New Grizzly coming soon!

[David Petersen]

#3648

Grizzly broadhead owner Shawn Schoonover has announced that the long-rumored next generation Grizzlies are about to become available. Improvements include left as well as right bevel, a more pointed Tanto tip, a 25-degree single-bevel angle, a more streamlined ferule, sharper if not yet shooting-sharp from the factory, and no offset of the two laminates. Weights will be the popular 160, while the El Grande will now be 200, glue-on. With luck, here’s a pic.

In my own quest for the most lethal possible big big game head under all conditions, Grizzly has slipped from basically “the only choice” to out of the running due to well-known problems. However, they were the firstest with the mostest and fly and penetrate like darts, so if these improvements are up to snuff I’ll have to add them to my personal “best” list along with Abowyer Brown Bears, ABS Ashby, and Tusker Concords. Can’t wait to give ’em a try — on the sharpening bench as well as shooting. Meanwhile, we’re still awaiting the arrival of the improved STOS, which no doubt will join the short list when it arrives. The head that provides the most Ashby-proven benefits, performs best in the field and personal testing, and is least expensive will win … though since our priorities differ, there will never ever be one single “best” broadhead. If we have a marketplace that offers a thousand kick-butt, indestructible, pass-through heads to choose from, even better! Your thots? dave

[Steve Sr.]

#22222

That’s GOOD NEWS on the Grizzly’s upcoming improvement!

I too am waiting for the STOS version but a reply to a recent email to them was not yet able to give me a “due date” for such.

Not known for my humility I fired off an email in an attempt to get Zwicky to make a heavier version of their No Mercy. Without a Rockwell scale and probably the brains to use one, the steel used in them may or may not be within Dr. Ashby’s recommendation, but I can heartily attest to what it takes to DULL one when I have one razor sharp.

I will have at least one or two of them “pointing the way” for my arrows this fall here in Indiana to test them out.

The amount of weight I add behind them is yet to be seen on the various arrows I’ve in the works.

In short, I’ll have to SEE one fail before believing it but again, whitetail will be my only test subject and the information may or may not be of use to some of the hunters like yourself hunting the “bigger deer” of the US.

Being blessed to legally take up to 10 deer with a bow here, I HOPE I get to test more than one head and / or head-arrow FOC combination.

If I walk slowly into the wind, stop a lot and “hold my mouth right” I should do at least mediocre.

I also think that these tests will speak loudly not only to hunters but quite probably to the broadhead manufacturers themselves.

My own personal thanks to you, David for being a large part along with Dr. Ashby.

It is appreciated!
God Bless!

Steve

[IronCreekArcher]

#23514

That comes as great news Dave! I am going to be shooting the Abowyer Brown Bears this fall but those new Grizzlies look great! If they still offer a pack of 6 for the same price or close to it they would have been my choice for this season if they would have hit the market faster. I am looking forward to STOS single bevel as well…I am sure it will be a great head.

[Ed Ashby]

#28739

Dave, you found out about this before I did! I just HAVE to get away from all the lost time in doctor’s offices!

The photos look good.

Ed

[J-dog]

#28943

Using the 160s this year – but need some more as the ones I have now have been “used and abused” on the range. I have to say they have been the only head to last – all others I have tried, snuffs, WWs, WWs elites, have all been destroyed. The 160s are still tickin and just need sharpening to hunt with. But I am going to get some new improved versions as soon as they get out (hurry!).:lol:

Might add they have been hitting the trash I have not cleaned out of the old backyard mound that runs the back of the property. Seems this back edge was used as a dump or someones trashline and covered with dirt??:roll::evil: so been diggin and cleaning but still the arrows find a shingle or brick every now and then – I know when I see sparks fly
Waiting patiently,

J

[J-dog]

#58696

anyone heard anything yet?

