Thanks for the write-up. Is that blood on the blue paper towel in pic 2? :wink:

Ive been bowhunting for about 40 years. Sharpening broadheads has been an issue for about as along and when I switched to slick tricks I finally decided enough jury rigging and set out to design a durable, yet simple guide for re-sharpening blades and broadheads. Enough people encouraged me to take the idea into production and that's how the Stay Sharp Broadhead guide was born.

Yes, it Made in America and beyond that, I try to source all my material from American sources.

I recently became a Archery Talk SMR and have rolled out the guides and arrow squaring tool at a very low introductory price. That price wont last. After meeting with a few brick and mortar archery retailers, they are telling me this is a $20 item and based on time and material, that seems more sustainable but I'm giving them away on occasion (Like the give away I just completed here on AT) I envision offering coupon codes to the fine folks at Archery Talk to reduce the price once this initial offering expires.

There is no reason for dull blades or broadheads. Its fast and easy to produce a very keen edge.

Christmas is only 10 Fridays from today. This makes a great Bowhunter gift or Stocking stuffer.

Stay Sharp and good hunting

 

Yup sorry about the blood splatter I was sharpening some VPA's the other day on the stone and I left it wrapped in the shop towel. Should be more careful but I cut myself 3+ times a night at work dealing with metal stamping die presses makes a lot of sharp edges, and metal splinters. So I'm used to it. It also makes it impossible for me to tell how sharp something is with my fingertips because they are like rawhide.

Congrats on getting it into production it takes a lot of work. I have a product design in the works myself (not sharpening or broadhead related) working on a prototype, and then I've gotta see a lawyer about patent law. If I can get it all sorted within the next year will probably be using a kickstarter to launch. If I can get it to work I think it's going to blow people's minds and put lighted nocks out of business. No spoilers other than that right now it's nothing but doodles, and a little CAD design.

 

Its a blast making a product for bowhunters and as a long time bowhunter that actually needs and uses the product its doubly rewarding.

 

Just received mine today and will test it out in the next few days. I can see why it's only $15 but hopefully it will last a little while and work well.

 

I think you'll be pleased. To the eye the product is very plain and looks cheapy but I was really rough on it working those blades on the coarse side of the stone trying to get all the nicks, and gouges out. Far as I can tell it looks like it did when it came out of the package. I doubt it will wear out anytime in the near future. I didn't even manage to rough up the wheels on it. It might wear out faster if using sandpaper vs a stone. However since it rolls even then I suspect depending on use it will last at least several years if not more. Especially if you don't abuse it...like I dunno try to stand on it and roll it around with your foot.

 

I have three big diamond hones so that should be easier on it.

 

I mainly use diamond hones but even with coarse sandpaper, they are not wearing. The rollers roll over the sandpaper rather than wear or abrade.

 

So being a frugal (NOT!) kind of guy. Ok I'm a broadhead junky who just likes messing with broadheads of all shapes sizes and colors. The Stay Sharp sharpening guides peaked my interest both as a way to sharpen blades, and the price was very good. So I ordered both sharpening guides for fixed blades, and mechanical blades as well as the shaft squaring tool. Shipping was fast and they awaited me in my mailbox when I got home from work last night. With all the excitement of a kid with a new toy I snapped some pictures, grabbed the roughest head I have and commenced to test out the Stay Sharp sharpening tool for replaceable blades.

Simple packaging, made in the USA always a plus. Came with a 1 page printed instruction sheet. This is not a sharpening tutorial so I won't go through detailed steps. The tools for sharpening at my disposal were...
Ace Hardware sharpening stone $8 with a coarse and fine side. Pretty standard 8" knife sharpening stone.
Old leather belt to use as a strop
Sharpie marker for marking blade edges to use as a guide - I would say this is a key ingredient in getting things right.
Oil for the stone - it's called a whetstone but I've seen more than a few actually use water or dry. Not good for the stone. I use air tool oil comes in big bottles, is very thin, works well.
Screwdriver - flat or phillips head will work the Stay Sharp guide bolt is cut for either. Which is good because whenever I need one or the other I can only find the other.

