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This evening, I took one of my Silverflames that needed sharpening and decided to use it as an example of how to add a secondary edge on a stainless steel broadhead.
I enjoy using my trusty KME knife sharpener for this, and just to let you know, that is the first thing that goes in my hunting pack before a hunt !!!!!
So here, I clamped my Silverflame in the jaw and added 23 degrees on the sharpening angle scale.
A little clarification for you on the qualities of Stainless Steel as broadhead material:
– They can be heat treated and Cryo ( sub zero) quenched and tempered to a HRC of 58 – 62 depending on the types of stainless.
– They have the ability to retain a very strong secondary working edge ( which will impress you ). These edges last longer and are better apt to take pressure sustained when hitting bone.
– They adapted todays knife technology to broadheads which is why they cost alot more.
Here is how the set up looks when the nedium diamond hone is laying flat on the blade.
After following the sharpening method I mentioned earlier in this tread, I did:
– 4 strokes on both sides of the broadhead with the diamond Medium hone ( using medium pressure because you want to create a burr ).
*******IMPORTANT*******
When you finish sharpening one side of the blade – do not sharpen the same edge twice – because your edges will not be balanced. When you finish sharpening one side, turn the broadhead over and do the other side.
– 6 strokes on both sides of the broadhead with the diamond Fine hone ( using light pressure ) you still want to get rid of that burr which is why your doing it at least 6 times.
Once you are done this is what you will get :
And then the final test : ( yes that’s my arm ) 🙂 Now this is the time to take a few seconds and think about what I am going to mention, your in the bush, you need to add an edge on your broadhead, how long do you think it will take to add another secondary working edge…….about 2 minutes if that.
Question: Can you add a secondary working edge on softer steel broadheads?
Answer: Absolutely !!!!!!!
Here is a little story that happened to me and a couple of hunting friends last year. My friend and his son ( 14 years old ) came over to the house and to my surprise they had just got a moose. the son took a few minutes to tell me how he could not even split the hide off one leg because his knife came dull. Well, this knife was a K-Mart special, 19 dollars. I looked at his dad and then at him and I told him I could probably do something about that. I took his knife and the steel was really soft, I guessed the Rockwell to be about 52, if that. So I got my KME out and built him a main edge of 18 degrees, then I added a secondary edge of 20 degrees and showed him how it shaved hair off my arm.
To make a story short, my friend had gone hunting on the river with another hunter from the community and they got a moose. Guess what knife he had on him, yeap, you guessed it right, he only had his son’s knife on him. To his surprise, he and his friend both skinned, quartered and deboned the moose with their knives. He aske me what I had done to his son’s knife and I told him I simply added a working edge on the knife and he smiled and shook his head.
The next diagram and picture I will be posting will deal with unilateral edges ( single bevel edges ) and their uses.
Finally, had to take a digital of the computer screen and VOILA !!! Who says you can’t do things.
Here is the diagram I built earlier today showing you in detail how we make this incredible bilateral edge. Its extremely strong and will get you to think twice at how you used to build your edges using a single angle. Keeping in mind this is mostly used for stainless steel broadheads.
The two stainless steel broadheads I will use are the Silverflame 210 grain and the Alaska Bowhunting Supply Nanook 290 grain broadhead. Both of these heads have very particuliar traits. I will take the time, further down this tread, to explain how these traits make these heads so effecient but for now here are the two pictures of them.
An interesting point to mention is that both of these blade come with a precised machined edge that is slightly hollow ground and they both support a secondary working edge which is flat ground. They are very similar to the thunderhead blade I posted earlier.
Here is the picture of the Silverflame 210gr.
Here is the picture of the Nanook 290 gr.
Now the easiest and fail proof way to add a Extremely Scary sparp edge on these babies is to use the KME Knife sharpener with the diamond hones Ron sells.
4 strokes with the medium ( medium pressure on the hone )
6 strokes with the fine ( fine pressure )
You know folks, with very little effort and a bit of patience, you can get both the Zwickey and Ribtek shaving sharp with a file and medium croc stick.
Both broadheads easily cut through paper and shaved the hair off my arm.
Here is the picture of the Ribtek edge, very sweet.
What a great edge, no burr and razor sharp !!!!
Your right, J.Wesbrock, another reason why TBM is so dedicated to traditional bowhunting and their readers. Mr. Wensel I have to admit talks to talk but also walks to walk.
What I did in the next series of pictures was to give the Zwickey its first shot at the 6″ bastard file. One of two things happened; i got the burr that I wanted to show but at the same time, I added a edge that was too thin and noticed a splinter in the steel’s edge.
A splinter or hairline fracture generally occurs when you remove too much steel by givnig it sharp angle ( the edge is too thin ) so when you apply pressure on your following pass with the file, the edge splinters…..OUPSSSSS !! This generally happens with broadheads that are a little softer in the Rockwell hardness ( HRC ). Broadheads that are heat treated a bit harder than these, generally stainless steel, will chip instead. There is a way to prevent this but this is a whole new ball game in itself and they cost more.
Here is the first picture of the Zwickey when I finished the first pass witht he 6″ bastard file.
This is a closer look and its here that you can see the burr that the file work created.
Now, here is the hairline fracture, splinter that was left behind by removing too much steel.
These little steel splinters are not good !!!! However if you take your time and not add too much pressure to your file, theres a good chance they will not occur but they do on occasion, I’m kind of glad they did on this instance.
Here is a little food for thought, broadheads using stainless steel come with smoother manufactured edges and many of them come pre sharpened. The reason they are so darn sharp is they come with a bi level edge meaning a working edge 20 – 25 degrees over a main edge that is between 18 and 20 degrees.
Lets take the Thunderhead blades for example, these are made of stainless steel and come pretty darn sharp, well in the two following pictures, you’ll see why, they come with a two edge system.
Now here is the interesting picture, note the two edges on the blade.
I would like to start by telling you that if any of you didn’t get the opportunity to read the Feb-Mar 2003 Special Adventure Seection Traditional Bowhunter Magazine, Mr. Gene Wensel wrote an incredible article on his observations on the traditional broadheads. He also explains why we need to use the right tools to get our broadheads sharp.
Some of the pictures that I will be posting will support his article and hopefully shed a little light on the anatomy of a true edge.
The first two pictures show you the actual broadhead that you receive when you either buy them in the store or online, the Ribtek and the Zwickey Eskino 4 blade.
The next two pictures are those of the same broadheads but with a closer look at the actual edge. Again these have not been sharpened and are new broadheads.
A last look at these two edges.
