Broadheads For Wood Arrows

[Ricky Lee]

#4339

I use to use the Bear Razorhead for deer hunting. Have not hunted since the 80’s. Any suggestions since the Bear heads are no longer made.

[Mark Turton]

#36756

Keep an eye on ebay and you may find some that have been laying unloved for a while.

I like German Kinetics, think they are available from Alaska Bowhunting, probably 3 Rivers but they are also still made in Germany with a slightly different point that I like, not quite a tanto but I think a little more robust.

By the way welcome back to the fold, happy hunting, Mark.

[David Balowski]

#37366

Take a good look at the Ace Archery Standard Head or any of the other models. They sharpen easily, Durable, Fly nicely. and Broadheads have gotten expensive but these are still very affordable. http://www.acearcherytackle.com

[Stephen Graf]

#38248

I’ve been trying to get my cost / arrow down some too. This year I am going to use Tusker Concord Broadheads as they are the cheapest heads I’ve found so far. There are always tradeoffs though….

In the plus column:

– Sharpen well

– Appear to be strong

– Pretty easy to get spinning without wobble

– Cheap.

In the minus column:

– Almost no edge ground in. You have to do it yourself

– Cheap oxide finish that rusts easily

– Ferrel is not as round as it should be. Makes mounting a little tougher to get straight.

The real beauty of these things is when I see that arrow disappear into the bush, I won’t worry about it 😀

http://www.braveheartarchery.us/tusker_broadheads.htm

The best high end broadheads I’ve used are Abowyers.

[Ricky Lee]

#39681

Thank you for the info.

[grumpy]

#11179

Thank you Mr. Lee for asking the question, and youse guys for the answers.

[Alexandre Bugnon]

#63500

I would go with timeless and proven classics: ACE standard or ZWICKEY Eskimos.

Strong, good flight, sharpen easy and well, and cheap!

[Ralph]

#63605

alexbugnon wrote: I would go with timeless and proven classics: ACE standard or ZWICKEY Eskimos.

Strong, good flight, sharpen easy and well, and cheap!

I have been pleased with both over the years. More so now because my supply of Rib Tech’s has dwindled to just a few.

Tain’t a thing wrong with my Grizzly’s either. I’ve had them a loooooong time though so price is not a factor.. 😀

Alex, I don’t know why but single bevel seem to be easier for me to sharpen. Maybe it’s my one track mind….:roll: or..

Spose it’s cause mine are made for a right handed shooter???? :?:?:lol:

[grumpy]

#11025

Thanks again, just got my ACE broad heads. Need a rain day to sharpen them 😀

[Col Mike]

#11802

I tend not to get into discussions on gear8)but after some years of using everything from bear razor inserts to all those mentioned above–the Tuffhead far and away is the one you can count on when that shot misses just a little. Yep they are pricey,but I use campfire math, 3 Tuffheads= I good bottle of single malt double cask scotch.:D

[David Coulter]

#18685

That’s good math. With my itty bitty experience, I hit a leg bone with a Zwickey Eskimo and the tip curled back. I think filing it into a tanto style tip would be an improvement, but I have a supply of Tuffheads and have no reason to change from them. Can’t do better, I don’t think. Dwc

[Alexandre Bugnon]

#19284

yeah Mike and Dave you’re right, one can’t go wrong with tuffheads, or my single bevel of choice, the Abowyer Brown bear. I always keep one Abowyer-tipped arrow in my whitetail quiver, but use them exclusively on elk hunts. ACE and Eskimo broadheads do really good for me on whitetails. Also, I do file the eskimo to a tanto tip, for added peace of mind, although I never experienced one curling up on bone impact.

[Greg Ragan]

#21441

I’ll chime on on the Ace standards also! Great head!

I also like the Hunter Heads being sold by 3Rs again for elk sized targets. 3:1 ratio and economical.

Grizzly is good also but cost you a little more.

[John Cholin]

#29912

I, too, like to shoot woods and of all the heads I tested the STOS 160 grain two-blade, glue-on head did best. I made up arrows all weighing the same – 625 grains – with various heads, including the single bevel hesds, and used 1/2 ” thick OSB to simulate bone. (OSB is a highly controlled, reproducible target material that has a structure (hard surface/porous center/hard surface) similar to bone. The STOS gave me the best penetration, consistently, from a 67 pound draw weight recurve bow. I know that single bevel heads are all the rage right now but I couldn’t substantiate the claims using controlled, single variable experimentation.

