HH BUG GOT ME - Part Two!

Brianlocal3 · January 09, 2015, 06:51:00 AM

AWSOME job again!!!!

CHENRYIV · January 09, 2015, 08:03:00 AM

Congrats!! Way to get a late season doe.

Moreammo · January 09, 2015, 08:39:00 AM

Awesome!

SAM E. STEPHENS · January 10, 2015, 02:15:00 AM

Ok I'm reading through part one and haven't seen yet what is the best way to sharpen a HH broadhead. The best I have got is file away much of the ferral of the head to get the angle I need , I have no problems getting any head shaving sharp but these are killing me....

,,,,Sam,,,,

January 10, 2015, 05:28:00 AM

My personal Hill heads that I have been using for the past years are single bevel left and right wings. When I pregrind the unattached blade to approximately 25 or 30 degrees it leaves a bit of ferrule to come off when I assemble and rivet them. Once that is done I sharpen them just like any other single bevel. I have found that 140 Hills can be biased left or right wing by concentrating on removing material from the proper side by going for that first edge and then using a file and the a diamond hone on the unchanged edge, then come back to first side with the stick will get them to cut hair.
You can file both sides down and hit them with a RADA sharpener. I paid $5 for one two years ago.
I had a Hill sharpener that was two metal flats wielded across with the carbide wheels, I lost it somewhere and cannot find a replacement, but it worked.
I have used buffing and grinding tools with my Dremel tool. I come up a riffley super sharp edge that will easily cut hair.
I have used nothing more than the common chain saw file on standard Hills, not shaving sharp but probably more deadly on a Hill. Lots of Hill guys use this method.
I have followed the advice as given on the Hill brochure that Craig put out. I use a Grizzly file, the file the Elburgs suggested to sharpen the original Grizzly broadhead. I find that its round sides can be used like a steel and this leaves the file teeth come to an abrupt edge which will give a very fine serration.
I have used the Tom Mussato method that is on here somewhere, it takes some time but it works well.
We have killed deer with all of these methods and cannot tell which one works better than the other with Hill heads. Other than our single bevel versions getting more blood on the ground and sooner than file sharpened standard Hills done the Hill way, the end result is about the same. I would advise with Hill heads, if your shaving sharp goal is not absolutely hair cutting sharp go with a serration method and then there is a difference from merely being a rough edge to a very keen rough or serrated edge. It should easily cut leather.
Many years ago I filed on a 140 till I wrecked two cheap but new files, they were very hard, that is when I used the Diamond hone attachment of my Dremel tool.
My first Hills many years ago I tried to sharpen just like a Bear or a Zwicky. Louis Armbruster showed me his method by pulling the narrow flat side of a standard file reversed and pull filing from back to front on all sides and making sure that a very sharp bur gets pulled up on each edge from the same direction to match your fletching. I killed my first 9 deer using this method.

Overspined · January 10, 2015, 09:05:00 AM

Hill heads have a really neat, classic look. I don't use them primarily because I find them difficult to sharpen. I know it can be done, but the stock heads come in very rough shape. The new Grizzly heads aren't the 20$ per 6 they used to be, but they are so easy to get hunting sharp now that I very much prefer them. I've also had the Hill head ferrules crack. I probably heated too much, but they cracked, and they get in the way when I try to sharpen them. I'll probably use my remaining heads on coyotes. My deer have all fell to Grizzlys, first one in 1990, but the way I sharpen them now is far superior than the file method I used to use. The difference is easily seen in the blood trails. Dead is dead, but it's easy to find them now, and most don't need tracking.

January 10, 2015, 10:26:00 AM

I agree that Grizzlies are easier, I have a bunch of them. I went to the single bevel Hills because of the success I had with the original Grizzly 160s that only came in right wing. The early criticism of the Grizzly not matching left wing arrows by some got me thinking, so I made left wing Hills to match my left wing arrows, like I said more blood on the ground. Of all of the methods that I tried with standard Hills, the Tom Mussato method used in combination with a diamond Jewel Stick gave me the best average blood trails. Regardless, we have not lost any deer with the other methods either. I think for those in doubt with a Hill head, following the Mussato method is perhaps a more reliable way for those new to Hill broadheads of knowing that your head will be hunting sharp, but it is a bit more time consuming.

WESTBROOK · January 10, 2015, 12:28:00 PM

Matt...are you using the standard Grizzly or the big K ?

