Maybe I got a bad batch. I have been sharpening knives since I was just a little kid. I sharpen my pocketknife like a scalpel on the window of my truck. My other heads, razor sharp. Even cheap mechanicals like the NAP Killzone, my blades are scary sharp.

I have diamond plates, arkansas stones, and a leather strop. And the bastard mill file. I have gotten them hair popping sharp, and one pass through the cardboard breaks that burr and that’s it. So far the best edge I have put on there is just a file sharpened edge that is just barely stropped. That edge kind of cuts paper ok, but does not shave. But it is still there when I stab it through the cardboard a few times.

What the heck is going on here. I am starting to think they were just meant to be file sharpened and left alone.

file sharpen, strop and leave alone.


Imo one things people nerd out over is how sharp they can get their broadheads. You are putting one on an arrow and thru a deer, not performing open heart surgery. there does exist a realm of "good enough"

Makes sense to me. That Zwickey Eskilite is one bad mother. The shape of that blade, it can be dull as a butter knife and still easier to push through cardboard than anything else I have except my single bevel heads. And my single bevels are sharp enough to shave your face, yet no easier to push through than a dull Zwickey Eskilite.

The whole point of getting them sharp like that is so my daughter can hunt with them. Of all my heads, this one is easiest to poke through stuff. So that is what I intend to set her up with.

one of my favorite purchases over the past couple years for refining an edge after course/file cut and a mid stone is a good ceramic rod. work sharp makes a good low cost rod that helps get that smooth edge that pops hair. I personally want my edges as refined and smooth as possible. do you typically try to put a very real shallow angle on you heads? I have founds some heads or blades just do not like to go real shallow on their edge geometry. You can get some axe heads "sharp" as hell but that steel does not like to be ground and maintain an edge as fine as a fillet knife. knock off the bur and it is dull again

I stropped one to the point that it has a convex grind to the bevel. It’s fairly sharp. But the amount of work I put in to make it “ok” feels like wasted effort.

File sharpen and go. That’s how Fred Bear did it. If a head is made of the right steel, I will make it shave. These heads are different. You might get them to shave, but as soon as it passes through hair and hide it will be dull.

Unless you plan on stabbing the deer with the arrow, you’re already good.

Pretty sure it would work for that, too. There is something to this filed edge that has been overlooked by modern bowhunters.

Have you looked at theDMT Broadhead sharpener?

No, I just skipped the diamond plates. I start the burr on the mill bastard file, carefully straighten out the burr on the ceramic rod, then straight to the strop from there. I do most of my file work on one side, so it is almost a single bevel. I come back a few strokes on the back side to peel that burr back over so it doesn’t just fold over the edge.

When you go straight from the file to the ceramic rod, and use as light pressure as possible, you can watch and see the burr fold back over as you stroke the ceramic rod on each side. The little wire edge. After maybe 5-10 strokes of the ceramic rod each side, once the burr is straightened out and I can tell it is not folded over one side, and is already scary sharp, THEN I go to the strop and strop it carefully on each side until that wire edge frays and peels off. That burr is scary sharp, but not durable. You have to strop it off to get a true sharp edge.

If you don’t have perfectly consistent angle and bevel, you’ll never get the burr. You gotta start that burr and carefully strop it off. Leaves a nasty edge and you can push it through a 5 gallon bucket with almost no effort. That head is so smooth with no bumps or rough edges.

It sounds crazy. But I guess this is what happens on a microscopic level when you sharpen a knife. Except for some reason with the Zwickey you can see it, something about this steel and the way it is tempered.

Once you get the feel for it, it is nothing to sharpen these heads. Hit it with a couple hundred strokes on the file and the profile/angle of the bevel has completely changes to whatever you want to make it. I just pick the angle I can hold consistently and rock it out.

Crock sticks, been using Zwickey Eskimos for 30 + years.
Get that burr off then a few strokes on crock sticks gets them sharp.

20 plus years ago I bought a zwickey sharpener. It is a block of wood with two mill bastard files set at perfect angle. Has a slot for bleeder blades . Cannot find anywhere now. It will get them RAZOR sharp!

Come Saturday morning, I am gonna give the file sharpened Zwickey Eskilite a try. I have experimented with every head I’ve got, nothing is easier to push through the side of a 5 gallon bucket than just a plain old Zwickey. I can pull a Zwickey right out of the package and push it through easier than my Slick Trick single bevel honed and stropped to perfection. The shape and profile of that Zwickey seems like it was just made to slip through a scapula to me.

Might seem like a silly experiment, but it gives me confidence. I can put that file sharpened Zwickey on the end of a 500 spine shaft and push it right through a 5 gallon bucket holding the nock end. Even from a angle. Can’t say that about any other head. 3 blades gotta be rammed in there head-on.

Plus you can shoot them into the dirt and touch it up real quick with a few file strokes.

This is the kind of thing why we see threads where people made decent shots but the blood trail sucks and they don't find their animal.
Sharpness matters. Matters as much as shot placement. Zwikey heads are soft steel. Yes, they'll take an edge, but not one I'd settle for.
I control everything I can control because in hunting, too manyvthings re out of my control. How sharp my head is definitely falls into what is in my control.

It is because we have been taught a three step process for life. File, hone, strop. With a Zwickey, skip the hone. File, then strop. It will pop hairs, slice paper, etc.

If you just file a Zwickey, it can still take a decent edge. There are better heads, but they are $$$. In my limited experience, a Zwickey is still the most rugged, re-useable head for under $100/3 pack. And it is way, way under that price point. It’s one you can shoot dirt clods with all day, hit it with the file for a few strokes, and you’re ready to go. But do file a tanto tip into them to prevent tip curl. I have not experimented with an Ace head yet.

Top notch heads made of tool steel are hardly effected by the file. It just jacks them up. But they hold that edge a whole lot better. The coarse diamond plate makes quicker work of those, compared to a file.

For the record, I've never used a file to sharpes a head. I tried it with Wensel Woodsman heads. Nah. An old lawn mower blade, brush scythe or something? Yeah. Broadheads, I need a better method and tool. As far as I'm concerned I need to buy better heads if nothing else.

I think it’s a great head. But have not put one in a animal yet. So i owe ya’ll that much after saying it’s a good head.

I just know that even if it is dull, even after i filed a tanto tip on it, it slides right through a 5 gallon bucket without much effort. Compared to everything else I have tried, including a 2 blade single bevel head that I had honed and stropped to perfection, that you could shave your face with. It’s the shape of that head, and the shape of the ferrule, with no interruptions to impede penetration. It was perfectly designed to penetrate.

We will see what kind of blood trail it can make.

Good luck! Post pics