single bevel woes

[Doc Nock]

Nothing wrong with single bevel... I always shoot for the boiler but plan for errant shots.  I have more double bevel kills then single bevel, but the 2 I had with single bevel when I skinned them and cut them open, looked like they were hit with a ballistic tip bullet!    :eek:  

Sharp has done it well for eons...so sharp is where you start... but single bevel is no harder to get sharp, just slightly different technique.

The ones I did for my friend recently were the older Grizzly... 25* only touched the very edge of them. That's what needs to be sharp... and the NEW Gold series diamond from KME surely made it work well!  

I have had Tuskers...also very hard steel like Grizzly... but were KME ground and sold thru Braveheart. Touching up with KME is slick and quick.  I tried some raw and about wore myself out... and the OLD diamond stones weren't cutting the steel...I've had to dispose of those wore out critters!  :(  

Bill's new set up and heads are my next stop. NOthing like having them already set with the right bevel! Which is the hard part of sharpening!

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by Steve O:
[/qb]

Better yet just get new stock from Bill and sell the old ones. Everything he does he finds just a little bit better way to do it. You have a lot of good options here             [/qb][/QUOTE]

Agree with Steve ^^^

[Onehair]

Great heads. Great blood trails and in my opinion fly better than any head I have used. I will bet that what ever you are doing, your doing it to hard.
I use the card board wheel system and the carbide sharpener when in the field. The Razor Sharp at
 www.grizzly.com  is the ticket. Most times 30-45 seconds and I'm hairless

[Bigriver]

I bought a 6 pack, and tried them this season. I had a hard time at first, I ruined the first one. I decided to stick them in the kme knife sharpener, and after some work, they are the scariest sharp heads I have used. I finished them on a green strop from the knife company, and they went over the top sharp. I could easily shave with them. The one I sent through my buck this year just got stropped and is back in the quiver. I`m pretty impressed, been shooting snuffers and stingers for a long time, I`ll be using the grizzz for a while.

[Duckbutt]

Flattening the back is key. It's impossible to remove the burr with a file if you don't have the back flattened.  Takes some work but once you are there they are MONEY!

[Mike Gerardi]

I will buy all your old ones

[caleb7mm]

okay, finally home from work.

I got somewhere today on these. Took my old lead body file with me. I spent some time on the flat side getting them FLAT.

then I mounted them in a jig and put it in the vice. Took my mill bastrd file out and went to work. I went until I had a good foil edge. then I went a little farther with a smooth stone.

then to my strop (saddle leather). I was able by going back and forth slowly to get the foil edge to roll off. They still don't feel as sharp as they should for some reason? maybe its just me

[zipper bowss]

They will not get scary sharp if you do not wipe the burr off from the non bevel side. I say wipe the burr off because you do not want to use much pressure with your stone.

[Dan Bonner]

I made a jig for a 6x48 belt sander to flatten the bevel to 25 degrees or so. I use 120 grit for this. After bevel is set I use a worksharp wheel with a 600 grit diamond grinder to touch them up and then made a leather strop to screw down on the wheel to finish them. It takes me about 1 min each to get then shaving sharp with a perfectly homed mirror finish bevel this way.

[DarkTimber]

I was in the same boat as you.  I could get almost any broadhead hair plowing sharp but single bevels had my number.  I could raise a burr but when I went to wipe it off as Bill is saying it would just roll back to the other side.  I'd flip it over and it just went back and forth.  I never could get it to come off leaving that scary sharp edge. What finally worked for me was to do 99% of the work on the single bevel side. Once the burr is raised I use a fine stone and light pressure to sharpen both sides like a double bevel...same number of strokes on each side then strop on leather. Doing it this way  creates a tiny bevel on the off side which is almost not even noticeable and has no effect on the way the single bevel rotates in the target.   This may not be the correct way but it's the only way I can get them sharp and once I started doing it this way I could instantly get them sharper than any other head.