Brianlocal3 · January 10, 2015, 10:32:00 PM

http://youtu.be/9e3MElyAMrM

Great video on sharpening a Hill head by Green

SAM E. STEPHENS · January 11, 2015, 12:05:00 AM

Just watched it , at the firestation for the next 3 days but will try it out soon as I'm back home. I got one tag left and four days to put it on a deer once I'm back , Thanks....

,,,,Sam,,,,

Green · January 11, 2015, 08:02:00 AM

For a multitude of reasons, I've not had the chance to slip one of the HH heads through a critter yet, but I'm pretty confident in the edge I've gotten on them....and I'm extremely confident in the way they fly.

I picked up another bunch after this video was done, and the steel seems a bit harder than the previous ones, so I ended up stroking the file as much across the blade as I did forward with each stroke in order to raise the burr. I have also done away with using the larger file as the shorter/narrower file seems to offer the best cutting ability.

January 11, 2015, 10:40:00 AM

I like the Grizzly file for its serration, clean and sharp. When I hit those really hard 140s they frustrated me a bit, but a new Jewel stick ended that frustration. One thing with the real hard ones, they stayed sharp longer. While the standard Hill method does work for me, I do believe that this type has worked better as far as blood trails go with the standard double bevel. I still think that the single bevel was a bit better for immediate blood on the ground. For penetration and blood trail lengths, I have no conclusions. How do we measure penetration on whitetails, when they have all flown through and different hits with different deer make differing reactions to the hit? I do think that I use a different angle when I serrate, not sure which would better on that part, but I get a bit crisper edge when I finish with a fine jewel stick.

Overspined · January 12, 2015, 09:16:00 PM

Hey Eric, I'll use any Griz but usually use the big ones, Kodiaks, from 160-200gr. They had a wide range of weights come through based on steel sizes. So I have 160/170 and 190/200 gr heads. They are much better now that they are so easy to sharpen.

Pavan, those hills are great, if you get em sharp, which I gave up on...the shape of the head is just so difficult to work and the steel is like the old Griz, super hard.

I haven't measured penetration as you mentioned, but the amount blood and short trails have been hard to mistake. Before, deer would die, but run farther and seemed to bleed very little. I Don't think its only a Grizzly head thing, I thing the low edge angle and ridiculously sharp edge is the key, which can be achieved with many heads. The single bevel is gravy if the studies are true as I hunt with bows under 53#.

kestimator · January 12, 2015, 10:59:00 PM

Thanks for sharing Rob's video Brian!

Good video Rob!! Your archery talents/skills remain impressive

jeffg · January 14, 2015, 09:20:00 AM

why don't you hear much about Craig's Howard hill bows? There is a lot about JD Berry and other makes.

centaur · January 14, 2015, 09:29:00 AM

Craig makes great bows. If you go through the jillions of pages of the HH Bug thread, you will see lots of positive comments on his bows. I have three of them, and they are great shooters and you can't get a more classic Hill than what comes from HH Archery. Lots of HHA aficianados here. That being said, I prefer my Berry reverse handle, but my Hills are not far behind.

January 14, 2015, 10:01:00 AM

I am on the list for the new limited edition from Craig that is coming soon. The other day, I gave my last heavy Schulz that I no longer should shoot to a young man that could and then called Craig and put my name on the list.

Green · January 14, 2015, 10:36:00 AM

Yep.....you're fixing to see quite a bit of press on Craig's new offering. He has a very deep base of happy customer's here.

January 14, 2015, 11:14:00 AM

The year my son was using the light Big 5. The farmers wife asked me 'why does your kid have all of those squirrel tails on his belt, the other day they were all in front and now they on the back.' Me,'Those aren't squirrel tails those are squirrels'. Farmer's wife, 'Yuk, they must really be stinky by now.' Me,'Those are new squirrels everyday.'
The Hill that got grabbed when I had my heart arrhythmia by some idiot, killed the first 7 squirrels and rabbits that I shot at without a miss. My wife said, 'knock it off, I am sick of cooking squirrels." It has been my experience if a bow can kill small game for you very consistently, use it for everything else as well.

Ray Lyon · January 14, 2015, 12:12:00 PM

Still have my first HHA bow (Tembo)from 1978 when Ted and Betty were running the company. Used to have a hand written note from Betty regarding their stock bows at the time and switching over to their new bowyers (mine might be an old Schulz model as he was just leaving and I elected to take a stock bow). Had a few that I traded away. Great bows.