Broadhead hardness

[Stone Knife]

Does anyone have a chart with the different harnesses of various brands of broadheads?

[no nothing]

Look up Dr. Ed Ashby. You should be able to find the info

[Coiloil37]

Most manufacturers list it on their website.

[Stone Knife]

Okay I have one to start it off Zwickey RC 50+
Eclipse RC 48-51
Tusker RC 50-52
Grizzly RC 52
Grizzlystik Ashby RC 58
Magnus Snuffer RC 44
WW RC 43

[Blaino]

WW = 43

[Stone Knife]

Originally posted by Blaino:
WW = 43

Thanks  

[Zbone]

Not a metal kind of guy and never really grasp consistence ratings of - hardness, brittleness, heat tempered, (hardness to sharpen), (susceptibility to rust), etc.

Can anyone please describe in simple mans terms?

Thanx

[ron w]

The harder it is the more brittle in can be. It depends on the type of steel and how it is tempered when made. You can file sharpen up to about RC 52, after that it gets more difficult. I hope that helps a bit!  

[thumper-tx]

I had the lab at work check some Zwickeys I had that ranged in age from a couple years to 25 years and every one of them came in at 48-49. Pretty impressive quality controll. I also had them check some Magnus I and II heads and they came in at 44-47.

[Ragnarok Forge]

As a knife smith I aim for between 58 and 64 Rockwell depending on the knife and it's intended use.   I like my broadheads to be at least 52 Rockwell.  The type of steel, along with blade thickness, tip shape, and tempering have a lot to do with what many people would call being brittle or not brittle.  There are a ton of factors involved.  The softer heads have a greater tendency to have tips bend on a hard bone hit.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

The tips of the Snuffers (and I assume Woodsman since they were built on the same jigs when Magnus had them) was harder than the rest...look closely and you'll see that the tip is a separate piece from the rest of the head, if you look at it carefully you can see the weld - just the last bit in front of the front vent.  The tip was always 50-52 rockwell when we made them.

Dad designed this for the reason mentioned above - the blades were a bit softer so you could get a good filed sharp edge and the tip a bit harder to give more strength.

The head was assembled as 4 pieces - 3 blades, a ferrule, and a hardened tip.  The grinding happened afterwards - there's a little more to this broadheads stuff sometimes than meets the casual eye!

Ryan

[Quickblood]

Originally posted by Ryan Rothhaar:
there's a little more to this broadheads stuff sometimes than meets the casual eye!

Ryan

You're right there Ryan, thanks for sharing this info.

[Cari-bow]

The TuffHead is 52 RC. I had some of the first prototypes and they were I think around 56-58 RC. Which I told Joe was to hard to sharpen for most people. I did take a moose with those and have taken an elk this last fall with the new ones. I know someone took them to Africa and the PH was very impressed with them. So much so he made the client leave them with him.
Abe

[BAK]

And remember, a knife is a tool that you will use to cut with again and again and again, whereas the broadhead only needs to make that cut once.  Get it too brittle in an attempt to make it hold an edge longer and it may snap on impact with bone.  Hence the advantage to multiple metal heads.