Sadly, I hear the STOS heads are going out of production. So I’ll have to start my search over.

Good luck

John Cholin

[Brennan Herr]

#30756

Great information John, thanks for sharing. Have you ready Dr. Ashby’s reports that are posted on the this site? There are many more factors for penetration then broadhead design. Although that is a big one. Sounds like you have a great set up best of luck this fall!!

Be safe,

Brennan

[Stephen Graf]

#31162

What, Stos going out of production? Dang.

Thats the second broadhead company and 2 bowyers this week that I’ve heard are calling it quits.

Y’all better start gettin’ them young’ns shooting! I know I’m trying best I can around here. Giving these PVC bows away has been a real boon. But the results, in broadhead sales, won’t be evident for at least a decade….

I keep two bows, a half dozen arrows each, and all the tack necessary to outfit a kid on hand at all times now. If a wee one comes over and shows the least bit of interest, he/she will leave completely outfitted for mischief 😯 😳 🙄

[John Cholin]

#33137

Brennan,

I have read them all. I am a professional engineer that has been conducting research, peer-reviewing research and using research for 30 years. If I want to evaluate the effectiveness of something like a broad-head I have to control ALL of the variables that affect the outcome of the experiment. If I am comparing broad-head A with broad-head B then I take 25 shots with each one from exactly the same range, at exactly the same target, at exactly the same angle, with arrows that weigh exactly the same. I even alternate arrow A and arrow B during the shooting to cancel out variations in draw length from shot to shot. It is only when all the relevant variables are controlled that one can make substantiated conclusions. While Dr. Ashby shot a lot of animals those animals varied, the shot angles varied, shot distances varied, etc. etc, etc. As an engineer I can’t rely on that kind of data.

I made squares of OSB and I alternated broad head A versus B for 25 shots and all the same distance, angle, arrow weight. For my 625 grain finished weight wood arrows the 160 gr STOS was top dog by a statistically valid margin.

I am scrounging around for any that are in vendor inventory when I have the time.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[Stephen Graf]

#41194

Where to start….

First, I’d like to say that the following comments are not intended to reflect on the effectiveness of the STOS broadhead. It has a stellar reputation and I salute the company that makes them. And I would like to add that I commend anyone and everyone that takes the time to experiment with their gear instead of just winging it. So good job John!

OK, so I have a couple comments about John’s post…

First, to continue the theme of strictly empirical analysis and the conclusions that result from it, the only thing you can claim from your results is that the STOS broadhead penetrates OSB the best. Unless, of course, you have some experiment that proves that OSB exactly simulates an animals body.

The way we compensate for variation in results is by maximizing the data we collect. The more “real world” data we can collect, the better it averages out and the truth emerges. I would trust the massive amount of real world data that Dr. Ashby collected (warts and all) over some sanitary lab experiment done on some proxy material, the equivalency of which has not been established.

And finally, to continue the theme further…. I expect that had you tested your OSB square against a blunt, the blunt would have blown right on through it better than any broadhead. But I believe we can all agree that a blunt would be the least effective point to use on a deer sized animal.

Back to the drawing board 😳 🙄

[David Coulter]

#47012

I thought the Stos looks like it would be a great head. It’s got the angle and the tip. When it was time to build a carbon arrow from the ground up I had read much of the Ashby reports and found them rather convincing. I agree that there can be a lot of variables in hunting and far more than I’ve personally experienced. On top of Dr. Ed’s reports there were some other accounts on deer and elk that backed up his work. There is a lot of evidence there.

This being a personal choice I honor the testing you did, John, to make a confident selection. Probably one of the reasons Stos and the bowyers mentioned went out of business is that there is such a great selection of excellent products. It must be hard to compete and still end up with enough pay left over to pay the electric bill. It’s not always the least quality that goes the wayside. There are so many bows that deserve the attention and so few dollars to spread around.

Best, dwc

[Ptaylor]

#52504

Steve Graf wrote:

Y’all better start gettin’ them young’ns shooting! I know I’m trying best I can around here. Giving these PVC bows away has been a real boon. But the results, in broadhead sales, won’t be evident for at least a decade….

I keep two bows, a half dozen arrows each, and all the tack necessary to outfit a kid on hand at all times now. If a wee one comes over and shows the least bit of interest, he/she will leave completely outfitted for mischief 😯 😳 🙄

That’s awesome Steve!

