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AAE Trad Vanes

SnakeEater

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2020
Messages
1,563
Anyone have any experience with these. I recently dove into the trad game not having shot one since I was a kid. Anyways I enjoy building and tuning arrows for my set ups and was interested in these but wanted to see if anyone has any input on them. I shoot off the shelf.

Also, I’ve been looking at what direction of helical would suit best, right handed shooter with a clock wise twist in my string. Not sure if string twist direction correlates to fletching direction which is why I’m asking.

Thanks fellas


Sent from parts unknown
 
I'm using them 4x90 fletched with helical jig. Good results, but im using elevated rest and plunger. If your tune is good, you shouldn't have a problem. String twist and fletch orientation have zero effect on each other. Rule of thumb has been left wing feathers for lefty and right wing for right hand. However I would only be concerned with left/right helical if you plan to shoot single bevel broadheads.
 
I'm using them 4x90 fletched with helical jig. Good results, but im using elevated rest and plunger. If your tune is good, you shouldn't have a problem. String twist and fletch orientation have zero effect on each other. Rule of thumb has been left wing feathers for lefty and right wing for right hand. However I would only be concerned with left/right helical if you plan to shoot single bevel broadheads.

I appreciate it, I’m gonna give them a try after this season. The left for a lefty and right for a righty is what I was tracking but didn’t know if that was a compound thing or applied to both. Thank you


Sent from parts unknown
 
I have been shooting LW feathers since I started 20 years ago and I’m right handed. All my jigs and and feathers are LW. I can’t remember why but I think the first arrows I bought were LW so I was trying to copy them. FWIW, I have fletched RW feathers on a LW jig and the arrows flew great.
 
Same with me, shoot right handed and the Bit'z helical clamp I have is left, I have probably 1000 plus varied left helical feathers I picked up as an auction sale. In process of making some from a Turkey wing I got a few years back, been in the freezer. I have also used left wing in a straight clamp at an offset and that seems to work well also, just love the look of a hard helical offset. I do notice though that if I do not use some wax on the tip threads they tend to come unscrewed when shooting.
 
Back in the day if you were a right handed and right eyed shooter you would want left helical so upon release, the arrow would spin away from the handle riser instead of into it. Likewise, lefties fletched right helical for the same reason. This supposedly ensured feather clearance of the handle riser and rest area during archer's paradox.
 
I agree with @kenn1320. Vanes off the shelf tend to have a pretty gnarly "hop". Elevated rest and plunger is a good idea there.

Tho I've not used AAE vanes, I did get a dozen carbon arrows off Amazon, China special, no spine...? Already fletched with vanes. I shot them for a while off the shelf because I was such an eager noobie archer, and they hopped like nobodies business. Flew just fine for my 45# Sonoma, for target shooting.

I agree the left vs right makes minimal difference, but you can't argue that if your arrow wants to clock one way (due to string twist) but your fletching wants to clock the opposite way, you are not optimizing the arrows energy. This is probably so miniscule tho. Really boils down to how much work you want to put into the arrow build. Sounds like you enjoy the labor.

If they're gonna be hunting arrows, especially with 2-blade single bevel broadheads, I'd give the extra effort to make sure that everything is working in the same direction.

Great video here from Average Jack Archery about arrow clocking, string twist is the key:

 
Left and right wing makes a huge difference if you don’t want your points or broadheads unscrewing themselves.
 
Everybody's experiences are different it. Here are mine.

AAE vanes flew really well and as I'm sure you have read elsewhere are completely different than a conventional vane material of a stiffer make up. I shoot them off the shelf and even on my best days, I hardly notice a POI shift with a tuned set up. The benefit highly outweigh the cons for me.

As for left or right wing, id suggest going which ever way you plan to stick with (bonus of a trad vane is you can fletch them either or). I had always used left because I could find them anywhere since right wing were most used by others. Again, i have never seen enough ill effect to say its been a bad decision.

Same goes for matching or mix matching single bevel broadheads. The cutthroats im using rotate about 70 deg give or take from one side of the chest cavity to the other. Which is much less than several full turns it takes to screw the broadhead on an arrow. So is it really worth worrying about? I sure dont.

Consistency and Tune is the biggest thing in the trad world. All the other things are fun to mess with but never put as much time and energy into those as you do the the primary success factors.
 
Anyone have any experience with these. I recently dove into the trad game not having shot one since I was a kid. Anyways I enjoy building and tuning arrows for my set ups and was interested in these but wanted to see if anyone has any input on them. I shoot off the shelf.

Also, I’ve been looking at what direction of helical would suit best, right handed shooter with a clock wise twist in my string. Not sure if string twist direction correlates to fletching direction which is why I’m asking.

Thanks fellas


Sent from parts unknown
The only issue with the trad vanes are how small the bases are, makes them hard to fletch an arrow with without modifying your jig. I just got rid of them and continued on with my bear weather rest and 5” duravanes.
 
Did just fine fletching a dozen arrows from 1716 up to 2016 with my blitz. Definitely use less super glue. 4 small drops spread across the bottom works well to keep the oozing minimal out the sides. I like them so far. Very quiet and flexible.
 
Never tried them on a bitz, i have a bohning jig and the arizona ez fletch jigs. The base being so small and the vane so thin it made it a pain in the ass for me. I should probably just get a bitz.
 
Watch some slow motion videos and see that the arrow doesn't even start spinning till a few feet in front of the bow.

So question. Total noob so please use small words. Then why is all the hate in regards to using plastic vanes when shooting off the shelf? I keep hearing its a death sentence if you dont use feathers....
 
I’ve made some arrows with both feathers and the trad vanes. Both fly great, especially an arrow i fletched with a strong right helical and 4 fletch with the vanes. Dart! Granted it’s probably just correcting for operator error but...I plan on hunting with both.
 
The trad vanes are super thin and flexible. Regular vanes are thicker and hard since compounds mostly use drop away rests and high speeds, so no contact with the bow or rest. Recurve/longbows have fixed rests or off the shelf so the feathers/trad vanes may make contact with the bow and throw off the shot. I have shot feathers and trad vanes inside and the sound difference is noticeable. Trad vanes are much quieter than feathers. If you shoot off an elevated rest then the trad vanes are pretty nice. I ordered some AAE Waves as they are thin like trad vanes but about the same weight as feathers.
 
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