Trade Points?

[DavidV]

I'm thinking about making trade points for squirrels or maybe bigger game . I don't have any old sawblades but I was snooping around and found some metal bands that used to go over whiskey barrels I believe. They are about 1/16" thick or less. Do you think they would make a good head or would the steel be bad? Also, I'm not sure how to cut them out, my grinder which I used with a cutting wheel was stolen.

[Pat B]

David, The bands on whiskey barrels should make good trade points but they will probably be a bit heavy. You can use a cold chisel to score the metal then break them off of the stock.

[DavidV]

Problem solved, I found the metal cutting blade for my jigsaw (Hope it works). Also found a circular sawblade I might use for knife blanks after I get a belt sander.

[DavidV]

Another question, I'm pretty green with sharpening. What angle should the edge be and are there any advantages to having single beveled broadheads?

[handirifle]

Over at the Traditional Bowhunter forum, Dr Ashbey has tons f articles on high FOC arrows, and the single bevel heads.  His determination was that a 25deg bevel was the best compromise of penetration, holding an edge and ease of resharpening.

Are you thinking of mounting these in a slot in the end of the arrow, as a flint head would?

I have made heads with steel screw in ferrules, and the blade thickness is .060" and about 2.5" long.  These weigh 300gr.  That is a little less than your bands would produce.

Sheet metal of about 20ga is right about .040" thick, and that is about as thin as I would go, unless you find a high carbon (1% or more) steel, and you can temper it, otherwise it will bend to easy on impact with anything even slightly hard.

[DavidV]

Yes, I was planning on slotting them in the shaft.

I cut out 2 so far, simple triangular shape, 1 inch wide by 2 inches long just to get a feel for the process. I sharpened one with a single bevel at 25* like you said but the problem I found is that the point is wide and square because of the single bevel. Are most heads like this or did I do something wrong in the process? I would think there wouldn't be much penetration... I may be wrong.

[osage outlaw]

I had the same problem when I tried using a single bevel.  I ground the point down a little.  It worked out well.  This point is not sharpened yet, but you can see the angle I put on the tip.