I did the search, and although some interesting articles came up, none seemed to mention home made broadheads. I googled it too, and everything I saw came up with guys using typical galvanized mild steel sheet metal.

I will keep looking, but seems like it shouldn’t be THAT hard. I realize it’s not something everyone can do, but seems like SOMEONE ought to have been able to figure it out.

The search goes on.:D

FUBAR wrote: I have made them from circular saw blades and from industrial bandsaw blades

Interesting. How well do they hold up? Any idea how hard they are? I read up a bit on making knives from them, but some folks say the cutting tips are the only “hardened” part.

What kind of finished weight did you end up with?

How did you go about making them?

Is that enough questions for ya?:D

Thanks.

Maybe but I have more time than money.

I went there, and that is exactly the kind of idea I was thinking. Thanks for the tip. I will surely post here if I am successful in making one.

archer38 wrote: My Dad used to make knives from power hack-saw blades. They really held an edge and were a fairly heavy gauge.I’m thinking they would make great broadheads. I’m also picturing a slot cut into a target point with a two sided blade in it……

Ok, now you have me making some !!!

You mean like a Sawzall blade? I don’t think they are quite wide enough. In CA they have to be over 1″ wide.

Ok I made one up today. Cut a triangle 1 1/8″ wide and 3 1/8″ long, from a 10″ circular saw blade. That part alone weighed about 255gr. I then cut a piece of 5/16″ rod about 2 1/2″ long. Next I cut a slot into the rod. The slot is about .040″ wide, and needs to be wider. The blade cut out is .075″ thick.

Then I put the rod in the lathe and cut one end down to the shank and threaded section of a screw in arrow head. Once that was done I flipped it around and tapered the front end of it to a 5 deg taper for smooth air flow. Once done I put the two pieces together, and did a soft solder to hold them in place. I then ground a single RH bevel on each side. The total head weighs a hefty 431 gr. Will REALLY up the EFOC game.

Here’s a pic of it.

It’s not very pretty right now, cause the saw blade had all sorts of crap on it, and I just wanted to see what would turn up.

I also decided after learning from this that I will make my own steel broadhead adapters from now on as well.

These are slow to build, but it’s a labor of love right now. One thing I think would be a real help, would be a hefty spot welder, to weld the ferrule to the blade and then brazing for a seamless connection. I would also like to seat the blade about 3/8- 1/2″ deeper into the ferrule, for better balance and blade strength.

When I put this setup in my carbon arrow, it weighed 822gr total. Any one shooting a 70lb bow looking for a REAL FOC setup? 😀

I believe I could cut the taper a little closer on the point end of the ferrule, and maybe drop it to a 3 deg taper, for a smoother look all the way back.

Major issues, are either getting thinner blades to cut, or cutting a wider slot to fit them into. The current set up makes it tough to balance. It does spin balance (standing up on table, tip down) pretty well.

I haven’t tried to shoot it because it just has a small amount of soft solder on it to keep the blade on. But when I get more gas for my torches, I will braze it on.

This is fun!:wink:

OK, got a new wild hair going today.

Since I have completely run out of my oxy-acetalene, out of my mig welding gas, so am welding with my flux core wire, I decided there had to be a way to attach the ferule permanently to the blade. I welded it!:D

I figured a few spot welds (they are not real pretty) to begin and see how well the whole rig stands up to shooting. I made one at the end of the ferule, on each side, and one at the bottom of the ferrule on each side.

OK welded it on, ground off some of the excess, and then went looking for what I was going to shoot into. I didn’t want to shoot my broadhead target, not hard enough. Sure didn’t want to shoot my oak trees, since I wanted the head back, AND I wanted to shoot more than once. So I decided to shoot into the same small hill I test my rifles in.

This is not some ordinary hill, mind you. It is about 50%, or more, decomposed granite (DG). If you have no experience with DG, let me tell a story. Last year I dug a 100′ ditch across the bottom of this hill for the 1 1/4″ water line for my back yard sprinklers. The first 50 ft from the main line were in dirt, the second 50 ft, in DG. The first 50ft took me an hour to dig, with my shovel. The second 50ft took 3 days, using a pick axe and 12lb spud bar. The pick axe would dig in about an inch with each hit. This crap is HARD!!!

OK back to archery. So I decided to shoot into this hill from about 20yds, with my 54lb recurve. First off, that heavy head (plus the 135gr insert, total weight over 800gr) REALLY put ARCH back in archery:shock:. That puppy drops!

Once I adjusted for the DROP, there was a weed I was aiming at, that was in real peril. I shot this head repeatedly into the hill. Sometimes it hit a soft spot and went in about 8-10″ and sometime it literally bounced off. You could see the mark of the head in the hill, but it really bounced back.

After at least 20 shots into the hill, I took the above photo. The head is not bent, the tip is not bent, the weld didn’t crack, but it did dull the edges (duh!).

The edges are not even, but that is because I accidentally hit them when grinding the welds down.

This puppy is tough.

OK so my concept works, now I need to refine it to make real, usable heads. As was said above, “a bit heavy”. I can lighten this head. I could narrow the ferrule quite a bit. It can also be shortened, as the section behind the blade does not need to be very long.

I also think I could possibly drill holes in the blade towards the rear of the blade to make it lighter. Most likely, a thinner blade (this one was .075″ thick) maybe .050 or .060″, and a narrower ferule would bring it right in at 300 or so.

As mentioned, this was a test of ME to see if the idea had any merit. I think it does, and since deer season is over this Saturday (yes OVER, unbelievably early in this area) I will have more time work on these projects. Right now it’s hit and miss.

I am not sure how well this will hold an edge, but I will surely try to find out once I get some made. I need to make my ferrule cuts wider, and the ferrule shorter and thinner.

This was from the body of a 10″ carbide circular saw blade. Does anyone know if the body of the 7 1/2″ blades are any thinner?

I have bundled two 2″ saw blades together, and they are giving me a .040″ wide ferrule cut, and I have a third blade and that would give me a .060″ cut, and if I had .060″ blades it would make that part a bit easier.