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Fletching Your Own Arrows

HuntNorthEast

HuntNorthEast

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
1,027
Location
Southern Maine
Thinking about building my own arrows in the off season after 2020 is closed.

Questions are, how are helical fletchings, how hard are they to glue on, and how much twist is the sweet spot?

Follow up: Does helical style fletchings increase arrow accuracy as rifling increases bullet accuracy? I would think so...
- How do helical fletchings shoot from a drop away rest? (QAD HDX)
- Does it make it harder to "true" an arrow with them?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys! Please keep the "Idk, but probably" responses to a minimum. I am looking for facts from someone experienced in building arrows at home.

Any suggestions on equipment to buy to aid me in my arrow builds would also be appreciated. Such as fletching jigs, glues, balancers, etc.
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Bitzenburger jig and AAE fast set gel have always worked well for me fletching both feathers and vanes.

I like a hard helical feathers but that's not to say an offset wouldn't work as well. It makes the arrow control a wide variety of broadheads very well. You can purchase straight and helical clamps to use on the same jig.

Mine are shot through a QAD HDX with no issues. Helical fletching on small diameter shafts is where fall away rests shine over the old prong style rests we all used to shoot.

Not sure what you mean by "true" the arrow.

Hope this helps.
 
Bowonly said:
Bitzenburger jig and AAE fast set gel have always worked well for me fletching both feathers and vanes.

I like a hard helical feathers but that's not to say an offset wouldn't work as well. It makes the arrow control a wide variety of broadheads very well. You can purchase straight and helical clamps to use on the same jig.

Mine are shot through a QAD HDX with no issues. Helical fletching on small diameter shafts is where fall away rests shine over the old prong style rests we all used to shoot.

Not sure what you mean by "true" the arrow.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input! Really it helps a lot.

By truing I mean spinning it to make sure it is perfectly balanced.
 
As you increase the offset or helical you're increasing the spin rate and drag on the rear of the arrow during flight. That helps fletching "grab" air and control the broadhead.

With advancements in modern equipment the need for big fletching that overpowers the broadhead may not be nearly as important as it was 20 or 30 years ago. There's also a case for the smaller vanes fletched with a mild offset being more accurate at long range.


It depends on what you're after.

I'm mostly a short range deer hunter and for me a 4" helical feather makes just about any broadhead shoot the way I want it to.
 
Bitzenburger, buy the right or left helical clamp (I prefer right as the left helical can untwist your field points going through foam) some people click their arrows and use the helical that corresponds to the natural spin of their arrow, but we’re just not good enough shooters to notice the difference, so I use right helical...the bigger broadhead you shoot, the more helical is necessary, especially out of an I tuned bow...if you can tune a bow, then I would just put a 3 degree helical on your fletchings, that’s plenty...

The helical is more efficient at creating drag in that 0-40 yard window which is great for whitetailhunters...it CAN produce a parachute effect and decrease accuracy at longer distances, but I shoot at 60 and 70 yards fairly frequently for practice and never notice a detrimental effect in accuracy...

As far as glue is concerned, most any super glue will work, I’ve always used AAE Max and haven’t had issues on carbon arrows...if you’re fletching aluminum arrows, use a gel based glue.

I also prefer a 4-fletch helical compared to a 3, but the difference is negligible and I’m not good enough to really tell a difference. I use 4 though because a bigger cut on contact fixed head and the research shows that a 4-fletch stabilizes those kinds of broad heads faster than a 3-fletch.

As far as a drop away rest is concerned, you’ll have no issues as long as the timing is fine.

Last thing is to “tip and tail” your fletchings. Just add a small drop of glue to the front and back of each fletching once your done. This helps it if you were to find a soft spot and shoot through your target...you can pull your whole arrow through and your fletchings will be fine.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
As far as fletching your own arrows goes - I did it for the first time this year as a complete novice. I bought the Bohning Tower Fletching Jig, and it was very easy to use. I like it because I don’t have to think about spacing etc. It does it for you. It has different limbs for different styles, so you’ll have to do your research. I was able to buy one on EBay for less than sticker price. Also bought arrow wraps and vanes at good prices off EBay.

