I like my broadhead edge to be the same degree of bevel along the entire length of the blade.  My wife bought me a KME broadhead sharpener for Christmas and even with the course stone it took forever to hog the metal off to get the edge I like.  Using a file gave me an entirely different angle than the KME jig, and I don't want to spend the $$ to buy a diamond stone....besides, with the KME jig a full two inches long, I'd need at least an 8" stone.

It's raining here in Texas this morning and as I stood in my garage checking out the minor flooding I realized my driveway was nothing more than a giant wet stone!  I grabbed a broadhead that is too light for my current needs, clamped it up in the KME jig, found a nice wet, level, uniform grit area and went to making long sweeping arcs with the broadhead.  I was down to a single bevel angle on both sides on the blade in no time.  I then went to the bench and cleaned up the edges on the oil stones.  Each edge had a few striations from the concrete but the course stone took these down quickly and now I have a sharp broadhead and it only took 10 minutes.

Thoughts/comments?

Whatever makes them sharp works for me!  
It sounds like you made use of what you had at hand!

Hmmmmmmmmmmm been wondering how to get the bevel down quicker on a new broadhead . They are a pain the first time aren't they   :(

I have the KME BH sharpener as well, and like you I didnt want to spend a fortune on stones. I went the sandpaper route on my kitchen table, and was able to establish the initial bevel in no time on my Grizzlies.

Z....I like the sand paper idea.  You glue the sheet to a block of wood or just freehand it on the table? What grit did you start with?

I have used the belt sander clamped down with the belt side facing up, to quickly change the blade angle on broadheads.

I'll be trying that with in the hour...  I can hear my wife saying.. "Now what are you doing?"

QuoteOriginally posted by joe ashton:
I'll be trying that with in the hour...  I can hear my wife saying.. "Now what are you doing?"

Mine walked out in the garage when I was down on my knees, in the rain....said exactly what yours is fixing to say.    

I just free handed it on the table. I went to homedepot and picked up the heaviest grit I could find. It was Norton brand 60 grit. Then I went to Norton 120 then to 3M 220. I stopped there, as all I was doing was establishing the bevel then shooting them for tuning purposes. After I tune them, I will continue with finer grits. A The finest I could find at Homedepot was 400.

I used a marker to color the edge, then moved back and forth on the paper till the marker was all gone. I would repeat this three times, then move to the finer grit. Very easy to do. I learned this from an older thread on here about grizzlies and KME. Works great.

I'm going to have to go look and see what I've got in the sandpaper department....should have some 60 grit on up.  

It's a shame they don't sell a course stone about 24 inches long and 4 inches wide.....for under $20.

As to the sandpaper on the kitchen table- another base that tends to be perfectly flat is a sheet of thick glass.
You can wrap the sandpaper around to the back side of the glass and tape it tight, and then when it is turned over the ends of the sandpaper sheet help keep the glass from sliding as you work. Lay it on a towel or something if you are using it on a nice surface that you don't want to scratch.

Great Idea! remember,Man once thought the World was Flat!

Great...I've got full sized sheets of 60, 100, and 150 grit.  Going to cut/mount them around a 2 x 4 and I'll have a broadhead board....lol.

Boz - I like the glass idea, but don't have any so I'll make do by sanding the 2 x 4 as smooth as I can get it on my belt/disc sander and have at it.

While I'm using the sander I might as well lay the jig/blade on it to see how fast that'll do it....no pressure on the blade though, don't want to change the temper on the steel

Great tips....thanks y'all.

Concrete flat.....the world, not so much.    

Okay....so, went to the garage and experimented a little with the sand paper.  Grabbed another head, chucked it up in the jig and proceded to drag it backwards on the sand paper.  Worked pretty well, but not as quick as the concrete.  Tried it on my belt sander....too many sparks from the KME wheel so I figured that wasn't too good.   :eek:    

Went back to the driveway.  Rain had stopped but the concrete was still wet.....this isn't wet enough!  Started getting concrete cuttings as I pushed the head around me.  Went and got the water hose, turned it on a trickle and went back to work.  Got the job done quickly.    

You guys should be able to find some diamond stones at reasonable prices. Especially when you consider all the sandpaper you will be going through.

Amazon has one for $20. Probably not the best but should work fine for some time. The stone I am using has been around for several years so they do last a long time.

Good luck

Lechwe - I've done a little searching on the net and couldn't find any reasonably priced diamond stones that were long enough to keep my hand from cramping  during the repetitions.  Driveway = free & no cramping....funny looks from a neighbor, but no hand cramps.

I can definitely relate to the hand cramping. Probably why I just do a couple or three at a time and take a break.

Embrace the looks from the neighbors. If they think you are a little off you probably have less to worry about your stuff being messed with.

Good luck

Neighbor just had to come check me out.....said it looked like I was playing with a toy car or something.  But he couldn't figure out why I was using the water hose to do it....  

Thanks, I have a KME and was thinking about selling it. Could not get a good edge in any reasonable time. Will try it again. Thanks Don