• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Blitzing my first trad arrow

katiesmom

katiesmom

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2020
Messages
1,192
Location
East Alabama
So I did my first attempt at fletching a GT trad xt 500 shaft today.

I had a left wing clamp and left wing feathers. I turned the upper knob as far to the left as I could get it.
Screenshot_20211229-172911_Gallery.jpg

Then left the bottom one centered. Then fletched it.
Screenshot_20211229-173147_Gallery.jpg

So after doing all three feathers, it looks like the tip of the feather did not sit flush on the shaft.
Screenshot_20211229-173534_Gallery.jpg

Any suggestions or advice on what I did wrong or need to change?

Thanks in advance yall and Happy New Year!
 
I had to adjust mine a little to get the vanes to sit square. I was doing Rights. But I think I backed off my top one some to make them sit against the shaft better. To make sure they went down all the way, I also take a pencil tip or similar and push down on the flat part of the vane to make sure they seat. Shaft sizes are all a little different. So I think you have to tweak it some to get them to sit right.
 
I do dry fitting to make sure they are flat and adjust my clamp with a feather in it to make sure for the first one. Once it’s sitting good I’ll add glue. Feathers vary a little bit feather to feather so it’s not a bad idea to put them in the clamp and check that each one sits correctly. I’ve had a few feathers I’ve thrown out because of this. Also I add a drop of glue to front and back of the feather after removing the clamp just to make sure they don’t pop up.

with your current picture you could refletch or drop a tad of glue up in that gap. For me I’d pull em off readjust clamp and try again. But I’ve done it both ways.
 
The longer the feathers are, and the more micro the shaft is, the more exaggerated that will be.
I used to fletch with extreme off-set and helical feathers. But with proper tuning, I found that my arrows shoot very well with 3.75" A&A feathers set perfectly straight. They glue better (I like tape the best), and they shoot quieter and faster, too.
If your arrows are tuned well, you don't need off set or helical...even with broadheads.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
The longer the feathers are, and the more micro the shaft is, the more exaggerated that will be.
I used to fletch with extreme off-set and helical feathers. But with proper tuning, I found that my arrows shoot very well with 3.75" A&A feathers set perfectly straight. They glue better (I like tape the best), and they shoot quieter and faster, too.
If your arrows are tuned well, you don't need off set or helical...even with broadheads.
Click to expand...
The feathers are 4 inches. These are experimental arrows for my "new" longbow. (I bought a used St Joe River longbow, 50@28 or for me around 44@25 from Big Jim. Further down the rabbit hole I've gone....lol.)

So what you're saying is put my center clamp on and fletch them that way? I can do that. And I have tape, just haven't tried it yet either.
 
Center clamp?? Do you mean your straight clamp?
Something else...my old Bitzenburger has different nock indexors for Left, Right, or Straight fletch. My index knobs have a R, or L or S on the end.
And you'll find that the tape is much easier to undo a feather (on carbon shafts) than glue. And I've never had a taped feather fail...even after hundreds of shots stump shooting which is a pretty good testimony for the durability of tape.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
Center clamp?? Do you mean your straight clamp?
Something else...my old Bitzenburger has different nock indexors for Left, Right, or Straight fletch. My index knobs have a R, or L or S on the end.
And you'll find that the tape is much easier to undo a feather (on carbon shafts) than glue. And I've never had a taped feather fail...even after hundreds of shots stump shooting which is a pretty good testimony for the durability of tape.
Click to expand...
Straight clamp, my bad. Yeah my Blitz is over 20 years old, it came with only a straight clamp. I bought a left clamp and left index knob for it.
 
I've never tuned an arrow for a longbow, only have done it for recurves, so I'm not sure my advice of fletching style may not apply to you. A longbow guru needs to chime in. Do arrows shot from a longbow require more stabilization than arrows shot from a recurve?
 
Allegheny Tom said:
I've never tuned an arrow for a longbow, only have done it for recurves, so I'm not sure my advice of fletching style may not apply to you. A longbow guru needs to chime in. Do arrows shot from a longbow require more stabilization than arrows shot from a recurve?
Click to expand...
I shot almost exclusively longbows till recently. As far as I know I’ve not noticed any difference. I personally use a LH fletch with helical clamp and do a very slight offset with bow my recurve and backup longbow.
 
