DIY homemade broadhead project
 

Ive killed deer and bear with homemade broadheads in the past but they were 2 blade, single bevel designs I built. I shot them at the end of homeade arrows fletched with the feathers of Turkey Id killed. I launched them from a homemade longbow I designed and made.

This DIY homemade broadhead is a bit different. It will weigh 250 grains as that is my preferred weight in a broadhead. Roughly 91% of bowhunters that target deer use a 100 or 125 grain head. Its not my intention to market this head for many reasons but weight is a big one, It would appeal to less than 10% of the bowhunting community and Ive got so many projects in the works I dont have the bandwidth to bring another bowhunting product to market.

Ive got an Africa bowhunt this coming fall and Id like to take them on that traveling bowhunt but there is a lot of testing to do in advance.

Here, Im making the first set of blades. Its a work in progress. Im still waiting on the delivery of some small screws to secure the blades. Then do flight and destructive tests. Then travel around and kill some critters to evaluate performance.

Is there some kind of abrasive in the water of the waterjet cutter?

yes garnet.

Thank you, I always wondered about that.

Here is an update on the project.

As I work on my own broadhead design and gather the parts Ive designed and made (or have made for me such as the Stainless ferrules I hired out to a company in Lincoln Nebraska) I was able to put the whole package together. 794 grain arrow package. Now I have 2 weeks remaining in the Suburban deer culling program to see how well a big 6 bladed broadhead of my own design passes through big WI does.

Im continuing to advance this DIY broadhead project.

Making each blade by hand takes some time.



Then (since Im always concerned with tip curl) I made a tanto tip on the leading blade.



Prior to kicking off the blades, I contacted a company in Lincoln Nebraska to make the stainless steel ferrules for me. The design is complicated and requires a Swiss Screw machine to produce the parts due to the complexity and tiny slots and tapped holes in stainless steel. I sent them a 3D cad file Id created as well as a drawing I made of the specs and tolerances. The supplier sent me this photo of the parts prior to shipping them.





Then I assembled the heads and did a non-scientific push test. Here is that video


In order to evaluate the efficacy of any broadhead, one must field test it on things that bleed. After assembling some heads, I set out to accomplish a few things with this field test. Since I do suburban deer culling for a couple municipalities, Im able to target whitetails and I have until the end of January to remove as many as I can.

I wont be evaluating just this prototype broadhead with this field test. I will also be evaluating a arrow mounted telemetry tracking knock ive spent more than 3 years perfecting, I will also be evaluating a thermal imaging capable drone that will be slated for big game carcass location and recovery. Here are the effects of this broadhead on a live test subject. Here is that video


Here is a still photo from the video I made with the thermal imaging drone. This was about a half hour after the deer had expired. I had the drone about 100 feet up. Even the entrance hole from the arrow can be seen.



Im now trying to source the proper thickness of tool steel (preferably O1 tool steel) that I can have water jet cut. I will then do my own heat treating and tempering to make them suitable for broadhead blades. As a custom knife maker, O1 is one of my favorite high carbon steels for blades. Its superior to most stainless steels. The only negative is that is is not corrosion resistant so it will have to be oiled and protected from rust.

My favorite part of prototype broadhead testing. The tenderloin test.

I found a source for .04" thick O1 tool steel to make my next batch of blades from. I can harvest about 21 sets of blades from a 6" x 10" long piece of stock. After water jet cutting I will heat treat and temper the steel to a Rockwell hardness in the upper 50's. An order has been place.


At the same time I made the rearward blades a bit larger going from 1 1/8" wide to 1 3/16" and added some venting. The leading blade went from 1" wide to 7/8" .

Well DIY its like you said in you first post. This will likely only appeal to <10% of the bow hunters out there. I ran your calculations and they are correct. With your set up you do get 77.7 FTLB KE. But with that heavy arrow you're sacrificing a lot of speed (just maybe a tad better than we used to get with a standard recurve bow and average weight arrows way back pre-compound). I also ran my set up through the numbers and my 420 gr arrow at 305 FPS gets me 86.7 FTLB KE.
That's 11.6% more energy and a 45% speed increase.
And while I'm sure your set up would be good for extremely large game like the big bears and possibly even elk at close range because of the momentum it has I really don't see the need for such a set up on whitetails.
But I do admire your ingenuity and your passion for the sport. Good luck BTW that tenderloin looks delicious!

Yes, those numbers are correct, its your assumption that is incorrect. Speed matters not. I wish folks would give up on the speed fad already. So long as my arrow arrives before the season closes, Im good. Ive been bowhunting for almot 50 years but I still hunt with my homemade longbow that shoots a blazing 195 FPS. Im still passing through deer and black bear. Why? because its not speed we ought to be concerning ourselves with, its Momentum. KE is almost useless to a bowhunter.

But your momentum is lagging far behind mine. Your MO is .569 slug while mine is .74. That is the important calculation you failed to do. speed factors into Momentum but while you have far more speed, you cant come close to producing the pass through force my (what you will call slow) arrows do. Its that pass through force bowhunters covet. (especially when a large bone is hit) Your arrow will arrive faster than mine but I never cared about that, My concern it what happens AFTER the arrow arrives.

https://www.realtree.com/kinetic-ene...tum-calculator

If my broadhead will work on large and dangerous game, it will work on small game like deer and black bear. AS for range, that too matters not. My arrow will retain its pass through momentum at great distances while your light and fast arrow will peter out when hitting things at long distances. Ive taken large game at 65 yards with heavy arrows. Distance works to my advantage not yours.

