Some thoughts on broadhead sharpness.

[Sojurn]

As I sit here in the deer woods bleeding through a makeshift bandage on my fingers I figured I'd share a few thoughts, and observations.
  I make knives as a hobby, and feel like I have a fairly good understanding of steel and sharpness. With this background, I've been struggling to find a broadhead I really like that isn't $90 for three.
  So this year I did my own heat treatment of some popular 2 blade broadheads.  I hardened the steel considerably and tested them to make sure they wouldn't shatter on a hard impact.  They came out pretty good, I only ruined two of the six and whats left takes a much keener, highly polished edge, and keeps it longer.
  With the setup out of the way, here's what led to this post.
I use a bag style quiver (just a buckskin tube that hangs in front of me) and so keep my broadheads in individual little sheaths so they don't cut through the bottom.  You can see where this is going im sure.  One poked through the quiver and I grabbed onto the exposed blade.

  Here's what I learned.

  1.  The edge they take is exactly as sharp as I thought it would be.
  2.  A highly polished, keen edge (as opposed to a toothy one) doesn't hurt much at all.  I have yet to feel any pain from the cut what so ever.
  3. A cut from a polished edge bleeds a lot. I waited a couple of minutes with my hand elevated just waiting for the bleeding to stop. I had to finally cut apart a game bag to make bandages, and they could stand to be changed as I write this. 
  4. I need a first aid kit, and also a booboo kit.
 
  Here's my take away.  I had heard a finer edge hurts less and bleeds more. I can now personally vouch for that.  This just further reinforces the idea that really, ACTUALLY sharp broadheads matter. Also, that there is room for improvement in the broadhead market.

[Orion]

 

[SuperK]

Interesting observation.  Back when I started bowhunting (1972'ish), some experienced archers told me that they only file sharpened their broadheads because the steel was "too soft" to hold a fine, honed edge.  Most everybody used Bear Razorheads back then.  At what hardness does a broadhead need to be for a honed edge to "hold up"?

[degabe]

A good sharp broadhead will cut just like a razor blade and those cuts bleed a long time.

[SlowBowKing]

I learned that lesson about the sharp cuts not hurting a few months ago. My eight year old son was having trouble getting his new knife closed. As I attempted to help him, it closed. After we set the knife down I noticed my hand felt warm and wet, and looked down to find it quickly filling with blood. I had no idea that I cut myself. I ended up using that clotting powder stuff from our F.A. Kit to stop it.

[durp]

Yep, u got it fingered out 

[woodchucker]

"There ya go Pilgrim, Sharp enough to skin a fish with"

"Bear Claw" Chris Lapp, Jeremiah Johnson

[Sojurn]

SuperK,  I don't test sharpness on soft steel much.  And in the context of a steel that needs a cutting edge,  I'd call anything under 54-55 rockwell soft.  It seems to me that most brodheads are softer than that. 
  I never could get an edge I liked on (most) stock broadheads, hence the new heat treatment. 
  Please keep in mind,  I'm speaking generally and anecdotally as I do not have a Rockwell tester. 

[hawkeye n pa]

Sojurn, enjoyed your sense of humor through this, and glad it wasn't more serious.  I have been cut  over the years with what you might call  'soft'  broadheads though.  Same results.

[SuperK]

Thank you for your reply, Sojurn.  So based on what you know about steel (as a knife maker), you are stating that nearly all "standard" broadheads are too soft to benefit from a honed, polished edge?  So maybe Fred Bear's method of broadhead sharpening ( smooth filed) is really the "best"?

[reddogge]

I'd buy a safer quiver. What if you'd fallen on it?

[rkelly]

As we are on the subject of cutting and blood, I was recently put on blood thinner.  Thought perhaps I should carry some of that blood clot powder in my pack.  Do you of you have a suggestion about what is best?  Thank you for any replies.

[Sojurn]

Reddogge, I completely agree, and I'm making an insert right now to try and make the thing safer.
 
On the subject of soft steels. I don't have definitive answers, just some things I prefer. So here's my $.02. 
 
