How sharp is sharp? I have always like muzzy phantoms, and I hear some people say they come sharp enough to hunt out of the package? Yet they cannot even shave hair off my arm with or without pressure out of the package? I have always spent time adding a touch up to them.
I like hair popping sharp, if no pressure to my arm and the hairs pop we are good to go. Whay cant companies get 2 blades as sharp as regular muzzyblades? (replaceable BHs)
J
They can but sharper. A German Kinetics will be much shaper then you can even think. Ask anyone that has every held one. A Magnus Stinger is also fairly sharp out of pack at a much less charge.
I have some stingers and they are sharper I agree but still not good enough to hunt out of the package. The silver flames I have heard nothing but great comments (except for the price!) but you know if you want something good you are gonna pay.
I wonder how easy silver flames are to re-sharpen when they do get dull?
J
I won't shoot a broadhead at a critter unless all blades shave hair or cleanly slice in two a rubber band pulled across the edge w/o pressure.
If they won't do this out of the package (and few fixed blade cut on contacts will) then I sharpen them to this standard myself...
I used to be real anal about them shaving very easy.Now as long as they cut rubberbands well and pop a few hairs I don't worry about it any more.I have seen no difference when it came to hunting.After accidently shooting through a deer at 30 yards with a practice head that had never been sharpened I realised "sharp" was good enough. :)
Gee guys it sounds like some of you are "satisfied" with just an edge. Sharp is EVERYTHING in bowhunting.
I don't know if it's possible to sharpen a head as sharp as a German Kinetics Silverflame with any stone or steel but if you want something to gauge sharp by, they're it.
You might kill a deer with a practice head but a scary sharp broadhead will give you many more recoveries and unbeleivable bloodtrails.
I agree sharp is not sharp enough for me. I want to be afraid of them.
I started a habit of everynight in camp I "touch up" my Zwickey's on a truangle. Something I always do. A properly placed crazy sharp broadhead gets it done everytime.
John III
Stone points, that I have seen, are not the sharpest broadhead on the planet. More game has been retrieved that was shot by them then any steel ever made.
The sharper the point-the easier the blood trail. The duller the point-The better tracker you must be.
Sometimes, it's more about the hunter than the equiptment. Did that make any sense to you guys?...Terry
I'm not promoting the use of equiptment that is not up to the task/ just food for thought.
I've been using Magnus heads for almost as long as I've been hunting. Out of the package they come and go straight to my KME sharpner to get the blades REAL Sharp.
I also like to use Grizleys. Out of the package they come and meet up with my mill bastard file and then on to my KME sdharpner until they are shaving sharp.
If any one has trouble getting their 2 bladed broadheads shaving sharp I recomend buying the KME sharpner. Contact Ron,he is a sponser here and he will take good care of you.
Any thing less than a shaving sharp broadhead is disrespectful to the animals we are hunting for.
Well there is a fine line and lots of different oppionions between sharp and scary sharp. :) I say hunt with the sharpest you can get them but no longer see the need to spend hours trying to get a broadhead perfect because it ain't going to matter when you are shooting through them.There have been hundreds of animals killed with file sharpened heads over the years.No one is going to tell me every one of them was of the scary sharp variety but worked quite well. ;)
QuoteOriginally posted by James Wrenn:
no longer see the need to spend hours trying to get a broadhead perfect because it ain't going to matter when you are shooting through them.
I'm sure I could put a field point through a deer with no problem. Doesn't mean it will be very effective at killing that deer.
A broadhead that isn't as sharp as it should be will not slice through as many veins and arteries, and therefore will not do its job as well as a sharper head.
I agree with JW on this ...sharp enough is sharp enough. I doubt more critters have been killed with stone then steal though, we have been shooting steel/metal points for quite awhile and there are many more hunters with better equipment hunting then back in the Stone Age.
those stone heads were likely a good deal sharper than YOUR and MY broadheads.
if you have ever felt a decent flint point with your fingers you would realize that they won't make scalpels out of them because doctors say they are TOO sharp.
They don't 'look' sharp to our eye, because we say to ourselves "how can anything that crude looking be sharper than a piece of engineered metal...the answer is in the composition of the material. Stone points kill because they cut the crap out of the target...they don't PUSH through like a field point.
It should not take more than a couple minutes to get a broadhead frighteningly sharp. If it does, then you need to go to sharpening school- literally.
Go to amazon and buy a book about sharpening stuff..study the science of sharp and it will become clear what you are not doing correctly, but you owe it to everything you shoot to do it 'scary sharp'.
