happens.
I think the problems that I was experiencing may have been from not taking enough off the factory edge in the first step, but I guess I was afraid of over doing it and taking off to much?
I just don't want to ruin the heads, but I have had some success with getting them pretty sharp, it's just frustrating at times.

I do love these Snuffers though, they shoot awesome and I like the idea of being able to resharpen them instead of buying replacement blades all the time for non-sharpenable heads. The price of replacement blades alone would buy 6 new Snuffers that should last for years if treated right.

Thanks for the info.

SEMO