Belt sander and KME= time saver!

[razorsharptokill]

New factory edges on many two blade heads are horribly rough and uneven. One way to speed up the truing of the edge on new 2 blade heads is to use the KME broadhead sharpener with a belt sander.

WITH CAUTION AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL.... I did six new in the package Zwickey deltas in about 15 minutes. (I have not tried this with a curved edge broadhead)

I set the belt to run more to one side than the other so there is room for the KME. I place the roller of the KME parallel to the belt on the flat surface the belt travels over with the edge of the BH up off of the belt, tip pointing in the direction the belt is traveling.

While leveling the the edge with the belt surface, I lower it to the belt. I use 1 second  on 3 seconds off to keep from over heating the steel. With a sharpie marker, mark the edge before hand so you can gauge your progress.

It didnt really sharpen the edge but trued it up and got rid of the grind marks from the manufacturer.

Now they are ready for the diamond stone, medium grit wet stone, and finally onto the Japanese water stones that are 600/1200 grit. After that I strop them on a piece of leather impregnated with jewelers polish. Freakishly sharp broadheads are possible with the KME.

This process may not be for everyone but I thought I'd bring it up because it saved me a lot of time. I can't take credit for this idea. If anyone wants, I can get some pics showing what I described above.

These heads are for my upcoming Elk hunt. I have no doubt that they perform amazingly well.

NOTE: I did notice a slight difference in the angle the belt process applied as apposed to using the KME on the sharpening stones. Probably has to do with the increased pressure I applied while using the belt sander. It took very little time per side to fix this on the diamond stone.

[Steve Kendrot]

The thickness of the sandpaper probably accounts fOr the slight angle difference. You aren't placing the roller on the belt correct?  I do something similar with my file and need to shim it up to the proper level and found addition of a thick peice of paper makes the difference.

[Zradix]

sounds scary as hell.

[razorsharptokill]

Its not bad at all. A pair of leather gloves and safety glasses as PPE.

The roller is NOT placed on the belt but runs sideways/parallel to it. Yes now that you mention it the thicknes of the belt would make that surface higher. Need to shim up the surface the roller rests on.

A light touch at first lets you gauge how much drag there is. It never remotely felt like it was going to rip it out of my hand. Like I said, not for everyone but will save a LOT of time.

I'll get some pics posted this evening of what I'm talking about.

[cacciatore]

Jim,if you can post few pics i would appreciate it!Thanks.

[Mike Vines]

Yes, pics would be very handy.  I used a belt sander to quickly sharpen a chisel ONCE.  I held the belt sander tight to my waist, pulled the trigger layed the chisel on the belt, then my sweatshirt got caught in the belt.  Sucked in the sweatshirt, and commenced to stand straight up with such force, it knocked me on my arse.  Knocked the wind out of me, and also was another lesson to NEVER take the easy way out.  I use a file and stones for all my sharpening now.  

Sometimes it just isn't worth saving 20 seconds.  Had that same lesson with a tree stand, but that's a whole other story.

[razorsharptokill]

 

[cacciatore]

:thumbsup:Thanks.

[tradtusker]

I like it

[Stone Knife]

What about excessive heat?

[twowolvesarchery]

I put the roller right on the sander and it saved me an hour on six zwickey deltas compared to doing it just with the stones.

[razorsharptokill]

I tried that too before but found that it caused excessive wear in the holes where the roller mounts.

As far as heat goes I only touch the edge to the paper about every3-5 seconds fora second at a time.

[COOCH]

I do the same thing on a lot of heads that are in bad shape.I keep a small bucket of ice water next to me as I do this.Sharpen about 3-4 seconds and dunk the head one the ice bath.It helps with the over heating greatly.

[razorsharptokill]

I wish there was a belt that you could put polishing compound on to really put a super slick edge on with.

[Mike Vines]

Originally posted by razorsharptokill:
I wish there was a belt that you could put polishing compound on to really put a super slick edge on with.

Take an old belt, run it on concrete to remove the grit and wala a polishing belt, just add compound.  I've done that in the past to get a shine on metal real quick.

[kennyb]

Mike Vines-I don't mean to laugh, but that was a funny story!...I know what you mean though as some things are just too much! I like sharpening by hand as it gives me satisfaction! lol
Thanks.

Kenny  

[razorsharptokill]

That idea is genius! I'll have to try it. I like sharpening too but hate the time it takes to get the factory edge where I can even begin to sharpen it. Now once I get the bevel set.. THEN I slow down and become OCD about it.

[wooddamon1]

Thanks for the tip, Jim. I'm the same way about the factory edges...

[ChuckC]

I just epoxied an angled guide wire (spare rod from a Lansky set) to the side of my belt sander and use an old Lansky jig.  You can use any jig this way including a homemade jig.
 
ChuckC

[razorsharptokill]

Very cool Chuck!

ALL-
Beware the edge of the blade catching the belt seam. POW! Broadhead launcher! Hasn't happened to me but the potential is there. Use this technique at your own risk.