I've got a few of these and have been fileing the heck outta them w/o great success.
I did a search on getting HH broadheads sharp and came up with a thread from 2008. The best I could get outta that was that the Simmons Wheelie Sharpener works. I was just wondering if since 2008 someone has discovered another method of getting these beasts sharp?
Or are my efforts like... :banghead:
Thanks
PM'ed.
I'd like to know the answer to that, too.
Me too! I had no luck with a round file. Did better with a 6" mill bastard file, but if I cannot get them as sharp as a Razorhead, Ace, or an Eskimo--their fault, my fault, or nobody's fault--I cannot use them on big game. It's a shame, too, they fly great.
Buddy, thanks for the e-mail.
Huntryx and owlmagnet, unless someone out there discovered how to do it and wants to share...it's pretty much :banghead:
There was a tutorial on here I thought, but I can't find it now. The hardest thing is to establish the edge, but once that's done they're pretty easy to keep sharp. Nate Steen told me that he basically establishes the edge by filing one side only, then just take off the burr. He uses a chainsaw file, but in the tutorial I mentioned a 6" Mill file was used.
I use a 7/32 or 1/4" round chainsaw file, on one side only from back to front, then just take off the burr. Due to the ferrule size and concave blade edge, the edge angle is a little steeper than I can get on a Zwickey, but they get very sharp. Not a honed edge, but a thin, jagged edge. Those HH heads blow right through animals and bone, no matter how else you test them on concrete or steel... :thumbsup:
Start by placing a 10-12 single cut file flat on a workbench. File tang away from you, and then point the head down the middle of the file, using the original bevel of the blade, push into the file with a little downward pressure. Rotate to the off side and repeat 2-3 strokes on each side. Watch for a telltale burr. You should remove the burr, by stropping on a leather strap.
If you use a file or stone and try to sharpen it like a knife, from the side, it causes the file to rock over the blade, rounding and dulling. It has to be absolutely flat on the file.
If the burr doesn' come off, use a stone, repeating the push into the stone for a few strokes should do it.
At this point if you have done it correctly it should be sharp. Next, use a 6-8" file and drag the corner of the file from the back of the head to the front, in a motion to the outside. This creates a small cerrated edge. Be sure to drag the corner of the file from the head to the outside, not into the blade. Two or three times and check the edge. Strope the head on leather, and repeat if needed.
This method produces a very sharp, cerrated blade, with very light cerrations, with only a file. I carry a file in the field and can achieve good results. Let me know how it works for you.
Tom Mussatto gives an excellent demonstration of sharpening a HH broadhead on the 'Bowhunters of the TradGang' DVD. Watching and learning from Tom and Charlie Lamb easily covers the cost of the video.
I shot a number of deer years back with the standard Hills. I had best luck with a Grizzly type file. That is, the milling is only on the wide sides, which ends in a very fine corner on the the edge of the file. I used a broadhead holder to get control of the blade. I sharpened the right side head facing away until it was flat and created a burr. Then filed the other side with the head facing me front to back. then gently went on the other side a few strokes. then with that very fine file milling corner i serrated them just like the Hill paper suggests. Contrary to all opinions, this does not pull hair through the wound channel, gets fairly descent blood trails and kills deer about like anything else that I have killed deer with. If you want them shaving sharp, I used a dremel tool and finished up with a buffing pad on the dremel tool.
Excellent! Plenty of time till deer season so I'll be taking my time on these keeping a couple as they are for practice.
Thanks for the help guys.