Solid Broadheads?

[EKYHunter]

My neighbor has used Iron Will broadheads for a while. Swears by them. Money is no object for him. He just believes in them and has had success with them.

I now have two different Magnus broadhead designs (Stinger Killer Bee Buzzcut and Black Hornet Ser-Razor). I bought them after a few bad experiences with expandables. I chose Mangus because I could order them direct, Mangus has what seems to be a good guarantee and they can be sharpened (albeit, with a little effort). They screw into a standard insert, so are easy to change, if damaged, or to shoot field points with my hunting arrows at the range, etc.

A friend liked them and that was my starting point. They aren't terribly expensive, so I can replace them relatively inexpensively. There are jigs for sharpening. That will be my next investment in using these broadheads.

X2 on Magnus. Great broadheads.

 

[Karl]

I shoot Slick Trick Magnums or Cutthroat single bevels. Both have done a great job punching through everything I’ve shot them at. I run both of them over a sharpener before shooting at game. Slicktricks get new blades if I hit rocks after going through a deer. The Cutthroat I have been able to resharpen after hitting rocks, with me being able to get them back to scary sharp

If I were OP I wouldn’t hesitate to use the Magnus also.

 

[R.K.]

Definitely a lot of good suggestions here. I'm going to go through

Diamond hones. If you have to be cheep, Harbor Freight sells one that actually works quite well on knives that are otherwise unsharpenable.

I don’t have any experience with A2, but most non-stainless steels actually sharpen much more easily than stainless, yet keep their edge better also, because they don’t suffer from carbide tear out. I have used a number of different knives from 1095 and O1 ranging in hardness from 59 to 63 RC. All of them sharpen easily with natural stones. The ones under 62 sharpen readily on a sharpening steel. They also keep their edge better than 440C and 420HC in spite of being easier to sharpen.

I’m not calling you out. I would just like the info. Have you had any experience sharpening Iron Will broadheads, or are you just guessing based on the 60RC? I have not had experience with them, or anything else made from A2. If they’re tough to sharpen, a diamond hone will sharpen anything, and do it fairly quickly. If it sharpens anything like 1095 and O1, then I wouldn’t let the 60RC scare you. They should sharpen easily enough.

Love me some technical jargon. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were a bladesmith. And an experienced one, at that.

I’m a metallurgist- I overanalyze everything, and love metal and sharpening. But I’ll make the compromise for stainless- harder to get super sharp, but then you don’t have to touch them up on the strop as often to combat oxidation on the edge. Unless you have a suggestion for an oil that might work to keep morning dew from causing the edges to rust? I thought about adding a small amount of zinc as a sacrificial anode somewhere (maybe a washer/bushing?) , but that might be overkill.

 

[Rzrbck918]

Looking for an affordable broadhead that will hold up to shooting targets, grouse, elk, trees, rocks behind grouse, etc.- and that I can sharpen & hone back to a razor edge for hunting after all that.

I'd like to get away from having to keep separate heads for practice and hunting, always buying replacement blades, retiring broadheads after hitting one animal with them, etc. As a metallurgist- I like steel. I like sharpening steel, and then polishing the edge. It's fun, and you can't convince me otherwise. I've had good luck with the groups from Thunderheads and QAD Exodus, but they just don't hold up to abuse.

I think I can get away with 175-200 gr on my .300 spine arrows- IF lighted nocks (or weighted) can bring my dynamic spine back enough. Shooting a Bowtech Reign 7- 30" draw, 70lbs, IBO @ 340 fps.

So with that said- was eyeing the Magnus Stinger Killer Bees (150gr). Or the VPA single bevels. Or a few other single bevels. Thoughts?

You're thinking about it wrong. The knicks and notches form a devastating seration. At least thats the way I look at my Montecs that have seen better days.

 

[ImBillT]

Definitely a lot of good suggestions here. I'm going to go through


Love me some technical jargon. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were a bladesmith. And an experienced one, at that.

