I was just wondering if anybody ever purposely changed the temper on a broadhead. I was thinking of trying it on an old zwickey. I like the heads, I just wish they were a little harder. I thought maybe use the same technique as when tempering a knife. I can repaint after I burn all the paint off. Might be interesting. Gary
we used to heat up our MA-3's with a torch and then dip in oil to make them hold a better edge.
Tempering is usual the act of making steel softer.
To get it harder you would have to heat it above it's critical temperature. Depending on the steel that is 1700-1850 F and then quench it (Depending on the steel the quenching media could be water,oil or air) I am guessing oil or water. At that point they would be very brittle, and of course then you would temper it back to a hardness of less than what it is but greater than it was.. Same old story too hard they are brittle and a bitch to get sharp, too soft they sharpen easy but bend readily
I have never had a problem with Zwicky heads being too soft. How are they failing for you?
I wonder if they might warp when heated that hot... You might ask some of the knife guys.
Some are really bored. I thought the art of folding hot steal was how it got harder and kept an extremely sharp edge. I believe that's how the Japanese did it to make Samurai swords so strong and sharp.JMHO But why would you even want to do it, what are you hunting that a normal head can't penetrate to kill?
I have purposefully softened grizzlies that a bastard file could not even leave a scratch on. But trying to make harder above my pay grade.
There is a powder that is used to harden the frizzen on flintlocks. Should work on a broadhead or anything make of hi-carbon steel.
Be very careful about how you do this. To harden steel you have to get it nonmagnetic which is above 1700 degrees for most steels. Many broadheads are brazed together. Brazing melts well below 1700 degrees. If you heat the edges and quench below the nonmagnetic heat level you have enlarged the grain of the steel and did not get much if any extra hardness. It might even be softer. In essence you have weakend the steel in the head and probably lost hardness at the same time. Plus each steel takes a different temperature and quenching medium to get the effect you want based on its composition. If you want to do this work with a someone who is knowledgeable or buy harder heads.
i can tell you this, a friend of mine is an award winning blade smith. He has helped me make some knives. When it came time to temper/harden the blade, we heated it up with a torch until it was non magnetic and then we quenched it in oil. This undoubtedly hardened the steel. I do not have a large volume of knowledge in this area so i will not give further information.
I'm interested in the answer to the question posed by Bornagainbowhunter? I would guess that from Zwickey's birth tens of thousands of animals big and small have been taken successfully. Why the need to try and change something that works?
If you don't completely understand the steel involved and have equipment capable of doing it correctly in my opinion you're going to make a mess
If the broadheads won't sharpen send them back ask for another pack
I really didn't think it would be that hard but I do not have any experience hardening steel. I never thought about the braze part. Good point. My inexperience shows. I guess I will forget about this venture. Gary
sagebrush
i was a tool and die maker for 25 plus years .most of the time the broadheads are plenty hard enough they have to be softer than the file say upper 40s to low 50s rockwell c scale in order to sharpen if you make them any harder you will be grinding them.now what guys are telling you about re harding is right you would melt the brazing but the zickeys are welded so that would not be a problem . were the problem is you must know and i mean must with no doubt know what the steel is before you try and re harden it .and then do what tollmakers or machinists call draw it back or temper it to a certain hardness .you could contact zwickey and they might tell you what steel it is then go to heat treating co or t d shop and see if they would do it but it will most likley be more expense than it is worth .heating a peice of tool steel up and just puting it in water will most likley harden it but i mean but the trick will be drawing it back or tempering it some tool steels are air harding like a2 and d2 o1 is oil harding there are dozens of tool sreels so you must know what the heck you are heat treating .enough said .