I was talking to a buddy about it and he commented that he should check to see how sharp his are. I think a lot of people just assume they’re sharp out of the package.
Do you check your heads?
Who WOULDN'T check their broadheads? Out of all the hunting gear you use, the tip of that arrow that you've worked so hard at shooting straight and accurately is THE most important piece of hunting gear you own. Literally all you've worked for and dreamed about is at the tip of that broadhead .
Putting a sharp edge on steel has been my "therapy" for decades. I find it very relaxing. But that's me.
I also have an old Gerber folding pocket steel that I carry in my truck. When I'm stopped at a long light or waiting for a train to pass I hone my Leatherman blades with it. It's my version of a "fidget spinner"!
But I do test every head that goes into my quiver to be sure they’ll spin and shave.
And of course the old-school heads have to be brought up to the same level. I’m considering going to a single-bevel for at least a half-dozen if for no other reason than to find out if I can put (& maintain!) a better edge on one bevel than two.
But often when threads of this topic comes up I ask whether "decently sharp" or "scary sharp" really makes any difference. The example I bring up is I use practice blades that have already been through an animal, dinged up, shot into a target dozens of times if not more. They are very, very dull to the touch and blade edges visibly poor. As in no way any reasonable person would remotely consider hunting with them. Yet if I happen to shoot too close to another arrow that is already in the target, the dull blades will slice the fletch of the arrow in the target like a knife through butter. Literally slice it end to end smoothly. And that's a relatively flimsy piece of plastic that you'd have a tough time cutting cleanly by swinging your sharpest razor knife against.
Do not get me wrong, I'm not advocating using dull broadheads, but I'm not sure that a new one that out of the package doesn't seem overly sharp is really the problem some make it out to be.
How can you explain how cleanly an incredibly dull blade can slice a fletch?
And when I hear stories of guys being so anal as to alternate which arrow they remove from the quiver for a stand setup so as to not overly-dull a particular BH I think that's what it is...anal. Doubtful removing one from a quiver even hundreds of times would result in any measureable amount of reduced lethality.
Still, feel free sharpen them if you want to or it helps your confidence.
I have known folks that can sharpen a blade so quick it can may your head swim. Others can try all day and only make a blade duller.
LOL
3 blade Snuffers, VPAs, Wensels, etc - use A flat bastard file to remove the factory marks and get to where I have some curl/burr at the edges of all 3 blades then a hard Arkansas stone with oil running flat to take off the burr. Strop a few times with leather and polishing compound to finish. Make sure all 3 blades shave put some chapstick on the edges and take ‘em hunting!
Not the best angle on the 3-blades at around 60 degrees, but never had any issues with them and always good blood trails.
Under 10 Degree Angles The lowest angles are reserved for edges that are typically cutting softer materials. In this case, the edges are not subject to abuse so the lower angle can be maintained without damage or edge failure. The lowest angles that we typically see are on straight edge razors. These are sharpened to an angle which is roughly 7 to 8 degrees (although the back of the blade is used as a guide so knowing the angle isn’t important and it is not adjustable). A straight razor has a very delicate edge that is very easy to damage. In proper usage, a straight razor would never see the type of use that would damage the edge.
10 to 17 Degrees Angles A sharpening angle of 10 to 17 degrees is still quite low for most knives. With a total angle of 20 to 34 degrees, this is still a very fine edge. This edge is typically too weak for any knife that might be used in any type of chopping motion. Also consider that harder steels are also more susceptible to impact damage because they are more brittle. If your knife is used for cutting soft items or slicing meats, this lower angle can hold up and provide a very smooth cutting action.
17 to 22 Degree Angles A 17 to 20 degree angle covers most kitchen knives. Some knives (typically Japanese manufacturers) will sharpen their knives to roughly 17 degrees. Most western knives are roughly 20 degrees. It is our experience that kitchen knives sharpened to 15 to 20 degrees cut very well and are still durable. These angles are still not highly durable as a total angle under 40 degrees will not respond well to rougher treatment in harder materials.
