Broadhead Sharpening - File or Stone

[BowHunterGA]

Ok gang, so in the past I have used both methods to sharpen broadheads. My experience has been both are deadly if done correctly but I want to see what experiences others may have had or what your thoughts are.

Personally I have found that I can get a lethal edge faster and somewhat easier with a file. I even built my own block to hold 2 smaller mill bastard files for sharpening many years ago that I still have today.

I have heard, or read that a surgical edge will be sharper and cut better then I have also read that this type of edge will dull faster?

I have accidently cut myself with both edges at different times over the years and while these cuts were minor, there was definately more bleeding caused from the edge created by the file sharepening. I credit this to the somewhat serrated edge created by the file?

So what has your experiences been and if one is better than the other please explain why. Inquiring minds want to know.  

[JamesKerr]

I prefer the filed edge as the tiny serrations "grab" the blood vessels causing major cuts. Just my opinion as either edge will work fine. Just make sure however you sharpen it that it will shave hair.

[mnbearbaiter]

Amen bro, i started getting that edge by accident with a Tru Angle file set years ago! I did a rubber band test with it and it passed, so now its all i use! I think its a little more durable when arrows are carried in a bow quiver too, at least in my estimation!

[Bjorn]

Personally I like a smooth scary sharp edge.  Why? Because it kills 'em dead!    

[bigbadjon]

I prefer a smooth polished edge so I sharpen them the same way as a knife. Starting with a razor stone and then a strop with buffing compound.

[SuperK]

Lots of comments on this one! (use the search feature...enough info to keep you reading for a while)    But I do wonder why butchers and people who work in a slaughter house use a butchers steel instead of a stone to sharpen and touch-up their knives.  

[bigbadjon]

I had a couple more thoughts. I probably would use a file if I had to do some serious stock removal, like the establishing and edge on a Zwickey. Luckily many modern heads come with very precise bevels from the package. I also disagree on the serrated edge offering an advantage. If a smooth edge pushes off an artery your edge was not sharp.Secondly cut yourself with a ragged edge versus a razor edge. The razor edge will undoubtably shed more blood and be more difficult to stop the flow.

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

I like a file then a diamond stick , just works for me,,,,,Sam,,,,,

[WhiteOaks]

File then ceramic sticks

[doowop]

HONE STEEL.

[Doc Nock]

I'd like to throw in my $.02 if I may.

Good examples and questions so far...about butchers and such.

Thing we may not be considering is that cutting yourself and STARTING to bleed or cutting up dead meat...isn't comparitive to the ultimate objective of a broad head!

What WE'RE trying to do with a broad head is KILL...by extensive and prolonged hemmorage...

We do NOT want the bleeding to stop.

Having said that, ever wonder why SURGEONS use polished edge scapels...blood clots kill patients!

Those tiny "burrs" leave a ragged edge. Ragged edges on vessels and arteries promote clotting by giving the blood plattelets a place to grab a hold and start the clot.

Deer in general have been eating green, leafy vegetables all summer...that are packed with Vitamin K...that enhances clotting!

Researches believe this is an evolutionary (God-incident?)that prepares the animals for the rigor of the rut...so they can heal quickly from injuries during that time of fighting.

We hunt then, too, eh?

Facts won't ever change opinions, but the poster asked. Clean, polished edge cuts take longer to clot up. Science. Not personal opinions.  

Don't mean that to sound authoritative, but medical science is what taught me what I share (not a real doctor, just play one on the internet but was a bio major and a Spanish leutinent)  

Then there is the 2 blade vs. 3 blade debate that never will end... plugged exit holes, fat plugging, arteries stick together (really?) that works with pressure bandages till you MOVE the cut part...then it starts like a "stuck pig" all over again.

Just something I researched and felt led to share.

I'll go now!          

[Roger Norris]

Doc, thats about the best explanation on filed vs polished I have seen.

I use a file to start and a steel to finish. My edge is very scary, and I can do it sitting on a stump. I suppose a ceramic stick might finish the edge a little smoother.