My arrow hits like a bus full of fat guys and keeps on going. Yours gets there faster but hits like a prius full of vegans sipping soy latte. Both will kill the deer but I hunt all manner of species all over the globe, not just deer. As for overkill. No such term exists in bowhunting since I dont have to fear any bone or shot angle.

Dont pay any attention to KE. Dont fret over speed. Build a good flying, well constructed arrow package with the maximum devastation at the tip. My goal is to maximize devastation. I dont care about speed or KE. I want (and get) 2 drain holes, maximum blood letting, short blood trails. I will take this head with me to Africa. I will fear no species there.

Well I believe we've been through this before and I will still continue to agree to disagree with you on speed doesn't matter. With my set up I've yet to have pass throughs on whitetail, mulies and bison. The only difference between shooting at deer and bison is for deer I use a 100 gr Rage and for bison I used a 100 gr Magnus Stinger 2 blade. Both bison shot were in the lungs. The first went about 70 yards and the second went about 5 feet, stood there for about 10 seconds and fell over dead.
Where we tend to disagree on speed is with distance. Especially in the woods. I hunt predominately in Northeastern PA. and where I hunt it is thick. The pic of the buck in my avatar walked past me while I was looking at a lesser buck. By the time I saw him he was moving through thick cover. Figuring quickly his route and estimating the yardage at 30 yards I had an opening about 4"-6" to shoot through. When he stepped into in I mouth grunted, he stopped, and I let loose hitting him behind the shoulder where he ran about 40 yards and expired. My Nockturnal nock, after passing through the buck was stuck in a black birch tree up to the insert. IMO that's plenty of MO!
Te each their own but I don't think your higher trajectory set up could have made that shot. Over and out.

As you state, you are not getting a pass through because you are still falling for the speed fad, worrying more about your arrow in flight than when it actually reached its target. I gets a pass through with constant regularity because I care nothing for speed and focus on momentum. I like 2 holes in animals.

I would not even consider a 100 grain head. Thte majority are made with aluminum and wont stand up to the forces my arrows produce.

Broadhead lethality is my line of work. Its not a weekend hobby. Its my livelihood. I have been at this for far too long to fall for the speed fad. But if all I hunted was small game like deer and black bear, I would still opt for the higher momentum setup so I never have to fear any bone or shot angle. But that means must use a broadhead that will come out the other side, in tact.. Thats why im opting for stainless ferrules and O1 tool steel blades. I would not use a rage head if a truck load were dropped off at my house as a gift. Im not one for cheap, single use disposable heads that wont stand up to what I hunt and what I hunt with. But if you are happy. We both win.

I understand the momentum factor perfectly but IMO you are going to the extreme with it. My set up is more than capable of pass throughs for deer and black bear as is yours.
But what you can't seem to grasp because of either your pride or arrogance the with bowhunting you have to sacrifice either speed or momentum to get optimum results from your set up. Heavy and slow isn't always better than speed and lighter. Depending on the game being hunted. Both your set up and mine are perfectly capable of passing through a deer at 30 yards. My set up would have a verticle drop of about 7" whereas yours would be somewhere around 17". A miscalculation by just a couple yards would give you a complete miss where I would hit just a tad lower.
its just simple physics and ballistics. You have to sacrifice one or the other for optimum effect for the game hunted. If I were to go after cape buffalo, elephant or even brown bear I would definitely want a heavier arrow/broadhead combo. But for deer and black bear size game what I have is a proven performer.

I dont just hunt small game like deer and black bear. Ive taken water buffalo, elk, red stag, a 318 boar hog and Im headed to Africa with this bow. What you fail to grasp because of either your pride or arrogance is that you are mistaken. Im cool with you not understanding or accepting this reality. Having bowhunted all over and for many many species for nearly 50 years, I can assure you that my comments are correct. You do not have to like it or accept it. Nor does it need to cause you to get emotional or upset. Cheers.:)

Whatever! Continue on hunting with your Lincoln logs if it makes you feel good. Either way both of us will fill our freezers each and every year. BTW I too have been bowhunting for over 50 years, 55 to be exact. Long before the invention of compounds and I was shooting a bow for well over 60 years so I also have an idea of what I'm talking about.
I've also heard quite a few rumors about you that I would not care to respond to here. So I will leave it at that. Good luck to you in you future endeavors.

I laughed.

Another field test of my 6 blade broadhead

Congratulations on the doe, But DIY that video doesn't impress me at all. My blood trails with the 2 blade Rage are a lot more impressive.
What would impress me is a 30-40 yard shot in second growth woods like where I hunt. I don't mean open timber where you have a good verticle window to shoot through but a window about 12" around with the animal standing a couple yards beyond the window.
This my friend is where you need speed over momentum. I've made these shots, one up to 43 yards and I'll still got my pass through a red carpet blood trail and the buck only went 20-25 yards
I don't plan on hunting large dangerous game with my bowhunting set up simply so what I have works great for me. But to each their own. And like you said you're product will only be used my about 10% of the bowhunting public. I guess that makes us other 90% wrong!!!!

Again, I laughed. (not with you) I created that video just to impress you. :rolleye0011:

Here is an update on the project.

here is a bit about the process to get the blades ready for my homemade broadheads. I hope to use them in a few weeks to kill some hogs and then down to Texas for more critters before I use them for the WI bowhunting season and then bowhunting in Africa. Its been a good way to use time indoors during the recent WI deep freeze we have had.

If you struggle to sharpen stuff I put this together to help;

Good luck on your hunt and be safe. Regardless of our difference of opinion I wish you well.