Fred Bear Sharp?

[dragonheart]

I have never heard of Fred Bear sharp either.  I was impressed with the razor sharp.  I hunted with a file sharpened, pop hair BH for many years and took game.  

Filed, honed, and stropped to razor edge Woodsman Elite...exit.  Keep em sharp.
 

There was a film many years ago with Bear sharpening a head.  What the poster may be referring to was the final strokes Bear used which more or less using the file like a steel to correct or remove the burr.  I think what one needs to watch out for with softer metal heads like the old Bears is a smooth bur, it may cut the hair on your arm, but that bur edge may not hold up going cross ways through an animals hair and hide or rib bones.  Stropping the head with something like a jewel stick or a belt or even the file will reveal what edge would be left when that bur comes off.  A bur and microscopic cutting teeth are not the same thing, even a razor blade has those cutting teeth.  Like my son demonstrated one time when showing somehow how he sharpened his Grizzlies, turning the head in the sun light to show the bur, he said see that, it is almost a magnetic thing.  Then he took a hardware magnet that farmers use for cows, ran it lightly across the head, and held up the magnet, "There's your bur."

[KeganM]

Originally posted by Mr.Vic:
There's a wealth of knowledge for any answer if people use the search features that are on here. I see it everyday young people love to make things complicated...Bowhunting with the trad bow an life is better if things are simple. Also seems people now days want to be shooters instead of hunters.

I don't think anyone's trying to make it complicated, I think folks just like to talk about archery and since most of us don't get to spend half as much time in the woods as we'd like all that's left is chit chat. That, and there aren't too many old timers left for us younger guys to ask locally. Everyone around here has only ever hunted with compounds and modern heads.

Or not, I don't know.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Originally posted by Mr.Vic:
I Agree Rob, maybe another forum section for beginners to ask these questions is needed along with. Which arrow is the best,do i need a 200 grain broadhead, how fast can i make my arrow, is 25% FOC too much on and on an on...i been on trad gang since the early 2000's and left for a while due to home circumstances along with the same old boring questions being asked every week.. There's a wealth of knowledge for any answer if people use the search features that are on here. I see it everyday young people love to make things complicated...Bowhunting with the trad bow an life is better if things are simple. Also seems people now days want to be shooters instead of hunters.

Exactly!!!       and there's a wealth of information hours and hours of reading if people would just use it. The how to forums are the same if people would just use it. But nope same threads week after week, I gave up years ago sending nice PM's trying to help.

As for the sharpening answer I use a file like Fred and many, many before him. I wouldn't call it Fred sharp either it was used before him and will always be used for some of us. Can I shave hair? I don't know I see no reason to try, I know sharp when I see it and feel it my blood trails with two blades you have to walk off to the sides at times unless you want blood all over your boots and pants. Most go down in sight and that's good enough for this old fart     :D  

Tracy

[smokin joe]

After using a file to set the edge angle of the blade, Fred Bear would write about the process of using the file to "stroke" rather than file. If you do that, lightly stroke with the file using almost no pressure, you can bring the blade to shaving sharpness in a few minutes. I can shave with the broad heads I file, but I use the file-then-stroke method.

[Terry Green]

Plenty of old guards here to ask!!!!

Much better than taking someone's wife's uncle's vets daughters teachers neighbor the zoo keepers cousin twice removed's advice!

[KeganM]

Originally posted by Terry Green:
Plenty of old guards here to ask!!!!

Much better than taking someone's wife's uncle's vets daughters teachers neighbor the zoo keepers cousin twice removed's advice!

Agreed! Real life experience certainly trumps gossip any day.

I just meant the same threads over and over. Sometimes folks are lazy but sometimes it's just nice to interact with others, especially those who have actually "been there and done that". Even if it's just over the computer. Kind of like reading the book and then talking to the author.

[kennym]

Originally posted by KeganM:
 

Originally posted by Terry Green:
Plenty of old guards here to ask!!!!

Much better than taking someone's wife's uncle's vets daughters teachers neighbor the zoo keepers cousin twice removed's advice!

Agreed! Real life experience certainly trumps gossip any day.