[Buckhorn73]

#58875

I’ve never suffered erratic flight with a Grizzly tipped wooden arrow and have used them for years. Being left handed and using right wing feathers was a natural choice for me with the “Grizzly” of the day being also set up with a right bevel. Agreed, competition is mounting and, I, too have been employing Abowyer products. The new “Grizzly” will be welcomed and the left bevel will certainly be appreciated and include many more traditionalists.

[Treetopflier]

#58965

Grizzly is made entirely by another big-name competing company … not the best arrangement and possibly a source of delay! I’m all set to go with Abowyer but will absolutely try the new Grizz, and STOS, should either arrive before Sept. Clock is ticking and if your season starts early like mine, might be a good idea to be a pessimist like me and get all tuned-in with a solid second choice.

[sharpster]

#59392

Snuffy,

Grizzly BHDs are made by Grizzly/Woverine BHDs in Coudersport PA. It’s STOS that are made by “another big name company”.

I hope to have some of the new Grizz soon. Shawn had a limited supply at Denton Hill a couple weeks ago but they sold out on the first day!

Ron

[justin ammons]

#60167

I love the Abowyer Brown Bear but if the Grizz is a little easier on my wallet…so be it!:D

[Treetopflier]

#60772

You are right of course, Sharpster. My boo-boo:oops:

[IronCreekArcher]

#64131

Are they available yet?

[David Petersen]

#9059

Not that I’ve heard, and I think I or Sharpster would have. They’d better hurry, as I start hunting in less than 3 weeks! With or without, we now have a choice of many excellent heads like never before in the past. I’ve been shooting Brown Bears into a dirt pile for weeks now, daily. Unavoidably the dirt has a fair amount of small gravel buried in it, though I’ve picked out a lot. So far only one head has picked up a tiny curl-over at the very tip of the Tanto from rock strikes. And they’re all still so sharp, after hundreds of shots, that I doubt more than a couple of strokes with the file will be required before moving to the stones. The ABS Ashby’s are even stronger and the Concords real close behind though not quite so thick. dave

[sharpster]

#9251

I put a call in to Shawn last week. So far no reply but, I have an ace up my sleeve… I owe him money! He’s gotta call me soon. Then I’ll get the latest and report back. 🙂

Ron

[IronCreekArcher]

#11271

Ron,

How do you recommend sharpening the single bevel heads i.e. how many strokes on the bevel side versus the non-bevel side to knock off the curl? Do you make your strokes towards the centerline of the head or away? Thanks for the advice in advance.

I am jealous Dave! When I lived in Montana I always loved the September opener. Here in Michigan we have to wait for October 1st then wait for the temps to cool down after that. By mid to late October I am usually in the woods pretty regular.

[sharpster]

#12329

Basic sharpening theory states: “Raise a burr, then remove it”.

We have all heard this a thousand times but it is even more critical when we’re sharpening single bevels.

It’s the presents of the burr that tells you when you have filed/ground the bevel down to the point that there is a true intersection of the two bevels (25 degrees on one bevel and zero degrees on the other).

First, flatten the unbeveled side so that it is actually flat and true. On Grizzlies it’s a good idea to remove the excess braze from the tip section of the broadhead too.

It doesn’t matter if you’re using a file or sandpaper or stones or whatever. The next step is to work only the beveled side of the blade until you can both see and feel that a pronounced, well developed, and fairly heavy burr is raised on the unbeveled side, running continuously from tip to heel. The burr should catch your fingernail when you drag your nail straight off the cutting edge.

Now all we have to do is remove this burr to reveal the fully formed sharp edge hidden beneath it.

You can file it off by laying the file flat on the unbeveled side and making just a couple of light strokes along the edge. Lots of guys file the burr off by moving the file parallel with the cutting edge but, I often end up chasing the burr back and forth from one side of the blade to the other when I try to do it like that. I prefer to move the file diagonally- both along and into the edge at the same time. This produces a scissor effect and shears the burr off cleanly, often with just one stroke.

The same idea applies if you are using sharpening stones. Do all the work on the bevel side, raise a big heavy burr and then make just the minimum number of passes needed on the unbeveled side to take the burr off.