Scary sharp just means creating a wire edge on the blade, then stropping it off. The stroke that takes the wire edge off, should be your last stroke.
just because you CAN do a thing (kill with a field point, as an example) doesn't mean you SHOULD do that thing.
Flint head can be sharp....because they chip off to infinity.
I remember my 8th grade teacher napping one, and then proceeded to shred a note book 12 and 15 pages deep like it was a razor blade.
That sure was cool to an 8th grader.....and still cool to me this day.
Agree with some previous comments...I thought I knew what sharp was until I started shooting Silver Flames. Unreal.
:archer:
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa102/Redriderxx/210grSilverFlames-1.jpg)
Thanks for the tip on the books Ray but I don't have any problems doing anything incorrecty. :) My way works just fine as I am sure your does as well.If I ever have trouble killing something with a sharp broadhead I might just go to that school you are speaking of.Untill them I will just keep right on putting holes in stuff. :bigsmyl:
Ray hit it on the hea dwith stone points or stone blades. It ha sactually been proven through surgery on a human that the stone wound heals faster than scalpel(sp?)
I am not knocking BHs it is just frustrating to hear "out of the package ready to hunt" and then you think that someone is hunting with these?? Shouldn't be. If you cant shave your arm easily then it aint good enough.
My thought is why cant manufactuerers get the level of sharpness of a replaceable blade BH (scalpel) to a phantom or stinger?
J
James, You up in Durham? come down to Bogue Banks any?
J
heres a question??
If flint and other stone points are so sharp, (when I ask this question, I believe with all my heart the previously stated feelings on how sharp stone points can be), then why dont some states allow them for hunting??
I never shoot a broadhead at a deer without first shooting it into dirt a few times to make sure its flying correctly.
Then I sharpen them again. I have used zwickey deltas for decades; and they are easy for me to sharpen; this year I decided to try the grizzlies.
I got real depressed over the difficulty I was having sharpening them; and until I got them shaving sharp; I didn't put them in my quiver.
I use a mill ba$tard file; and a new one with each dozen heads I buy. I have used a small diamond shaped file on Zwickeys; but the grizzlies seemed to demand the mill ba$tard file.
Sharp is how we kill game. Yes; you can use a field point and kill any animal alive- but its not legal or ethical. What we want to do is make a lethal wound that doesn't stop bleeding unless it didn't hit anything lethal- anything.
My arm is shaved off pretty good; and it always grows back; and I always have my arm with me to check how sharp my broadheads are- and I can easily carry a file when I hunt.
I did shoot one buck with a stone head; although I really had no idea I was going to until it happened ( trust me on this).
The wound from the stone head was the most ghastly broadhead wound I have ever seen. But no- I had not ever shot that arrow with that head in practice.
At one time- not that long past; eye surgeons used obsidian to operate with as it can be made sharper than metal... thats what an eye doc told me anyway.
I would not though shoot any broadhead without sharpening it- and making sure you can shave with it. People like to check sharpness with their thumb; and I have had people cut their thumb without realizing it- and saying the head was not sharp :saywhat:
Its worth the practice and the cost of a few broadheads to get good at sharpening; and I suggest a mill ba$tard file- 10 or 12 inch.
Here's a little tip I've used for years.
Like Brian, I like to shoot every arrow once the broadhead is mounted before hunting with it. Over the years I've had maybe 3 that were flyers, so while that's 3 out of probably 2 thousand, I'm glad I do it. And, you can even sharpen them 1st.
Find a pond (one with no stumps!) and shoot them into the water, then just canoe around and pick em up. They'll dry off and all you need to do is clean the water off and apply some chapstick to the edges.
Here's a little tip I've used for years.
Like Brian, I like to shoot every arrow once the broadhead is mounted before hunting with it. Over the years I've had maybe 3 that were flyers, so while that's 3 out of probably 2 thousand, I'm glad I do it. And, you can even sharpen them 1st.
Find a pond (one with no stumps!) and shoot them into the water, then just canoe around and pick em up. They'll dry off and all you need to do is clean the water off and apply some chapstick to the edges.
Widow eater I cut and pasted the below from Wikipedia, looking under "obsidian." Yeah it is hard to believe but research it on your own. I imagine they are outlawed as many other things are outlawed, one - not everyone could get them that sharp, and two - people not having knowledge of something (not directed at you, but gerneral public). They think stone and it is hard for modern people to believe something occuring in nature can be better than something built or designed by humans. Most of the time the poeple making law are not bowhunters. LOL
"Current use
Obsidian is used in cardiac surgery, as well-crafted obsidian blades have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels, with the edge of the blade being only about 3 nanometres wide [4]. Even the sharpest metal knife has a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope. When examined under an electron microscope an obsidian blade is still smooth and even. One study found that obsidian produced narrower scars, fewer inflammatory cells, and less granulation tissue in a group of rats.[5]"
Have a good one
J
I'd guess most of Wikipedia comes from guys still living in their parents basement. Frankly, most of these obsidian scalpel tales are like story of the guy who wakes-up in a tub of ice missing a kidney.
