Arrow Fletchings Jigs And Such

[freedomrules3]

I'm starting to look at buying arrows and fletching them myself, got a few questions.

NC,
what was the name of the fletching jig you have , i liked the way it worked, looked simple to do?

Anyone,
should recurve arrows be straight fletched or helical? which works best with these? i shoot rh helical out of the compound and they work well.

next where is the best place to buy feathers and jigs? even if they are not the same place inquiring minds need to know ( quote from boman ) i like the camoflaged type colored feathers and i'm going to go to a shield cut, i love that look.

[ncboman]

NC,
what was the name of the fletching jig you have

BPE, it is a really cheap rig I picked up over 20yrs ago (on sale I'm sure ;D)

I liked it because it's fully adjustable and there were 3 clamp styles available. You can play around with this one but in the end I learned fletchings are best kept simple as possible.

Anyone,
should recurve arrows be straight fletched or helical? which works best with these? i shoot rh helical out of the compound and they work well.

you may get different views on this one but the first thing to do is to define helical.

Helicals require a helical clamp, either right or left. They are somwhat difficult to fletch absolutely perfectly on the type jig I have. I think the more expensive German jigs would be better for healies.

That said, many arrows are called helical fletch but they are not true helicals. Called offset, these are actually fletched with a straight clamp but set at an angle on the shaft. This is what 90+% of finished arrows for sale are and this is also the method I fletch my arrows by. There is no need for anything else with compound bows.

Recurves sometimes shoot broadheads better with helical fletchings but a lot of the need depends on the bow and setup. I would suggest seeing how broadheads shoot with offset fletchings before going the heli route.

Shield cut feathers look the best imo but parabolic cut feathers are the quietest in flight. Some cuts combined with hard helical fletchings can sound like a hopped up bumblebee airing out.

Years ago I did extensive playing around with various fletching setups and found the method of fletching isn't really all that important so long as feathers are used and there is some fletching of some type. Out of a well tuned bow/arrow setup, one cannot distinguish any difference of accuracy one fletch to another, large broadheads in wind excluded.

next where is the best place to buy feathers and jigs? even if they are not the same place inquiring minds need to know ( quote from boman ) i like the camoflaged type colored feathers and i'm going to go to a shield cut, i love that look.

You will learn Trueflight feathers are far and away the best quality and worth whatever more they may cost. I buy Trueflight feathers in 100packs because they are fairly expensive and bulk is cheaper. I don't recall where I bought from last time. You'll have to shop around.

www.trueflightfeathers.com/

of note, it is easy to waste money in this area so best to find out exactly what you want/need before springing.

left wing / right wing still to discuss.

[arrowsmith]

The Bitzenburger Jigs are one of the best, but are pretty expensive. You can buy a exact copy from Grayling or Martin (it's the same jig) for about 20.00. The different clamps for straight,left are about 8.00 extra. The only difference is the Grayling and Martins are plastic and the Bitzenburger is Cast. I build arrows every day and some of my Graylings are 20 yr. old and work just fine. Without going through a wholesaler, probably Cabela's is your best bet. They carry everything for arrow building and cresting. Also, You can get ahold of the Bohning Co. and they sell DVD's on building arrows. I use Gateway Feathers but either Gateway or Trueflight are your best bet on the feathers. Hope this helps!

[freedomrules3]

I'm going to start with putting feathers on all the arrows i have in the shed that are missing a vane or an insert etc. i need to change them all to feathers since my whisker biscuit simply hates vanes with a passion. i can then use them for practice stump shooting or let Erika practice with them.
since i have 2 dozen (1 doz accs and 1 doz pro hunters ) in the makings ;D those will be my kill arrows with the exception of a few to practice with.

cresting and dipping will come later on once i get the fletching thing downpat. i doubt i could ever get as good as you are Cliff, but as you know arrows are expensive nowadays , and i doubt they will get any cheaper as time goes on. i'm in the research and development stage right now . thanks for the info