The blades chosen to take this brave bold leap into sharpening were in rough shape. Knicks, rolls, dull as a butter knife blades off a Slick Trick standard with a bent ferrule tip.
View attachment 3047146
Please excuse dirty fingernails in the picture as stated I had just got home from work.
View attachment 3047210
So I removed the blades picked the first victim and placed it in the guide per the directions, and hit the blade edge with a sharpie. NOTE this pic shows how to NOT put the blade in the tool it wasn't out far enough by about 1/8" so I had to adjust it. The first blade you do takes a few tweaks to get it set right. Once you figure the first out the rest are easy.
View attachment 3047194

These blades were rough so I started with a well oiled coarse stone gave it some firm pressure and played hotwheels back and forth on the stone while flipping probably every 30 strokes but this as I said was a rough blade so I was really working it down. However I started with only 5 strokes to make sure the sharpie was being removed evenly across the blade length. If it isn't just loosen and adjust accordingly. The tool holds the blade well and doesn't need to be super tight so tightening, and loosening it isn't a hassle at all.

One I had all the sharpie gone from both sides of the blade I flipped the stone and continued on the fine side getting lighter and lighter pressure as I went and flipping it until I was just basically rolling it back and forth. At which point the blade was package new blade sharp. This is the sharpness I like personally it's not hair popping but it's about as sharp as you get a blade and have it hold an edge. Will remove some hair, wouldn't want to grab it wrong that's for sure. But hey I decided to go whole hog since I was testing it out.
View attachment 3047178
Here is the fresh blade note you can still see where there were some rolled edges. I could have done a little more work on the coarse side of the stone but it's still extremely sharp.
For the next step I got my leather belt layed it across the table held it with one hand, and rolled the stay sharp tool backwards along it about 20 times per side. The tool works great for this as it holds the belt flat as it rolls. At which point the blade was in fact shaving sharp. It was peel the skin off your arm sharp actually.

For a finish up not tool related I touched up the ferrule tip of this old ST standard on my stone to make it nice and sharp, and re-assembled the head.
View attachment 3047186

It's now ready to go back on a shaft and kill again...muwahahahaha!

In summary for a $15 tool this one is a keeper as that is the cost of 1 set of replacement blades. It works very well and the only challenging part is getting the blade clamped in right but once you figure that out 1 time after that it's easy. Farting around included, and walking the dog in my post work haze it probably took me a total of 10 minutes to sharpen 1 set of really rough blades for a 4 bladed broadhead. Had it not been for some serious grinding on the coarse stone needed to clean up the blade initially I could probably now sharpen them again in 5 minutes or less.

I'm very please with the tool. It rolls easy, hold it's angle even under firm pressure. It is not flimsy at all and I suspect it will last for years of heavy use. I would definitely recommend it to someone looking to save money with a little elbow grease time in front of the TV. If you shoot 3 new heads, resharpen the blades 1 time it's paid for itself. That's pretty hard to beat. Especially since most replaceable head blades now are pretty thick you can get a lot of use out of 1 set of blades. Also sometimes blades aren't as sharp as you want out of the package and this solves that as well.

No real negatives other than it's not going to work with most mechanical blades. However it's fiddly getting it set but just to see it will work with my NAP Killzone blades, would likely work with Rage blades as well.
Next when I get the chance I'm going to try the fixed blade Stay Sharp on some Magnus Killer Bee's, and when I get some new shafts I will try out the shaft squaring tool as well.

My findings were the same as yours. If I would have used a leather belt, mine would have been hair popping sharp. The Stay Sharp is a very simple tool that flat out works. I used a grizztrick that I shot a deer with opening day and have shot in my bh target numerous times. It was so dull I wouldn't cut paper..just tear it. Now that head is sharp enough that it's back in my quiver for hunting. For anyone on the fence, I would say try the Stay Sharp. You will be happy you did.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Came home from work and wanted to play with my Stay Sharp some more so I broke out my Magnus Stinger Killer Bee Buzzcut that I've been abusing and the fixed blade sharpening guide. Results were just like with the replaceable blade sharpening guide 1 razor sharp broadhead. I did learn a neat trick as well I thought I would share. Instead of trying to eyeball, grind, check the marker line, adjust, etc until you get the blade right. Put it in the Stay Sharp guide, and leave it a little loose. Lay it on the stone, press down lightly and try to wiggle the Stay sharp guide side to side. If the blade is parallel to the guide it won't wobble, if it wobbles you can adjust it until it doesn't. Then just tighten up the screw.