One study I found said ...
"Each rat received two parallel 8-cm dorsal skin incisions, one with an obsidian scalpel and the other with a surgical steel scalpel (no. 15 blade). Data were analyzed by ANOVA, Tensile strength of the two wound types was not different at 7, 14, 21, and 42 days. Scar width, however, was significantly less in the obsidian wounds at 7, 10, and 14 days (p<0.005). At 21 days, scar width was not different in the two groups."
Which says basically no difference.
Another medical forum had this exchange regarding obsidian scalpels:
- "I am not a surgeon, but I do practice medicine, and I have never heard of this. Also, when I was in medical school, I never saw a single surgeon use or discuss them."
- "I ended up e-mailing Dr. Green [a doctor who uses an obsidian knife to remove moles] and he wrote me back. He told me that there weren't any FDA approved obsidian scalpels on the market to his knowledge and that he uses them at his own risk."
Oh well, back to tracking down the Chupacabra.
Magoo?? your research found coincides with wikipedia, LOL a difference is a difference :saywhat: . Guess alot of eople still live in their basements! :D
Back to the original question on sharpness. My only question was how can blades be claimed as hunt ready out of the package, when truly they are not? No problem I guess they will kill if put in the right place just like a feild point to the lungs. I just think it is teaching people wrong.
Good points by all, I was just wondering what everyone thought sharp was. Which I probably already knew anyway. To the manufacturers I hope top see sharper blades.
Later yall,
J
J-Dog Silver Flames can be resharpened very well. I use a KME Knife sharpener. I dont no if its the steel they use are what, but they not only hold a edge better but take one to.
No. The report says there's really not a difference, in rats; no human studies. Nor does it seem obsidian is being used in cardiac or eye surgery. Just more internet junk.
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I was curious as to how the Silver Flames re-sharpen. Several have said how super sharp they are new, but once they've been dulled I would have guessed they're only going to be as sharp as you can get a Zwickey, Ace, etc.
As I see it even if obsidian is just as sharp as steel they should still allow the stone points to be used in hunting.
Thanks J-Dog I always can use a good education.
Great thread! I've really enjoyed the response to it. Not sure which to do, get better at my knapping skills or become a better steel sharpener? Hmmmm....I'm thinking BOTH.
Terry
The obsidian thing is something I would love to learn, and someday will go after it. Maybe nto to hunt with but just for knowledge. Could I get one sharp enough for a surgeon to cut on me, doubt I would let him try it. But you never know, might lose my mind someday.
I think the surgeries I have heard of being done were by surgeons themselves recieving the surgery allowing the use of stone tools as experiments. If I remember my reading correctly. Like said, I dont think they sale obsidian scalpels at the surgery supply store, must be special order.
It was a good thread, what makes this site great.
Later yall,
J
ozark, there should be obsidian around you out there??
I have been sharpening knives of all types on a very frequent basis for 40+ years using the best available sharpening tools of the day. I can definitely state that the better steels often not only hold an edge better but also are easier to bring to a good edge when sharpening. I won't go into the science of it, but you should be able to imagine the grain structure and strength of various steels and be able to understand why a good quality steel would have both characteristics. I understand that Silver Flames use a 420 stainless steel that has proved itself for decades when used in knife blades. I currently favor S30V in my knife blades, but an arrowhead is more of a single use cutting tool before sharpening, while knives typically are not. So after a certain point (no pun intended) increasing the quality of the steel has diminishing returns, while cost of production increases astronomically. Just look at the difference in cost between a knife with an S30V blade as opposed to one made from 420 stainless and you will see what I mean. Heat treatment, blade design, grind, and polish are also very important, and it sounds like the Silver Flames have all that. I don't think you will find the same level of quality in a Zwickey, nor do most people want to pay the cost for the ultra high quality of a Silver Flame when it is generally not necessary for most jobs. For deer, any one of many good, moderately priced broadheads is fine. For Cape buffalo, I would use the absolute best that money could buy, no matter what the cost. Even at $75 an arrow (including a Silver Flame), which I heard one guy say he was paying, equipment is the cheap part of an African hunt. That is way too much for anyone to spend on the average deer hunt though, unless he has more money than he knows how to spend.