Arrow penetration.... the real secret.

[Curtiss Cardinal]

After all the praise in this post and because of they're gracious support of the St.Jude's Auction I bought a knife sharpening system. I don't have trouble sharpening on my own; but I have some salvaged Cold Steel knives that need to be brought back from butter knife to the shining examples of sharpness Cold Steel knives usually are. So this seemed to be the ticket plus the other duties this can accomplished.

[Curtiss Cardinal]

oh the full list of secrets of arrow penetration
1)Broadhead sharpness, a razor should weep in envy.
2)As close as you can get to perfect asrrow flight
3)High front of center weight, with a minimum of 10 grains of arrow weight per pound of draw weight aka at least a  500 grain arrow out of a 50# bow. Even heavier will work better until about 17 grains per pound being the point of diminishing returns.
4) Low cross sectional denisity aka thin arrow with as little fletching as you can achieve secret #2 with.
5)Shot placement, knowing where the space between the ribs is and putting the arrow there.

Of coarse I know that you all probably know all that. I just couldn't help myself.

[SERGIO VENNERI]

Everything that Charlie says, on sharpness and accuracy!

[Charlie Lamb]

Romans3... You should have no trouble at all using the knife sharpening system on the Ace heads.
Those Ace broadheads have some super steel in them and I suspect you'll be awed by the edge you get with the KME.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Charlie Lamb:
Romans3... You should have no trouble at all using the knife sharpening system on the Ace heads.
Those Ace broadheads have some super steel in them and I suspect you'll be awed by the edge you get with the KME.

i've sharpened ace standards on my kme knife sharpener - yep, hair shaving sharp.

[Joe D]

Charlie,
I hope I'm not misunderstanding but, it sounds like from what your saying, you could do most broadheads with the knife system. Are there any broadheads that you think would be difficult to do with the knife system?

[Rob DiStefano]

i do believe that the kme KNIFE sharpener will easily sharpen all TWO blade heads (or 4 blades with removal bleeder blades).  

the kme, like most all other sharpening systems, won't do three bladed heads like woodsmans and snuffers.

[wingnut]

OK OK ya convinced me.  I just got of the folks with Ron and we are now dealers for KME products.

We will have some product to show at Comptons next week.

Mike

[Charlie Lamb]

Joe D... How've you been bud? Like Rob said above.
 
I've mentioned that I think there may be trouble with heavilly concaved blades... the KME will do them, but I suspect the hone will take a beating after a while as it's mainly the edges of the stones that contact the blade.

May just give Ron a call and get his take on that.

Somewhere around here I've got a Howard Hill head that I'm gonna try as soon as I find it. The heavy aluminum ferrule can present problems with some systems, but I'll bet the knife sharpener will work on it as well.

Wow Mike! A dealer. That's pretty cool. I'm gonna have to break away and get up to Comptons one of these days. Sounds like a great time.

[Joe D]

Charlie...I've bean great....thanks!   :D   It's great to read your contributions and I hope all is going great for ya. PM me your street address, I have something I'd like to share with ya that I'm sure you'll enjoy.
It sounds like the knife setup would work for me....thanks for the feedback.  

[Ray Hammond]

Charlie,
nice thread.

I've been running hog hunts for a year now....and it appears sharp is a very subjective thing.

Your advice-for both the sharpening- impaired or those who don't think they have the time to put into sharpening their own heads couldn't be more spot on.

The KME puts a sharper edge than nearly every hand sharpened head we have checked in camp.

And Ron is one of the good ones too...he will patiently help anyone any time on the phone get up to snuff with his sharpener.

Always sage advice and timely info from The Sunbear-meister!

[Charlie Lamb]

Joe... I'm sending a PM with address. I'm a sucker for a mystery package.

Ray... Those findings in your camp don't surprise me. Sounds like your guys have been knocking them dead.

Found the Howad Hill head and gave it a go on the knife sharpener. No luck with that one. The dang ferrule gets in the way even at the steepest angle... OK, so that's one. LOL

Well everyone, it looks like this thread is on it's last leg so I'm gonna let it slide on down the page. When it drops off to page 2 I'll move it to the Product reviews forum.

I think the word is out on a great product. I'm sure I'll get a lifetime of service from mine.
   

[Terry Green]

BTW...I took Ron's advice and I 'back drug' my Sasquatch on some cardboard instead of leather....and it got it even sharper....but I didn't like the coregations and wasn't sure if I could find some better cardboard....and I did.

Save those 'legal' pads and use the cardboard on the back...they are flat and textured just right for reaching the ultimate level of sharpness.      

Thanks again Charlie for your time and effort....looks like I'm gonna invest in some of that 'dip' Ron uses as well...and go on a sharpening binge one Saturday before the season opens.

[Doc Nock]

Good suggestion, Tarz!

Ron also shared with a variety of us that the BH sharpener works great with coarse auto body wet-dry sandpaper laid wet on glass to cob off that extra metal with hard temper heads when resetting the angle.

He's full of tricks!  

[Mint]

Being a friend of Michele Eichler of Muzzy I was getting ribbed for not using the phantom broadhead. I just could not get them sharp no matter what i did. That all ended when I found Ron and the KME at Denton hill a few years ago. Now my phantoms are hair popping sharp. I even take the KME and my DMT Diamond bench stone on all my hunts because nothing else compares.

[frank bullitt]

Hmmm, I thought everyone used the cardboard on the back! good shootin, Steve

[elkbreath]

anybody been able to do a snuffer?  If I remember right, Elknut treats a three blade on his knife sharpening system on his product reviews.  

By the way, my KME is the only thing I have been able to get my eclipse single bevel crazy sharp.

My boning knives are quite dangerous too.  I carry two of them so as to be able to bone an elk without worry of losing an edge.  

good stuff Ron

[Deadbolt]

i got the pleasure of meeting ron several years ago b/c we both smoked...thats was probably the only good thing i got out of smoking was meeting ron...since them we have kept in touch and he is a top notch guy.

any man that gives up his hunting to produce such a product is a true man right there!  and not for money either just the desire to put out a perfect product made that man move!

ive sharpened many of heads with the KME and all went off without a hitch except the sin gle bevel zwicky which after a phone call to ron i had is sparkling.

elkbreath for my snuffers i use a 4 sided stone i got from harbor freight and just run it down course to fine with some oil then dfinish backwards on some leather.  works like a charm

[swampbuck]

I like to use the shirt box type of cardboard over top of the last stone.I add some jewlers rouge to the cardboard and strop with that it works great for me

For the 3 blade heads I use a vanala folder flat on my granite surface plate the same way for the last polish and it doubles as a holder to keep my differnt grit emery paper in...we only have as fine as 2000 grit here in the shop but it seems to work just fine

didn't read all the posts but sharp is definately where it's at, almost as important as placement

[Charlie Lamb]

Since this thread showed back up let me add an update.

I called Ron the other day to shoot the breeze and asked him about the concave edge broadheads and the wear I was seeing on the diamond hone when I sharpened the Simmons head.

He told me to use the natural coarse stone instead of the diamond. That's what I did and it worked like a charm.

Eventually the edges of the stone will round over, but that will only make it work better on the concave blades... and it would still work on straight edges.

He also mentioned my comments about serrate edge blades and the KME. (I admit I haven't watched his video) Just turn the hone slightly and use the edge to get in the "grooves". Duh!!!

Ron's suggestion about stropping the final edge on cardboard is a good tip. I've done that very thing for years around the shop to touch up razor knives.

More good stuff from the "Sharpster".