Spear sharpening

[RIphish]

I started spearfishing this year and I have a Riffe Mid Handle with 2 power bands and a single wrap of cord. I hunt in rocky areas in Northeast USA for striped bass and other structure oriented fish and have put my spear through a lot in the past couple of months. I used a file to try to get a nice point back after denting it.
How do you sharpen your spears? Any helpful advice here? Is there a pencil sharpener that does spears? ha ha.
I have seen (in dive shops and for other spearguns types) detachable tips that are very sharp - Can I get some feedback on the importance of a VERY sharp spear and whether a replaceable spear tip is better/worse than what I have.
Thanks

 

[Murat]

Welcome to the party first.

Himmm......:hmm


You are hunting around rocks. Can you tell me what is the model of you Riffe and what band and shaft config r u using????

Detachable tips has some advantages and disadvantages.If you are huntig around rocks your speartip will lose its sharp point by the time.If this is occur you may either change your speartip (if its detachable model) or you can sharpening it ( i think its simpler and more economical) If you check Riffe`s detachable speartip you will see they are not that cheap, around 30-40 dollars.

As i know detachable speartips are heavier than non-detachable ones. So it means your shaft is no more balanced. It will tend to shoot lower.

If your speartip is very sharp it will penetrate better and you shaft will go much more straight.This will increase accuracy.If you your speartip is not sharp you may either can`t make acurate shoot or you must get closer to the fish which is not easy thing for some of us

I hope this helps

 

[RIphish]

I guess my question is more directed towards How-To sharpen the spear tip?
What tools are best?
How to get the sharpest point?
Should it be round or triangular?other?
Anything available to sharpen while on the boat?

I was thinking about one of those rechargable Dremel rotary tools - charge it up - keep it on the boat - Quick sharpening between dive sites.

Comments?

 

[GoblinShark]

Hey,

what I do is I use a rotary tool with a cone shaped pink stone to sharpen the pencil tips. I get the tips sharpened a lot better and faster when I am by myself with the cone shaped stone than with the regular disc stones. For the tri-cut cutting tips I use a good craftman file and then you can go even further and hit it a couple of times on a wet stone for sharpening knives if you want but it isn't really necessary since the file will get it plenty sharp. What I do for the rotary tool is use it at the lowest speed and keep a bucket with fresh water where I dip the stone and tip so that it doesn't heat up while sharpening. You can always just use a good file in a pinch but you have to do it slowly when you are sharpening a pencil tip with a file.
MHO

 

[RIphish]

Thank you. That was very helpful advice. Do you use the small Dremel type rotary - rechargable tool? I know the pink cone abrasive stone that you are talking about. That should work well.
I've been filing with a hand metal file and it takes forever and the point is never even.

I lost a nice striper last weekend and I think it was because my tip didn't do an effective job at penetrating through the fish.

 

[GoblinShark]

Yeah the battery powered one will work very good for what you need. I've also used the plug in ones too and they are even stronger but are a pain to get to work for a boat. The files work much better on the tri-cut tips than the pencil tips.
HTH

 

[Murat]

I always return my shaft to the local dive shop and they used electric powered file. Its ready in 2 seconds and you can make it sharp as much as you want. But dunno anything about that machinery. Sorry dude

 

[peterk]

sharpening your tip

HI,
I sharpen mine at sea with a file,
fine tune with a whet stone
or
when I have electricity handy
on
the flat part of an angle grinder disc

- this is quick and easy, once you learn to use
little
and even pressure.
triangular profile has worked best for me,
- make sure the sides are equal -
quadrangular is okay too.

Once I reground the commercially available
round tips with the slightly blunter angled front ends
to triangular
they
penetrated a lot better even if, for tip-conservation,
you
also grind a blunter angle up front,
say for the first 6,7 mm's

The old arbalete tips
had detachable(un-screwable) points,
35 - 50 mm long
that were cheap enough.
When hunting in rocky areas(nearly always!)
I carried two or three with me.

Good hunting!

...peter, www.juprowa.com/kittel

 

[Hapakid808]

easy, i use the less rough side of a grinder and spin it real fast, with the detachable, you can put it (threadside first) into the drill and spin it while you put it to the grinder to keep it even. takes a lot out of it if your not carful and takes a few tries. good luck