[zipper bowss]

Originally posted by DarkTimber:
I was in the same boat as you.  I could get almost any broadhead hair plowing sharp but single bevels had my number.  I could raise a burr but when I went to wipe it off as Bill is saying it would just roll back to the other side.  I'd flip it over and it just went back and forth.  I never could get it to come off leaving that scary sharp edge. What finally worked for me was to do 99% of the work on the single bevel side. Once the burr is raised I use a fine stone and light pressure to sharpen both sides like a double bevel...same number of strokes on each side then strop on leather. Doing it this way  creates a tiny bevel on the off side which is almost not even noticeable and has no effect on the way the single bevel rotates in the target.   This may not be the correct way but it's the only way I can get them sharp and once I started doing it this way I could instantly get them sharper than any other head.

Thank you for the clarification! That is exactly the way I do it and the way I suggest to others do it. I guess I was not clear. That is why it is best to call with questions.

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by DarkTimber:
I was in the same boat as you.  I could get almost any broadhead hair plowing sharp but single bevels had my number.  I could raise a burr but when I went to wipe it off as Bill is saying it would just roll back to the other side.  I'd flip it over and it just went back and forth.  I never could get it to come off leaving that scary sharp edge. What finally worked for me was to do 99% of the work on the single bevel side. Once the burr is raised I use a fine stone and light pressure to sharpen both sides like a double bevel...same number of strokes on each side then strop on leather. Doing it this way  creates a tiny bevel on the off side which is almost not even noticeable and has no effect on the way the single bevel rotates in the target.   This may not be the correct way but it's the only way I can get them sharp and once I started doing it this way I could instantly get them sharper than any other head.

Thats what I do as well. Couldn't have been spoken better, good job DarkTimber.

[Brock]

That is how I remember Ron telling me to do it...when I do the stroke on non-bevel side it is at a high angle as well...not flat like some furniture builders will do their scrapers and other tools.   This way it takes off the burr using very light pressure where you can feel the burr grapping the stone/file and then it releases when removed.  As stated..almost like a VERY VERY thin edge on that side compared to bevel side.

[caleb7mm]

I will try this

[caleb7mm]

way worse? the head I just tried this on is now dull as a spoon. raised a burr, used a fine stone to finish it off.

I don't have a single bevel broadhead that will cut a hair.

this is actually frustrating to the point of not wanting to hunt now.

[Duckbutt]

Do you have them flat on the back?  If not, you might die trying to get them sharp.

[Doc Nock]

For me, it was always an "operator error".  In my case,in trying any "free hand" style, I was inadvertently changing the angle ever so slightly and lack of consistency kept me defeated.

Once Ron got a hold of me with the KME knife and / or Broad Head sharpener, each stroke was EXACTLY the same.

I also had to learn to let the tool and stones do the work and ease up on pressure... I was also being too forceful with even the KME at first...

Hate this for you...      :mad:

[SuperK]

Hey Caleb...hang in there bro and don't give up.       What finally worked for me was after lightly working up a burr with my file on the   beveled side (not the entire bevel but just the edge), I then put my file on the bench with the tang of the file towards me.  I then placed the flat side of the broadhead on the file and made quick, short pulls toward me to wipe off most of the burr.  (these are left bevel, newly man.)  Then take your file and LIGHTLY wipe the bevel side again, and then go back to the file flat again with LIGHT pressure.  After going back and forth with less pressure each time, I then strop on cardboard.  This is not a "smooth shaving edge" but will easily cut hair and your arm if not careful.
There is also a good post on 9-17-15, titled "problems sharpening grizzly".  Read the way that Ray Hammonds does it.  I hope this helps.

[Old Chief]

I was having the same problems with the "old style " heads.  For me the most important thing was to make sure the flat side is flat and it took more then I thought to get some of them Flat!  Not as much of an issue with the new ones. Once I had them flat and established the bevel with a file, I finished them on a diamond stone. These will get scary sharp with the flat side being flat.

[caleb7mm]

its been 2 years and I haven't hunted with my trad gear simply because I can NOT get these sharp still!

I sold off my old style years ago. All I have are the "new" ones.

Who can I send them to so I can get them sharpened enough to hunt?

I cannot for the life of me figure out why this is such a hard thing for me and so many others!
I have free handed, used jigs, used a vice, used files, stones anything and everything you could ever think of to sharpen a single freaking broadhead!