I did this after bareshaft and nock tuning (see Ranch Fairy on YouTube). If you do that right, your arrows are flying really well without vanes, so the vanes at that point just help with imperfections in the shot. Also, I used JB Weld Plastic Welder for gluing in inserts and the Loctite Gel Glue for vanes. I suspect any gel glue (Gorilla, etc) would be fine. I think the archery specific glue is a crock. Haven’t had any issues yet with inserts, and my vanes have stayed on well despite shooting through my foam “Block” target multiple times.
 
I'm going to go against the grain here but I typically fletch with just a straight clamp on my bitzenburger. Technically when you take a straight line and project it onto the surface of a cylinder... you get a helical anyways. Helical clamps just map that projection for a given arrow diameter. I view extreme offsets/hard helicals the same way as I view extra fletching (4/6 fletch), they're really easy to use to mask tuning issues with your bow.

Another thing to consider on a hard helical is the parachuting effect: at long range you'll see your groups mysteriously open up for no reason. It's not a failure of your shot but rather oscillations of your arrow as it loses stability, a similar effect can be observed in long range ballistics when bullets enter the trans-sonic range (that sweet spot between faster than the speed of sound and the speed of sound).

For 99% of the time it's really not an issue. If helicals work for you, I say go for it!
 
I’ve fletched a few different vanes but keep going back to the standard blazers. My last 2 or 3 setups I went with a 3 degree right helical which is pretty aggressive. Even with my heavy 600 grain arrows they don’t parachute or fall out of the sky or anything else. I’ve shot out to 120 yards with that setup and they fly fine. I don’t know that you will see any advantage or difference between 1 degree and 3 degree helical, both are fine. I’ll probably do 1 unless I get into single bevel broadheads, then I may go back to 3
 
I also fletched a few different sized arrows, usually sticking with blazers and found the tower types of jigs to be the easiest, but a couple years ago invested in Vane Master Pro which I feel allows me to easily switch between different diameter shafts and vary my helical from straight to 5 degrees, I like a 4 degree helical. However, I always use an arrow squaring device on the nock and insert end prior gluing inserts and fletching to ensure the arrow ends are true. I feel while helical does spin the arrow faster, a well tuned bow should be able to handle anything from straight to helical for your typical whitetail shots. The glue I use is Loc-tite Super Glue Gel.

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John Dudley is your answer here. Bitzenburger jig with as strong as a helical as the arrow can hold for the vane. I follow what he recommends as he's been doing it longer and more than most.
 
Above is basically all the info you need to know. I will note that if you are looking to shoot longer distances over 50 yards I would suggest staying away from a high drag set up like hard helical and large vanes. The hard helical definitely increases your accuracy at shorter ranges but at longer distances it creates a parachute effect and will hurt your accuracy and range
 
Just another option on a jig, I have a bitz with a straight clamp. It was my dads and is probably 25 years old or more. It’s really a solid too. However, I bought the bohning pro with a left helical clamp for less than the bitz clamp costs. Yes, it’s plastic. Yes it has to be cleaned if you use too much glue. But I really like it as an option too.
 
The Blitzenberger or AAE max for 3” and less vanes are the easiest to add helical. You will get a million opinions on most of these questions, I recommend you try different options and decide what you prefer! As long as your arrow flight is true, you won’t have much drop due to the helical fletch vs. straight or offset. Weight has more bearing on the drop of an arrow imho!
 
I fletched for a few decades before carbon came along. I only shot broadheads and kept tearing up fletching so got a blitzenberger. Later switched to mechanicals with slightly offset straight vanes. Very accurate to 60 yards.
 
If you want to keep it simple, get an Arizona E-Z Fletch Mini and some Blazer vanes of your choosing. It will put a pretty tight helical on them. Only downside is, you're limited on the offset and the types of vanes you can use. I use Loctite Super Control Gel for glue. I have a vane stripper to scrape off old vanes. I use Goof Off to remove the glue. Isopropyl alcohol to clean the shaft. That being said, I'm trying Zinger fletchings.
 
Thanks for all of the info and insight guys! I just learned a lot and got pointed in the right direction to start my research with opinions in my head.

I will try different options in the off season!

Next question, any difference in going a little more forward with the vanes? Benefits? Cons? Thanks!
 
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