Sharpening Broadheads April 2019

Bow Building School
Sharpening Broadheads

Imprint
Publisher and owner:
Matthias Wiltschko
Gross Gundholz 25, 3920 Gross Gerungs, Austria
www.BowBuildingSchool.com
Publisher and media owner takes no legal responsibility or liability.
All rights, copying, distribution and translation rights are with the
owner and publisher.
Text, photos, translation and layout: Matthias Wiltschko
No legal responsibility or liability for injuries and damage to property
of the customer/reader and third parties is taken over by the information
provided and by the objects produced therefrom (eg bows,
arrows . . . ). Each customer/reader is responsible for his/her own
safety and safety in dealing with his/her own manufactured bows and
arrows. It is at the measure of the customer/reader to judge the wood
used by him/her on its resistance to breakage.

Out now in print
Online Class 1
346 pages - 438 color photos
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Online Kurs 1
342 seiten - 438 farbfotos
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The angle of the cutting edge is already given for new broadheads, but
they must be sharpened before they are ready for hunting.

A slowly rotating waterstone achieves the highest sharpness and cutting
edge durability with relatively little effort, whether sharpening knives
or broadheads. It takes me about 15 minutes to sharpen a broadhead.
If you hunt with bow and arrow, you must be sure that your weapon
exceeds all requirements. After the shot, there should be no thoughts
like, “If only I had . . .” You must be able to trust your equipment.

At the specified angle, all blade sides are first sharpened with a grain of
220 grit. Protective gloves are indispensable for double-edged blades!

The broadhead is sharpened until a burr is formed. This ensures that
there is fresh metal at the cutting edge.

At exactly the same angle, the broadhead is now honed on a Japanese
waterstone grit 1000. Do not change the angle and take your time.

The coarse burr is removed by the fine grinding which left a barely visible
fine ridge that is still slightly connected to the cutting edge. Do not
remove the fine burr!

The broadhead is now needle-pointed and would easily cut through
soft tissue with this geometry. But an animal also has bones. Picture
below: The light reflection shows the fine grinding ridge on the lower
side of the blade.

In the next step, the razor-sharp edges are rounded at the rear end of
the broadhead (grit 1000). If you use the end of your broadheads to
control the draw length, you would otherwise cut your finger every time
you reach full draw.

To prevent the tip from bending when bones are hit, it is formed at a
duller angle on the 1000 grit waterstone.

On a leather disc at a steep angle and under the slightest pressure,
the fine burr should be broken as close as possible to the cutting edge.
It takes a few passes from all sides until the burr loosens everywhere.

By no means should you work your broadheads on fast-spinning grinding
or polishing machines. The blade would get hot and the steel would
lose its hardness and cutting edge durability.
Even if you only hold the blade to a polishing disc for a short time, the
cutting edge angle would be rounded off directly at the cutting edge
and the blade would be dulled.
But above all, the risk of injury is extremely high on such machines. If
the broadhead twists easily, it could get caught by the fast-moving disc
and then fly through the workshop at ludicrous speed.

On the next few pages, I‘ll show you how to sharpen your broadheads
without a rotating waterstone.

From the bottom up. Mill Saw File Nr.3, Swiss Key File, Swiss Watchmaker’s
File, DMT Diamond file from the USA. Place the broadhead on
the surface so that the back edge sticks into the board and your index
finger fixes the other side.

With minimal pressure and using the entire file length, the cutting edge
is sharpened at the specified angle. The other side of the blade is
sharpened against the cutting edge. Be careful not to tilt the file here
and round the edge.

Now the blades are finely sharpened with a DMT Diamond File. You
can also form a razor-sharp rounded tip. More complicated, but foremost
slower, is the technique with the waterstone. Leave the stone in
the water until it is soaked and you see no more air bubbles.

At the given angle, the broadhead is sharpened with smooth forward
and backward movements. You can also sharpen your broadheads by
sticking sandpaper on a picture frame. This way you get a flat sanding
surface. Try out what suits you best.

Video - Sharpening Broadheads