  Broadheads were made relatively soft back in the day, because they didn't have access to our modern steels.  And steel they did have was more expensive.  They came up with a broadhead that was affordable, and that wouldn't shatter on a hard impact.  A byproduct of lower hardness is that a file will still cut them.  Somewhere along the line, sharpening with a file became a feature of the those heads instead of something that was coincidental.
  With softer steels, you need more metal right at the cutting edge to support it, otherwise it'll just fold over.  Therefore you need a thicker edge and it will never be as fine.  Even if you put a high polish on it(and you can), the cutting edge is very delicate, and it won't last long (which is to say it dulls very quickly).  With a file formed and stropped edge you get an almost serrated cutting surface.  It's grabby, and as it deforms and breaks down it remains somewhat sharp. 

  For a softer steel, yes I think Fred Bear's method is the appropriate one.
 
  I think a harder steel and a finely honed edge is a superior cutting tool but that being said,  many many critters were killed with bone stock Zwickeys, Razorheads, ace's etc. Etc. 
  I dont think they are bad, I just think they can be improved.
 
  I hope im not rambling to much, and am making sense guys.
 

[SuperK]

Once again, thank you for your reply.

[Kokopelli]

I've spent a fair amount of time sharpening broadheads 'razor sharp' and got fairly good at it. This year I decided to go old school with a file the way Dick Garver Sr. showed me years ago and Howard Hill showed him. The head is sharpened with a file and then the edge of the file is raked back along the edge of the broadhead, giving a fine serrated edge on the Zwickey two blades that I use.
So far this year, I've double lunged a javelina in Jan. and a spike buck in Aug. Both went down in sight.
 

[Lori]

This year i am hunting with 140 grain Hills that are so hard they made a new file shiny and dull.  My husband used a power grinder to get a workable edge, then a new diamond hone and then a serration with a file with 'safety' edges on the narrow sides, then some hair and some air with the leather belt.  I have also watched while he tried to teach others how to get heads sharp enough to shave hair, some guys just don't have the skill set to get it. For those he recommends a thing called a RADA. 

[Tomas Stieber]

I like a stainless steel broad head, Snuffers are what I use. With a Lansky sharpener I use a 20 degree angle which gives a very keen edge. The sharpness out of the package is ok, but I can do better.

[Gordon Jabben]

I've spent a fair amount of time sharpening broadheads 'razor sharp' and got fairly good at it. This year I decided to go old school with a file the way Dick Garver Sr. showed me years ago and Howard Hill showed him. The head is sharpened with a file and then the edge of the file is raked back along the edge of the broadhead, giving a fine serrated edge on the Zwickey two blades that I use.
So far this year, I've double lunged a javelina in Jan. and a spike buck in Aug. Both went down in sight.

This method has always worked for me.  Most of the people that bash this method of sharpening, have never tried it.

[John Cholin]

Soj,

Here is what I have learned so far.  (At 71 I'm just getting up to speed.)

I am shooting the Grizzly Bruin heads at 150 grains.  I sharpen them with a Lansky crock stick type sharpener with the 20 and 25 degree holes.  As an amateur ML gunsmith I learned long ago that when sharpening chisels and other cutting tools that the primary bevel of 20 degrees is optimum but often leads to a 'wire edge" where the steel curls over.  Every master gunsmith I know switches to a 25 degree secondary bevel on their sharpening jig to strike-off the wire edge.  The 25 degree set of holes in the Lansky crock stick is there for that purpose.  For my broadheads I sharpen the primary bevel at 20 degrees.  I then switch to the 25 degree holes and give the heads 10 strokes with light pressure on each edge.  All my broad heads are shaving sharp and stay that way for the whole season.

I make my own quivers, too.  Mine is a back/side quiver of leather lined with rabbit fur.  But in the bottom of the quiver is a 1 foot section of 2.5" PVC schedule 40 pipe with a 1/2 " thick MDF plug in the bottom held with three screws running perpendicular to the long dimension.  No broadhead will cut through that!  A little care is necessary when placing arrows in the quiver to ensure the broadhead edge does not contact broadheads already in the quiver.  But I only have to do that twice per day, usually, and its a small concession to make for an enormous safety benefit.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

JMC

[acedoc]

As we are on the subject of cutting and blood, I was recently put on blood thinner.  Thought perhaps I should carry some of that blood clot powder in my pack.  Do you of you have a suggestion about what is best?  Thank you for any replies.

we used quiklot in the field and it worked well. hurts though - judging from the reactions. other option is something called gel surgical foam made from gelatin (i guess).

another thing you may not be able to source is Botropase (derived from viper venom). been a few years since i used one of these.