22 to 30 Degree Angles In this range, the knife edges are considerably more durable. A pocket knife or a hunting knife will inevitably see abuse not seen by knives meant primarily for slicing or chopping softer materials. While the edge may not ultimately cut as well (but you may not notice a difference) it will be considerably more durable.
Over 30 Degrees Angles Any edged tool or knife that is sharpened past 30 degrees will be very durable. Its cutting ability will be noticeably reduced. This durability has an advantage because more force can be used to make the cut. While the majority of knives won’t benefit from this sharpening angle, an edged tool like a machete, cleaver or axe must be durable as the typical cutting action of these tools would damage other edges.
Arterial walls are multi-layered and muscular; they have to be able to stand up to quite a bit of pressure, which goes up exponentially with increases in diameter, so those high-pressure lines we all strive to hit are made of some stern stuff...
Of course, they are held more or less in place by the connective tissue, so while the whole vessel is unlikely to be moved any appreciable distance, a dull blade can just slide over the surface, displacing not the vessel but the blood inside it. Like poking a water balloon with your finger.
So, yeah, sharp matters...
That said I’ve sharpened VPAs, Magnus 2 blades, the original Snuffer before and during a hunt and find it to be exactly like tying flys before a big fishing trip. I can get the heads heads sharp but the process might explain why the GKs with the superior edge are still in the cabinet.
If you are referring the the little bleeder blade on the Iron Will, they are a real BEEEATCH to resharpen
GF, I see this stated all the time. And common sense says yes it is true. But has it ever been truly tested? Cuz I've cut the heck out of myself with some pretty dull crap over the years on things travelling far slower than an arrow. I'm not advocating guys go out without sharp heads. Obviously the sharper they are before they contact hide, the sharper they'll be when they contact vital stuff inside. I guess maybe what I need to think is that the broadhead is rapidly slowing down as it goes through an animal.
Anyone out there kill an animal with their practice broadhead by mistake? And if so, how was your bloodtrail?
Says while casually putting his arms in peoples faces. “Yeah, just touching up my broad heads on the way over”.
Sharpening stuff is one of the reasons why I love to hunt so much. Knives, broadheads, axes, machetes...whatever. If it has an edge, I want it SHARP, and it can never be sharp enough!
"The Riddle Of Steel".... :-)
I’ve been known to shave hair off of my forearm with an axe. I honestly couldn’t tell you if that’s necessary or even beneficial, but it feels awfully good to do it just because I CAN. That said, my broadhead results would not suffer from my learning the craft a little better. I can get them plenty sharp with the tools that I have available, but I would like to get better with just a flat file and a stone.
Just because it makes me happy to master something new.
Some guys hunt for meat. Some guys hunt for trophies. I hunt mostly to get better at it. Meat is just a welcome fringe benefit…
If you shoot a BH with replaceable blades/hard angles, all your sharpening is pointless.
Building on cnelk's post, these razor blade heads don't hold a sharp edge once they penetrate to the level of where it matters.
Look, the whole point of being razor sharp is to slice flesh. If a blade is sharp, it slices things cleanly. If it's dull, it pushes through and rips. Cut yourself with a fresh razor blade and it'll not bleed until you move, but then you can't stop it because the vessels are cut cleanly instead of ramroded and abrased. Cut yourself with something dull and the ragged edges create the perfect nidus for platelets to form a clot. I've been repairing wounds for a living for 15 years and the wounds that are caused by a sharp knife bleed longer and restart bleeding far more than the more dull cut/rip variety.
Look at your disposable heads after they've gone through the chest of an animal. They look like they've been ramroded through gravel for 5 minutes.
Now shoot a BH like a VPA through an animal: You can't even tell it went through it.
I've done this experiment and I encourage any of you who use blades with replaceable heads to do it yourselves. Muzzy's, Thunderheads, even so many people's favorites, Slick Tricks:
The next time you kill a deer, cut off the ribs without removing the hide. It's an easy thing to do. You just separate the hide below the ribs and cut through the abdominal wall muscles, then cut to the spine near the ham and neck and then lift it up like the hood of your truck and saw it off at the spine.
