Are you talking feathers or vanes? If its feathers, then the helical has to match the wing of the feather...right wing feather needs a right helical clamp. You can't use a left clamp to glue right wing feathers.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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Vanes don't require a specific clamp.
What shaft material will you shoot? Aluminum shafts have no stiff side so you can just glue in any orientation but carbon do have a stiff side. You should determine where the stiff side is and orient each arrow identically. Most guys start with gluing the cock feather on the stiff side of the shaft.
Wood arrows also need to have feathers oriented to the grain of the wood. But there is a right side and a wrong side with wood...relates to the hazard of a shaft breaking upon release and causing the break to injure the shooter's bow arm.
Ive shot 5" helical feathers for a long time.
This year. I'm shooting a 4" A&A feather glued straight.
They stabilize broadheads fine on a tuned arrow and they shoot much quieter.
IMO, helical do not shoot as quietly...an important consideration.