Matt, just like most things in life there does become a point of diminished returns. IMO 4 blades is the point of maximum returns in a broadheadand anything more than that offers no real advantage at all as your hypothetical example clearly demonstrates. Afour blade cuts what looks like an actual round hole in an animaland adding more blades would not add anything to this.

A two blade obviously only cuts in one direction and the ability to reach out there laterally only helps if there is something there to cut. A large two blade head could just as easily miss a major artery on a marginal hit as it could cut it in half. Even if that large two blade actually brushes against that artery as it passes through the animal. IMO the marginal hit argument is a moot as any because there are just as many times that a Rage could cut that artery as could a 1" 4 blade. It only gets cut if it is there to be cut and a blade passes close enough to actually cut it.



Annika, cutting surface does not refer to the amount of damage being done to the animal. It refers to the length of the actual sharpened edge of the blades all added together.An example..... A two blade broadhead with a 1" cutting diameter that is three inches long. The cutting surface of the blades is just a fraction over 6 inches but it still only cuts a 1" slit in the animal.Cutting surface means nothing as it pertains to the amount of tissue damage a broadhead can inflict to an animal except for increased penetration but even that is obviously being disproved with todays short broadheads.

Total cutting ability is a much better term for what you are describingas ittakes into account the number of blades as well as the diameterof the blades.

The only difference in a 2" two blade and a 1" four blade is the shape of the hole. I agree that the 2" two blade looks bigger because of the way that skin and muscle streches when ther is a hole in it but the amount of tissue being cut is the same.