Bone Broadhead

[kayakfisher]

My son  P.K. and I decided to put old Betsy to good use,she is just waisting away up there .You might say , to just bones so we made some bone broadheads out of her.
How do you sharpen these type broadheads? With a file duh ! know how do I know when there actually sharp enough to do the job ? Cannot seem to get a good edge on them has anybody used bone broadheads before.

                                              Dennis

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[Kegan]

I made a few a year or so ago. Most of them were very poorly designed, and I wound up losing and breaking them. But. They were sharp. Just sharpen them like you would a knife or metal point, and then temper and resharpen. I never got them as sharp as steel, but I cut the back of my finger 'testing' just how nasty they'd be.

[kayakfisher]

Kegan how do you temper them
                                       Dennis

[Kegan]

Move it back and forth by the heat until it barelyyyyy starts to turn brown on the edges. I've taken it too far and ruined about 1/8" of bone. If it still isn't as stiff as you'd like, you can keep filing/tempering until it's as sharp/hard as you like.

[jamie]

helps to sharpen them from the tip back. very nice job. peace

[mullet]

  They will never get as sharp as stone. I've made some cutting, funtional heads by filing serrated edges, real short, alternating the angles all the way down the blade.

[hawkbow]

I agree.. I have taken large game with bone heads.. and the serreted points cut much better through hide and sinews...good luck brother.. HAWK

[Kegan]

I found a little experimental piece. It may not get as sharp, but you can pressure-flake bone, shell, etc. like stone to get a clean, serrated edge.

[BryanB]

Here is one I made for someone who was going to hunt deer with it.
Never heard if he was successful.
Bryan

[ballista]

dang, that thing looks lethal! would you say any particular bone is better, like a rib or a leg? thats awesome though, there was one i saw at a rennasance fest that was reaal long, skinny, razor sharp. finished with some kinda varnish, looked great though, i personally thought they might work a bit better that a knapped head.

[kayakfisher]

Im useing cow rib bones
                             Dennis

[ballista]

i see, you think they'd be useless if they were cooked? i was eating chicken fer dinner today, eyeing the leg bone as a possible small broadhead, but i figured cooking it would make it pretty brittle. -jimmy

[Kegan]

i see, you think they'd be useless if they were cooked? i was eating chicken fer dinner today, eyeing the leg bone as a possible small broadhead, but i figured cooking it would make it pretty brittle. -jimmy

I've bitten clean through chicken bones. DOn't think that would make a good point ..

[mullet]

 Dang, Keenan! What an animal.

[son of massey]

 i have heard the best bones are the leg bones of things like deer becuase they are dense as they have to put up with so much shock given the way deer run.   cow or horse leg bones would probably also be good becuase of the weight of the animal-the bone must be pretty strong-and again becuase of the way the animal runs.   the little i have tried with bone broadheads i found the leg bones to be the easiest to get flat sections of bone of about the right size to use.  not to say ribs wont work, but this is what i heard a long time ago. SOM