@katiesmom ,we can go down a long conversation about arrow builds. The amount of fletch off set and helical is relative to other aspects of your arrow...FOC certainly comes into play when determining how much stabilization an arrow requires. We can definitely discuss that if you wish.

But getting back to your original question. When I made helical and off set fletch I always tried to have an equal amount in which I would adjust the front and rear knobs...a little off set up front, and a little in the rear. I always tried to have the mid point of the feather laying right on top of the curvature of the shaft. It seems like you have most of your off set shifted towards the front, correct? With these smaller diamete carbon shafts its gonna be harder to get full quill contact with off set feathers.
 
Sometimes you can sand the clamp to get them to seat better on a shaft. Dry fit every time use a long plastic vane for your dry fit pick it up look and see if any light is poking thru. Adjust front and back accordingly. Then run a screw driver over your front feather. Couple rolls with screw driver just enough to lay the leading edge of feather down. Drop of glue on front and back and your good to go. I shoot extreme helical on all my set ups and has many a time sanded my clamps metal and plastic to get a better seat on shaft. Learned this from a professional arrow fletcher 35 years ago and I have been doing this since and it works great
 
Allegheny Tom said:
@katiesmom ,we can go down a long conversation about arrow builds. The amount of fletch off set and helical is relative to other aspects of your arrow...FOC certainly comes into play when determining how much stabilization an arrow requires. We can definitely discuss that if you wish.

But getting back to your original question. When I made helical and off set fletch I always tried to have an equal amount in which I would adjust the front and rear knobs...a little off set up front, and a little in the rear. I always tried to have the mid point of the feather laying right on top of the curvature of the shaft. It seems like you have most of your off set shifted towards the front, correct? With these smaller diamete carbon shafts its gonna be harder to get full quill contact with off set feathers.
Click to expand...
Yeah I did not adjust the rear or bottom knob. I've decided to strip them off and try again
I may do 2 arrows 2 ways. One is with the 2 knobs adjusted equally like you spoke of with left clamp and the other is to have the knobs centered with left wing clamp. Using tape on both.

I bareshaft tuned and the shafts are good. So I'm in the fletching stage.

Thanks for all the comments and advice!
 
Don't be afraid to move those dials so the base of the fletch is sitting on the arrow its entire length. I've fletched 5/16" carbons with mine with no problem but I certainly had to adjust those dials until I achieved full contact the entire way. If that continues to be problematic you may just want to invest in a straight clamp and just put a slight offset on them instead of a full helical if you're using full sized feathers.
 
Two fletch is definitely easy but is terrible for arrow steering. I think it ranked at the bottom of the list in Trad Lab’s arrow fletching study.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
@katiesmom those Bitz jigs and nock receiver's also have the capacity to four fletch. Maybe get 2.5" feathers, straight clamp and four fletch straight? I know you probably don't want to get another clamp or feathers either. Just thinking of some other potential options.
 
woodsdog2 said:
@katiesmom those Bitz jigs and nock receiver's also have the capacity to four fletch. Maybe get 2.5" feathers, straight clamp and four fletch straight? I know you probably don't want to get another clamp or feathers either. Just thinking of some other potential options.
Click to expand...

I have a straight clamp and a left clamp. For some reason I thought that I had to use a left clamp with left wing feathers. More than one of yall have talked about using a straight clamp with left wing feathers. So I ask the dumb question.
Is it okay to use a straight clamp for left wing feathers????
 
Sticknstring88 said:
Two fletch is definitely easy but is terrible for arrow steering. I think it ranked at the bottom of the list in Trad Lab’s arrow fletching study.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I will disagree and yes it is easy to do but a properly tuned bow will shoot the 2 fletch in all conditions you can throw at it
 
katiesmom said:
I have a straight clamp and a left clamp. For some reason I thought that I had to use a left clamp with left wing feathers. More than one of yall have talked about using a straight clamp with left wing feathers. So I ask the dumb question.
Is it okay to use a straight clamp for left wing feathers????
Click to expand...
Yes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top