The only time I have had less than perfect blood trails has been on a few deer I have killed that we feeding almost exclusively on acorns....with very thick fat. I don't think it had anything to do with my edge....but that fat seal up like a McKenzie target sometimes.

I wonder....and I wonder if it matters...does a purely filed edge load itself up with suet in a situation like that?

[Recurve50 LBS]

I sharpen all my broadheads on a KME knife sharpener and then strop them on a piece of leather or a cardboard box. When I'm finished with them they are hair popping sharp. But I do carry a small 8" bastard file in my pack when I'm out in the woods just in case I need to touch one up after shooting it.

That being said, I have read I believe it was Dr. Ashby reporting that a blade sharpened to a smooth polished finish will actually cause a wound to bleed more because the edges of the wound are smooth and makes it harder for blood to co-agulate.Sorry for the spelling.

Many animals have been killed with both smooth polished broadheads and file sharpened broadheads.WHich one is better? IMHO the smooth polished cutting edge.To each is own just as long as the cutting edge is sharp. What degree of D.E.A.D. is better? Dead is dead.

I have used Fred Bear's method, Hill's method, Louis Armbrusters method of pulling the narrow flat of a file, file and steel, file and diamond hone, carbide cutters of various styles and my favorite with a Grizzly file either use the round and  smooth narrow edge as a steel or with the file teeth, which do not come to a corner like on a normal four sided file, putting a very fine edge serration on a filed and honed shaving sharp Grizzly broadhead.  From our kills on whitetail deer with Grizzlies, single bevel Hills that we make ourselves, Hunterheads and Zwickies I have not seen a clear advantage other than maybe how much edge remains on the head after it has been in the back quiver all day. So long as as the edge is as keen as the sharpening method can get it, they all seem to work.  Perhaps one method can work better in one broadhead design than another.  My son killed two deer with the 140 grain Hill that I 'completely ruined' with a file twice, using the Hill file method twice.  the blood trails were the same twice, a few spatters for twenty yards then huge globs of blood leading to the deer 50 and 70 yards from the hit.  I have never once had a broadhead fill up with hair or suet, I have seen a modern 3 blade and a 4 blade load up with hair on pass throughs with compound shooters leave no blood trails at all. Both deer were found days after the hit long distance from the shot.  I have not found a 2 blade broadhead that does not work with a shaving sharp edge, I would say if a shaving sharp edge gives you confidence then by all means use a shaving sharp edge.

[Pete W]

Bottom line is , sharp is sharp.
 Often  we can become obsessive in our quest, and look for reasons to justify what we are doing, and why.

 I have spent to much money on stones of every size, shape and type. Stones work, and files do too, but a file is faster, cheaper and easier.
 For me now it is only a file. They are fast, and will put on an edge that cuts just fine. A short 6 or 8" fine file in my pack is great to toutch up a head in the stand.
 At home I use larger files, and made a "V" block with files for the 2 blade heads that works great.
 A ceramic stick for a final finish completes the process if I am looking to kill some time, but it is not necessary.
 Pete

[see]

docnoc,you have shed the light.

[RkyMtn Joe]

I think we all have to find the method that best suits us.  I like the file method myself and have never had any problems getting a deadly sharp edge which has always worked for me.  A couple of finishing strokes on a steel or diamond stick and they are plenty sharp to me.

[PaddyMac]

A steel's purpose is to get all those tiny burrs going in the same direction. A true steel doesn't remove material from the blade.

[fedora]

I start with a file, time and patients and end with a leather strop and compound.  I start with a file, then go to a course stone, smoother stone, wet dry sandpaper glued down 400, 600, 800, 1200 the finish with an old leather belt with black then green compound.  This gets them so sharp it is incredible.  I shoot abowyer brown bears.

[David McLendon]

For my straight two blades I use a KME broadhead guide on a set of Japanese water stones to get them surgical sharp. For my Tree Sharks nothing is better than the method outlined by Landshark Launcher Chris Spikes. One step that I added at the end was stropping on the curved surface of an old leather weight lifting belt wrapped around my thigh.
 Snuffers I hand file with a set of diamond files and then leather strop.