I’m a metallurgist- I overanalyze everything, and love metal and sharpening. But I’ll make the compromise for stainless- harder to get super sharp, but then you don’t have to touch them up on the strop as often to combat oxidation on the edge. Unless you have a suggestion for an oil that might work to keep morning dew from causing the edges to rust? I thought about adding a small amount of zinc as a sacrificial anode somewhere (maybe a washer/bushing?) , but that might be overkill.

I rub flax seed oil on all my carbon steel kitchen knives, BUT I don’t think that would work well for a broadhead. Flax seed is a drying oil, and leaves an almost plastic like finish on the blade. I give it a couple quick swipes ona steel before I use it. Again, I don’t think that’s ideal for a hunt. I can’t say that I’ve tested anything else. If I was going to hunt with a non-stainless broadhead, I would figure that storing them wrapped in an oily rag would be good enough for storage, and oiling before hunting, and getting a little oil in the foam in your quiver would be helpful. I would use some sort of food safe mineral oil, or research what kinds of cooking oils are non-drying.

I don’t know if anyone is doing it, but for a stainless broadhead I would think ATS-34, S30V, or Bohler N690 would be far superior to 440C.

I’ve only made one knife, but when I lost my favorite hunting knife I went down the knife rabbit hole trying to get something that kept an edge like it had, so I did an awful lot of research on it, and tried out quite a few different things and determined that for under $200, I couldn’t beat 1095.

 

[R.K.]

You're thinking about it wrong. The knicks and notches form a devastating seration. At least thats the way I look at my Montecs that have seen better days.

Not sure that I am. Forgive me if I get a little technical here.

1. Those nicks aren't sharp themselves, and cause drag, pick up fat, fascia, and hair, and plug up your cutting surface in general. It all results in a duller edge that doesn't penetrate nearly as well.

2. Part of the wound channel will actually bend outwards around the dull blades instead of getting cut by them as well- meat and blood vessels are pretty elastic. Meaning your wound channel ends up narrower than it could have been.

3. The uncontrolled nicks/notches cause more traumatic/jagged cuts with a higher clotting-factor release compared to a razor-edge slice. The wounds also have a higher surface area for fibrin and platelets to adhere to. All of this means you get less bleeding from your cut, and it clots off faster.

So jagged cutting edges give you a lower-quality wound channel from a "blood-loss" perspective, that also happens to be narrower and shallower, and clots up a lot faster.

This isn't to detract from intentionally serrated broadheads (Magnus Buzzcut & Black hornet)- those are typically sharpened on ALL surfaces, even the cups, with sharp leading edges as well as cups. Everything there is designed to cut, and the serrations are slightly protected from dulling compared to the flat edge, meaning they cut better when that meat that bent around the first part of the broadhead makes it to those cups. This is a very different way of cutting compared to a jagged burr, though a lot of people consider both to be serrated.

My opinion (metallurgical engineer, biologist, hobbyist knife guy)? Get those things razor sharp. I'm talking 3 stage sharpening, then honing, and finally stropping- with and without compound. Polish that edge, make it scary sharp. You want that broadhead as sharp as it can possibly get, because it only gets duller after it leaves the bow.

 

[Shortbowshot]

Looking for an affordable broadhead that will hold up to shooting targets, grouse, elk, trees, rocks behind grouse, etc.- and that I can sharpen & hone back to a razor edge for hunting after all that.

I'd like to get away from having to keep separate heads for practice and hunting, always buying replacement blades, retiring broadheads after hitting one animal with them, etc. As a metallurgist- I like steel. I like sharpening steel, and then polishing the edge. It's fun, and you can't convince me otherwise. I've had good luck with the groups from Thunderheads and QAD Exodus, but they just don't hold up to abuse.

I think I can get away with 175-200 gr on my .300 spine arrows- IF lighted nocks (or weighted) can bring my dynamic spine back enough. Shooting a Bowtech Reign 7- 30" draw, 70lbs, IBO @ 340 fps.

So with that said- was eyeing the Magnus Stinger Killer Bees (150gr). Or the VPA single bevels. Or a few other single bevels. Thoughts?