That’s it. Done!… well, not quite… Stropping on leather, paper, cardboard, etc. can make a huge difference. You can jump from shaving sharp to hair plowing sharp with just a few light strokes on any of these materials. I like corrugated cardboard the best. You can raise a burr on an edge working in any direction you like- into the edge, along the edge, even away from the edge BUT, stropping is always done with an “away from the edge” motion. One other thing, just as when sharpening, holding a consistent angle is very important when stropping too. Hope this helps. Let us know how you make out.

Ron

[kingwouldbe]

#13336

Hi Ron, how the heck are you? thanks for letting us know how you get an edge.

You said you strop ( with cardboard ) after you remove the bur.

I go to fine stones and keep polishing the bevel side, some times it just falls off if I have kept a contestant angle, of course I do a few strokes on the flat side also, after polishing the edge, I will strop with kind of a course leather, check to make sure all of the bur is gone ( with a magnifying glass) then I go to a vary smooth leather strop to finish.

I just show the hair on my arm the broadhead…….. and it volunteers to just jumps off my arm……. I don’t even have to touch it any more.:D

I’m not that good of a shot, most of the animals I kill just lay down, rather than get hit with my broadhead. lol

I was thinking of getting some Norton 8000 and 10000 stones, Shapton even has some 16000 and 30000 stones for more polishing, whats your 2 cents on that, is there such a thing as over kill.

I thought I’d ask you, being, you are the sharpster Sensei 😯

[David Petersen]

#13450

Thank you for this refresher course in basic single-bevel sharpening, Ron. Please allow me to add a couple of things I’ve learned in the past from you and Doc Ashby, re keeping any broadhead sharp while hunting and pulling in and out of a foam bowquiver: Do not coat your sharpened heads with Vaseline, as it’s a mild anti-coagulant. Rather, soak the quiver foam with mineral oil, which is odorless and minimally greasy. That both lubricates the heads and protects them from corrosion, and minimizes dulling via friction when removing and replacing arrows in the quiver, as I usually do several times on every hunting day. This has worked great for me and doesn’t get as messy as Vaseline, though I’m sure there are other good ways as well. dave

[MontanaFord]

#13615

Dave,

You may want to submit the mineral oil idea as a TBM Tip of the Week. If vaseline is a mild ANTI-coagulant, wouldn’t that mean that it keeps blood from coagulating? Just wondering?

Michael

[David Petersen]

#13643

Precisely. I can’t imagine it would make much difference if we do everything right and have good luck and get a double-lung pass-through, because that kills Fast by collapsing both lungs and starving the brain of oxygen. But with a marginal hit or any hit resulting in a marginal blood trail, we need to eliminate every disadvantage we can, and here is one, as suggest by Doc Ashby. So far as Tips, Robin our webmonster is always watching and she is most welcome to have at it. I used this tip all last fall and found that yes, any lubricated broadhead will attract bits of dirt when the arrow is on the string, but the mineral oil attracts less than vaseline, and when you wipe the head off to clean it, with vaseline you’ve reduced the coating, period. But since the mineral oil is in the foam (this is Sharpster’s part), every time you put the arrow back in the quiver, it gets re-lubricated. Seeems a no-brainer, which is just right for me!

[MontanaFord]

#13732

Ok, now I understand what you’re saying. I was reading it wrong.

Michael

[IronCreekArcher]

#13791

Thank you Ron, Dave and King those are some great tips. I have always used Vasiline but will not be using that this year after your suggestion.

[sharpster]

#15352

Dave D. (King), Man am I happy to see you posting here again! What I posted was a very basic “this is how to sharpen a single bevel” but you’re right, if you polish both sides of the blade all the way to an X-fine black or translucent Arkansas stone, often there is no need to strop at all. By working both sides alternately, we prevent any burr from forming and the result is a well developed blazing sharp blade. Still need to go through the steps above with the coarser grits first though.

