Howard Hill Broadhead Test Results :)

[Terry Green]

Cool thread!!!

[RC]

Whats the specs on these Hill heads? Width and length and wt?Cool thread. RC

[Orion]

RC:  I see you're considering a few Hill heads to go with the new Cheetah you just ordered.  Howard Hill Archery sells two sizes -- 11/32 are billed as weighing 160 grains, but I have several older heads that are 175 grains before sharpening.  They're about 3 7/16 long and 1 1/8 inch wide.  HH also sells a 5/16 head.  Those are listed as 145 grains, and all the heads I have in that size are that weight.  Those are 3 inches long and one-inch wide.  They shoot real well.  I've never noticed noise from them.  A bit hard for me to get really sharp though.

[laddy]

Some of the 145s have very high rockwell hardness, for my daughters I used a dremmel tool to get them thinned down. I always wanted to get the 5/16'' pieces and parts to make single bevels, but hey have never been in reorder so I could get them.  Once you get them thinned down they can be sharpened with a Smiths sharpener very nicely.
I wonder if it is legal to cut the back of the blade off it serves no person other than making the broad head legal in nonbarbed states.  Hills don't pull out of a deer the way are anyway.

[Orion]

Larry:  I also have difficulty getting the larger heads as sharp as I want them.  Appreciate a tutorial, if you're so inclined.  Can do it off-line, so to speak.  Just send me an email.  Wisconsin is a non-barb state so couldn't cut off the backs here.

[Nate Steen .]

I sharpen them with a round chainsaw file, going from back to front, as if using a flat file.  The smaller diameter of the round file helps keep surface contact with the blade through the concave area.  they get scary sharp this way, a very thin jagged edge.

[Orion]

Thanks, Nathan.  I'll give that a try.  Now if I can only find my chain saw file(s).  I know I have more than one.  Can never seem to find one when I want one, though.  :D

[Pete Patterson]

I've often wondered if the file sharpening process, which takes off a portion of the ferrule, weakens the ferrule enough to cause breaking.

I use the Ready Edge.  It straddles the edge of the broadhead from the topside without interferance from the ferrule.  It also changes the angle of the edge from both sides simultaneously.