What you describe sir does not exist! But I've shot Magnus with good results. Quality is comparable to QAD Exodus.

 

[bucdoego]

Coincidentally, RF has the boys visiting his ranch this week for a pig shoot and to discuss all thinks broadheads. Over several episodes on THP's YT channel, they review what they've learned over the last several years. Then there is a good discussion of broadhead sharpening and the processes involved.

I don't want to insult or offend our host here at HT (he's the best), so I haven't dropped a link. Still, I think many can find the videos with what I've shared.

 

[Rzrbck918]

Not sure that I am. Forgive me if I get a little technical here.

1. Those nicks aren't sharp themselves, and cause drag, pick up fat, fascia, and hair, and plug up your cutting surface in general. It all results in a duller edge that doesn't penetrate nearly as well.

2. Part of the wound channel will actually bend outwards around the dull blades instead of getting cut by them as well- meat and blood vessels are pretty elastic. Meaning your wound channel ends up narrower than it could have been.

3. The uncontrolled nicks/notches cause more traumatic/jagged cuts with a higher clotting-factor release compared to a razor-edge slice. The wounds also have a higher surface area for fibrin and platelets to adhere to. All of this means you get less bleeding from your cut, and it clots off faster.

So jagged cutting edges give you a lower-quality wound channel from a "blood-loss" perspective, that also happens to be narrower and shallower, and clots up a lot faster.

This isn't to detract from intentionally serrated broadheads (Magnus Buzzcut & Black hornet)- those are typically sharpened on ALL surfaces, even the cups, with sharp leading edges as well as cups. Everything there is designed to cut, and the serrations are slightly protected from dulling compared to the flat edge, meaning they cut better when that meat that bent around the first part of the broadhead makes it to those cups. This is a very different way of cutting compared to a jagged burr, though a lot of people consider both to be serrated.

My opinion (metallurgical engineer, biologist, hobbyist knife guy)? Get those things razor sharp. I'm talking 3 stage sharpening, then honing, and finally stropping- with and without compound. Polish that edge, make it scary sharp. You want that broadhead as sharp as it can possibly get, because it only gets duller after it leaves the bow.

Don't disagree with you at all. Trying to make a joke about how easy it is to damage a broadhead shot at 300 fps when it either misses or goes through an animal and bounces off a couple rocks.

 

[R.K.]

Don't disagree with you at all. Trying to make a joke about how easy it is to damage a broadhead shot at 300 fps when it either misses or goes through an animal and bounces off a couple rocks.

Hear that? It was the sound of that joke going right over my head. Wonder if it's similar to what those grouse hear?

 

[Nate Mode]

Looking for an affordable broadhead that will hold up to shooting targets, grouse, elk, trees, rocks behind grouse, etc.- and that I can sharpen & hone back to a razor edge for hunting after all that.

I'd like to get away from having to keep separate heads for practice and hunting, always buying replacement blades, retiring broadheads after hitting one animal with them, etc. As a metallurgist- I like steel. I like sharpening steel, and then polishing the edge. It's fun, and you can't convince me otherwise. I've had good luck with the groups from Thunderheads and QAD Exodus, but they just don't hold up to abuse.

I think I can get away with 175-200 gr on my .300 spine arrows- IF lighted nocks (or weighted) can bring my dynamic spine back enough. Shooting a Bowtech Reign 7- 30" draw, 70lbs, IBO @ 340 fps.

So with that said- was eyeing the Magnus Stinger Killer Bees (150gr). Or the VPA single bevels. Or a few other single bevels. Thoughts?

If it has to be trees... definitely go with Shuttle T-Lok broadheads. Kills 'em dead.

 

[MT Bound]

x3 on Magnus, shooting the 100 gr stingers this year and they are flying fantastic out to 40 yards as of right now, will be stepping back to 50 & 60 this summer to see what the flight looks like.

 

[FishCreek]

Really like Kudu, anyone experienced annihilater?

 

[A Guy Out West]

I too admire the Kudu points. The OP may like them too as they seem to be easy to sharpen and tough.