I still did a few strokes and checked where I put the sharpie to make sure but I found it to be spot on every time and is much faster to line everything up that way. I believe this will work with the replaceable sharpening blade guide as well. Basically if the blade is not being held flat against the stone it will wobble. No wobble = everything is square.

 

Yes, everybody (as in ost things in life) will develop their own technique. Using the sharpie and a light first stroke is a real help to help align the blade. Again, Im glade to hear you are enjoying the product. Now onto business.

The low, introductory price of $15 was a temporary launch price and will end on Oct. 23 (1 week from today). At that time the price for the Stay Sharp Broadhead Sharpening Guide will be $20.

If you were waiting, the time is now. The 2 versions of the Broadhead Sharpening guide and the Arrow Squaring device make great gifts for your bowhutning friends and there are only 9 more Fridays until Christmas and these things fit nicely in a Stocking.

Thank you to everybody that made this new product roll-out a fantastic success.

Good hunting and stay sharp.

 

I used it to sharpen a Rage Extreme that I used to take a buck on opening weekend. I can shave with the blades now. For the point blade, I just used this as more of a holder as I went through my five stones to bring it to razor sharpness.

 

How would it work on a curved style blade like a DRT? I am either gonna buy one of these or the Drt sharpener. Or maybe both.

 

For big curved blades like the DRT I would go look at 3river's archery. They have some pull through style carbide sharpeners you can set the angle of the cutters on. Then use the Stay Sharp for the bleeder blades.

 

Well the Drt sharpener is only like 13 so I will prob go that route.

 

DRT's plane I would shoot them and make sure that is the only head you want to shoot before investing in a sharpener for them. Mine hit 3" higher at 30 yards than any other head I have and I have some big fixed blade heads.

 

Just thought I'd throw my $.02 in here too. I thought for $19 you couldn't really go wrong trying this thing. I also decided to go the sandpaper route, since all my sharpening is normally done on a Spyderco V style sharpener. I skipped buying new stones, and bought a $6 pack of assorted sandpaper from Ace hardware.

I taped down the sandpaper onto a granite countertop. Easy enough. I sharpened 3 different blades to get an idea of how easy and how sharp each would be. I used a ST magnum, a Rage Hypo, and a Bipolar kick out blade. The sharpener held the ST blade very easy, but was a little flimsy on the mechanical blades since there wasn't a lot of material for it to clamp down on. It really wasn't an issue, but they would move if I applied too much pressure. I used a 400 and 600 grit sandpaper, as this kit didn't have any 1000 in it. Honestly, the 400 was plenty enough after I hit the blades on a belt. I merely hit each blade about 5 strokes on each side, flipped it, then finally alternated strokes, and the blades were hair popping in literally 2 minutes. None of these blades were in rough shape, just needed an quick touch up. Overall, I'm impressed as it took very little time, and my total output of money was $25 for the whole setup.

I recommend it. My setup looked like this.

 

Thanks for the review. Yes, some mechanicals are super slender and don't have a lot of metal for the guide to grab ahold of. Like you, other are developing a technique for those tiny blades. We are glad you are pleased with the guide and should you try the 1000 grit we think you will have even better results.

Good hunting.

 

I'm glad to see you can do the Rage blades. I just put my order in for a Stay Sharp.

 

Thank you. Your order shipped an hour ago.

 

I just ordered one. This looks too good to pass up.

 

Thanks, the introductory price of $15 ends today.

 

I can say that the smaller replaceable blades won't work in them which is dissapointing. Many blades are small and/or narrow and won't work in this system. I am only out $15 though, so I can live with that.

 

If your trying to sharpen narrow blades like most mechanicals have I've only seen a couple types that will work. I did manage to sharpen a Jak-hammer blade but I was just using the Stay Sharp as a holder. Then holding it perpendicular to the stone on the edge. Basically just get the angle and slide my hand on the table back and forth. It beats pliars and I've done that before.

I believe it's mainly intended to do fixed blade style replaceable blades. I haven't found any of those it won't work perfectly on. IE Slick Trick, Muzzy, Wac'em, Savora, Wasp, etc. Pretty much anything but a toxic but nothing with resharpen those things.

 

Ive not found a replaceable blade that wont work. I will gladly buy it back if you are unsatisfied. Customer satisfaction is a priority. Send it back and I will refund your money. PM me.