[John Cholin]

#30743

Steve,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.

My objective was ONLY to investigate the question ‘whether the single bevel head provides a demonstrable advantage over a double bevel head’. I know that Dr. Ashby showed in an article he wrote a deer pelvis split by a single bevel head. I don’t know why one would shoot a deer in the butt, but unless he also showed the same hit on the same bone made with a single bevel head of the same size we are left with a report of anecdotal evidence, only. Before one could make a valid comparison one would need multiple hits with both styles of head on the same target under the same circumstances to draw valid conclusions. This might have been done but it wasn’t reported.

My experimentation, though not perfect and certainly not exhaustive, was intended to focus on just one issue to give me a basis for deciding on an approach to maximize my tackle for the up-coming season. The OSB was intended to provide a penetration resistance similar to a bone. The hay bale behind the OSB gave me a relatively uniform resistance so I could measure residual penetration by measuring penetration depth. I do not draw any quantitative conclusions such as depth of penetration in an animal from a test using OSB and hay bales.

All I can tell you is from my limited experiment I could not demonstrate an advantage to using single bevel heads when all of the other variables are held constant. Maybe this is something I will research further.

Best Regards,

JMC

[Ptaylor]

#34673

Good discussion fellas. While I have not had the depth of experience as Dr. Ashby or some other folks on here, I have my own personal trial and error history. Over the past few years I have had some “hard-knocks” lessons and am attempting to improve from those learning opportunities. I have put a lot of effort into my shooting/aiming form/technique; from switching to a smoother-more stable modern laminate longbow, installing a clicker, and as ridiculous as it sounds I am now aiming (similar to what Clay spoke about in one of his videos, I was under the impression that traditional archers should shoot “instinctively”, more of a romantic ideal than reality. Now I am using the point of my arrow to aim and as a reference point (gap-point, or point-on I’m not sure what it’s called).

Along the lines of this post, I have switched back to double-bevel (DB) broadheads, for one reason: I cannot for the life of me sharpen single-bevel (SB) broadheads. And I think a razor sharp broadhead is more important than the other benefits of single bevels. I can make my DB heads shaving sharp; I cannot get my SB heads close to that sharp. So I’m using DB again and have more confidence in my equipment, which I think is one of the most important aspects of your gear: confidence.

[David Coulter]

#57303

Ptaylor, I found it harder to sharpen the single bevel, too. At least the traditional way on an oil stone. This year was much better. I guess I’m getting the hang of it. One thing I did was to keep the main bevel on the single bevel side and then ever so slightly go off the flat on the other side. That does make it a double bevel ever so slightly, but I figured that it was more important to have a razor edge, like you said. That is the correct order of things. Arrow flying straight and true, sharp head, followed by weight and increase in FOC, but the edge cannot be overlooked. Here’s to your confidence. best wishes on the hunt, dwc

[Stephen Graf]

#63943

Dave – if you have to go off the flat on the back side, you have not raised the burr. Raising the burr is the key to sharpness – for single or double bevels.

For many years, I just used my grinding wheel to raise the burr. It’s fast and easy. Lately, I’ve been using a file to do it. It’s a lot more work than the wheel.

If you use a file, chalk it up before you start. It helps keep the file from loading and it seems to lubricate the file so it cuts better.

If you can sharpen a double bevel, you can sharpen a single bevel.

Good luck hunting!

[David Coulter]

#13725

Steve, thanks. This year I was able to sharpen them just on the be el side, probably since they were almost ready to go from last year. Practice, practice. Are you still using the paper wheel? Dwc

[Stephen Graf]

#18225

I am. It does a better job, and is way easier than a file.

I have files to resharpen in the field. But mostly I don’t need them around here. Maybe back in the day when there were rabbits and deer behind every tree there were enough opportunities to warrant sharpening in the field. But anymore if I get one shot, its a good hunt.

In all the years I’ve hunted, the one thing I haven’t come up short on is arrows. Maybe one day I’ll get so lucky 🙄 😳 😆

[Jason Wesbrock]

#34279

alexbugnon wrote: I would go with timeless and proven classics: ACE standard or ZWICKEY Eskimos.

Strong, good flight, sharpen easy and well, and cheap!

My two all time favorites right there. You can’t go wrong with either.

[Author]

Posts