A note on water stones- the grits used to market them are based on the Japanese scale, not the US and the two don’t equate. A 4000 grit Japanese water stone is similar in grit to a 2000 grit American ceramic stone. Personally, I have never found a better finishing stone than either the black or translucent Arkansas. They’re both in the 3000 grit range and it’s an either or choice. (no need to have both). The biggest difference between the two is the color. The translucents are more expensive because pure translucent noviculite quartz is rarer in its raw form.

Dave P., I’ve been using a light coat of chapstick ever since Ed informed me about the perils of vasoline. Hope that’s not a clotting agent too! Oiling the foam in the quiver is a great idea.

On the oxidizing/rusting thing causing blades to go dull: When I was a kid learning gun safety, cleaning and care, my Dad taught me that rust, in its early stages invariably begins as superficial deposits on the surface of steel and even if neglected, it takes quite a while before the rust/oxidation will begin to degrade (pit) the surface of the steel. (We were trying to clean/restore a heavily rusted rifle he had bought in what I thought was hopeless condition). This lesson came back to me a couple weeks ago so I tried an experiment: I found a sharp broadhead that had gone dull from oxidation after laying around the shop for at least a couple of weeks, and did nothing more than strop it on a piece of cardboard. To my amazement, after only a few passes, the blade was right back to its original hair mowing sharpness. I guess the old man actually knew what he was talking about!

Point is, heads which that have been “dulled” from putting them in/out of our quivers often are actually still very sharp but the cutting edge is likely buried under a microscopic layer of oxidation. This means we probably don’t even need to use stones on them at all. Just a quick stropping will bring them right back. There’s a tip for next month. Thanks Dad!

Ron

[Treetopflier]

#15614

Thanks for these cutting-edge insights, Ron. 😉 And I join you in your pleasure at seeing Kingwoodbee back again. It would seem from his posts and pictures that he had all this figured out a long time ago. What a tremendously successful hunter! S

[Robin Conrads]

#15626

Watch for the mineral oil in an upcoming newsletter. Someone compared me to Tom Sawyer, tricking you guys into doing my work. Is there a problem with that? 😉

[IronCreekArcher]

#16947

Robin,

No problem at all…thats what we are here for! 😀

[justin ammons]

#21330

thanks for the mineral oil tip!! that’s next on the list

[Bloodless]

#21358

Robin — was it Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn? I can’t never separate those two and reckon I should do some Twain re-reading to refresh the foggy membory! Whichever character floated on the raft and caught the Big catfish! and hooked up temporary with them swindlers what said something resembling: “We only need to fool the fools, and ain’t that a majority in any town?” … that one I remember with joy! No nmatter the corect name. Now ,if we was really smart as huck or Jim or whoever, we’d pour some Wallymart mineral oil into tiny jugs with fancy labels claiming “Ultra-hot blazing new hiiii-techy bowquiver lube, a bargain at just $20 a ounce!” and sell it in them other “modern” magazines and websites and get real rich quick and retire and go hunting! Well at least if our wifes let us! happy weekend, bb

[MontanaFord]

#21503

bully,

if we retire, the only thing our wives will have us doing is mowing pretty designs in the lawn…kiss hunting goodbye…LOL!

Michael

[Robin Conrads]

#21536

An imaginative and mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother, Sid, in the Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. After playing hooky from school on Friday and dirtying his clothes in a fight, Tom is made to whitewash the fence as punishment on Saturday. At first, Tom is disappointed by having to forfeit his day off. However, he soon cleverly persuades his friends to trade him small treasures for the privilege of doing his work.

And this wife votes for no designs in the lawn (no lawn) and hunting is a GO! 😉

[MontanaFord]

#22161

LOL!!!

[IronCreekArcher]

#34495

I think my wife would second Robin; think being the operative word! I really can’t cut a design with a lawn mower anyway…probably end up lookin’ like mange…:?

[Author]

Posts