I just meant the same threads over and over. Sometimes folks are lazy but sometimes it's just nice to interact with others, especially those who have actually "been there and done that". Even if it's just over the computer. Kind of like reading the book and then talking to the author. [/b]

 You gotta like these 2 dudes!!

I file mine, but like  smoking joe, end up with VERY light strokes, no added weight, just the file's own weight.

2 holes in everything, shoot clear thru most.

I guess I would be a criminal in most broad head sharpening circles. I sharpen very much like Tom Mussato showed, just with slightly different tools.  When that stops working for me I will consider something different. Maybe a quarter inch round file, I have had guys that couldn't get the stroke with a file right, but they could work that round file and judging from the kills they have had, that must work pretty good as well.

[Terry Green]

No Tom Mussato does it the way that he has razor sharp serrations make no mistake Tom's file Broadhead sharpening system is the way to go if you want to do a file sharpen Broadhead.

I have adapted the Mussato method for single bevel heads. The Mussato edge cuts hair on entrance, it does not pull it.  I have never seen hair wrap the broad head or leave much. if any, hair in the wound channel, like I have seen with at times mechanical head kills or arrow recoveries.  I prefer a file with a safety edge, the single row of file teeth with abrupt jutting edge, I think gives a more refined serration pattern. I get very good blood trails.

[huskyarcher]

Yall dont get me wrong, im not saying "razor" sharp isnt awesome, because it is no doubt. Im just saying ive had excellent results with the "fred bear" edge, and wont hesitate to use it again in the future. That being said, 99% of my hunting is with animals that it isnt going to make too much difference either way (small/medium hogs, deer, turkeys.)

[Sixby]

I've heard Fred Bear edge before and what it refers to is a filed edge to a burr and then lightly stroking the file lengthways down the head from the back to the front until the edge smooths out. Depending on the file whether it is razor sharp or not.
I always start season with a razor sharp stropped edge on my arrows . Any arrow that is shot then gets a going over with a file. I use a fine machinist file and it will get a head razor sharp.

God bless, Steve

[Terry Green]

The Mussatto Edge (there, i coined one) is demonstrated on The Bowhunters of Tradgang.com DVD by Tom himself!

[mj seratt]

Pavan, I'm confused.  What did farmers use a magnet on cows for.  I grew up on a small farm, and can't remember anything like this.  Of course, there's a lot of things I can't remember now.  Thanks in advance.

Murray

[Charlie Lamb]

MJ... it's the Fred Bear magnet method. Magnetize the udder to pick up nails in the feedlot.    

[charles m]

I use the Billy Bob Howdy Vern method.

This incorporates a cow, a magnet and a wet stone. And the cow must be outside the barn.

[dragonheart]

A cow, a magnet, a wet stone, and a magnus broadhead walk into a bar...  

Okay cow magnets,  I got them from a farmer.  They are about two inches long, round on both ends and very smooth and very strong.  If a cow acts like has a hardware problem, ate a nail, or a piece of fencing wire, or any thing sharp and metallic, the magnet is stuffed down their throat and it is suppose to attract what ever was irritating the cows innards if it is metallic.  Does it work?  Beats me, but they are fun for kids to play with.  My kid is in his 30s and he still messes with those magnets.  Never get close to tapes or cds with those magnets.  For those that find cow magnets more interesting than sharp broadheads,
  https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=d61f5405-f104-47ae-8305-f49c1923ce61&sfb=1&itemguid=5735dd93-c53d-4ffe-8cf4-97f316f0cd92&utm_content=37370&ccd=IFF003&CAWELAID=12029 5250000087462&CATARGETID=120295250000178804&cadevice=c&gclid=CMerqquijtQCFQKewAodlRQLhA

I believe that the Mussato Edge is a particularly favorable edge for those that use back quivers as the cutting properties of the serrations cannot be scrubbed due to possible edge contacts inside the quiver.  Wrong or right, I envision that the serrations have the ability to cut arteries better after going through hide, hair and possibly a rib.  Arteries are tougher muscular tissue and they are not tied down all that tight.