Forged Single Bevel Revisited

[Guru]

Doc, That's great bud!

[amar911]

I'm with JC in hoping Doc will develop a screw-in model.

[Littlefeather]

WOW!  :eek:   Those are some nice heads!!!You do great work Doc! CK

[Jack Skinner]

Thanks Tippit

The closeups are not great still learning how to use a digial camera.

 

 

I didnt heat treat them, something I would like to learn, and I believe you have a lot you could teach us.

Cutting them out with a dremmel tool heats them up so that I cant handle them but doesnt seem to have any effect on the hardness of the steel I am making them from (saw blades). Then wet grind in the bevel. Just cut out a 160gr from some banding steel a friend gave me, but there is a lot of rust on the steel and need to clean up some to see if the steel is still good and strong.

 
This one has not been blued yet

[Marvin M.]

Jack,

Will banding steel make a good head?  If so, I'm loaded with the stuff and  can try making some myself.  

I've used it on cartridge case blunts with good results, but never thought about making a hunting broadhead out of one.

Does it have to be heat treated?

Thanks,

Marvin

[fyrfyter43]

I would think the banding steel is too thin and would bend easily.

[Jack Skinner]

Marvin M

Im not sure yet. The steel like Fyrfyter43 says is malluable(?spelling). It is 2inch wide and almost as thick as the saw blade steel. I do not think it will be as stong as the saw steel, some testing to follow soon.

It may need to be tempered which I hope to learn how to do soon.

Tippit may be able to give better advice on banding steel. I used it because a friend gave it to me I prefer the saw blades so far. 5 bucks from just about anywhere and I can get 8 trade points from one blade.

[Firstarrow]

My experience with old sawblades is that they hold one HECK of an edge but are faily brittle.

Has anyone else experienced the same thing?

[Marvin M.]

That's what I was thinking, so was definitely interested when you said that.

I've cut triangles from it to add to cartridge case blunts.  Seems to work well (haven't connected on a tree rat yet, but a direct hit on an oak held up well).  I carry one or more of those with me all the time when roving in case of an opportunity.

[tippit]

What I use is a good high carbon steel that you can play around with to get a good strong but flexible head.  Briefly to heat treat, you get the steel red-orange hot and quickly quench in oil for a very rapid cooling.  This makes it very hard and brittle.  Tempering is to re-heat at lower temperatures.  The hotter you get the quenched steel--the softer it becomes.  For a knife I like the edge to be fairly hard but that is too brittle for a broadhead.  I'll temper my broadheads at 400-425F in an oven for 1-2 hours.  You can file an edge but they are stronger for tip bending than regular broadheads...that's why the one head penetrated the steel pipe without bending or breaking.  Kinda finding the sweet spot in not too hard to break or not too soft to bend.  Go over to the hunting knives and there is plenty of posts on steel & heat treating...Doc

[Jack Skinner]

I dont use old saw blades but new. That way they have not been heated up repeatedly by use. They are not brittle as far as I can tell from shooting so far. Not into anything as hard as tippit has but they hold up to 3d, and hard packed dirt/rock of WY so far (few misses). No bending, chipping of edge and are holding edge well. May have to try and shoot a few into some wood and other materials for strenth testing.

So tippit it is heat to red-orange quench. Then temper in oven at 400-425 for two hrs. And if I like the feel of the steel as in when I resharpen after beveling I like the way the metal works with a file for sharping, can I just temper for bend strength or is that step even needed if I like the steel as is (not sure if I am saying this right). I will look thru the knife sectin
Thanks

[tippit]

Jack, If you like the way it holds an edged and it's strength now then stay with what you have.  Certainly no need to bother any further.  I'm just like to tinker when I'm forging so I try different temper hardness.  Then try to destroy the blade or broadhead and see what works best for me...Doc

[JEFF B]

hey doc you done good nice heads