Next, take your hair/hide/ribs (do it while they're still fresh to simulate actual hunting) and put them in front of your foam archery target and shoot your out-of-the-box AND/OR sharpened razorblade BHs through your deer's hair/hide/ribs. Then remove the arrow from the target and look at the broadhead.
By the time it gets to the part that matters (behind a set of ribs, the part that kills them), your broadhead is trashed. I haven't done the test with just hide to simulate a far quartered-to animal as the vast majority of my shots are through ribs, but I bet the results are similar.
I did this experiment after ragging on VPAs for a few years for being so expensive because I killed animals with Muzzy's out-of-the-box without any problems. But I always noticed that they looked torn up afterwards, even if they didn't stick in the dirt.
Then I killed a few animals with VPAs and even if they planted in the dirt, you couldn't even tell they'd gone through an animal unless they hit rocks. And then I killed a deer with the same BH after having shot it through a deer and not resharpened it (same day, last arrow) and it was still sharp...
My point? If you're shooting a BH with replaceable razor blades on it, sharpening it is pointless because it's dull by the time it gets through hair/hide/ribs.
I'm not saying they won't kill animals. I've killed a bunch of animals with Muzzys. When it actually matters is on those occasional poorly hit animals - it's a small percentage of the time. Most of the time, you could have a piece of obsidian on the end of your arrow and it'll do the job.
But on those few animals, the BH that keeps its edge, cutting better and penetrates better is going to theoretically give a better blood trail and possibly kill the animal a bit quicker - but there's no science to prove it either way. The only thing that's certain, is that razor blades are for cutting hair off of skin and for cutting skin without hair.
Think about it: Even a Havalon loses something if you cut through an inch of hair. If you've cut up a bunch of animals with a Havalon, you've seen how they instantly go from razor sharp to sharp the first time you hit a batch of hair or a bone. They're still sharp, but you can see how all that razorblade sharpening is instantly gone.
EDIT: I sharpen my VPAs.
But there is a whole new world that opens up when you put a thick, high quality, hard steel blade up front.
Add a well tuned straight flying heavy arrow and your killing tool is far more effective.
And of course there will be a lot of deer and elk killed with thin razor blades. They do kill.
But there is a whole new world that opens up when you put a thick, high quality, hard steel blade up front.
Add a well tuned straight flying heavy arrow and your killing tool is far more effective.
And of course there will be a lot of deer and elk killed with thin razor blades. They do kill.
But there is a whole new world that opens up when you put a thick, high quality, hard steel blade up front.
Add a well tuned straight flying heavy arrow and your killing tool is far more effective.
And of course there will be a lot of deer and elk killed with thin razor blades. They do kill.
How many guys believe they have lost an animal that they otherwise would have recovered had their BH been sharper or had edge retention been better?
I have one instance in ~100 animals where I think edge detention mattered in how quickly an animal died. He didn't go far so the recovery was never in question, but I personally think the circumstances where a top quality BH with excellent edge retention will outperform an average BH with poor edge retention are few and far between.
Don't take that as an excuse to shoot dull broadheads, just a commentary that on balance the difference and the downside are overstated.
Craig
Whatever you shoot, shot placement is far more important than broadhead sharpness.
Matt
Objection, Your Honor!
If you’d like to make the point that a field point will do the job when properly placed, then let’s talk about field points.
But a well knapped stone point will be far sharper than any manual or commercial manufacturing/sharpening process can make steel to be. SEMs prove it.
I think there has to be a balance, though, between sharp and sturdy; a hair-popping edge isn’t worth much more than a butter-knife if it gets rolled over to butter-knife quality on a rib.
I’m 100% in favor of having as keen an edge as possible as it passes through lung or vascular tissue; I’m just not sure what the ideal is. Maybe there’s something to be said for serrated edges after all? Not because they “rip and tear” as so many believe, but because at least parts of the edge never touch anything tough enough to take the edge off....
Ucsdryder's Link
SHARPEN THOSE HEADS!!!
