Best way to fletch feathers?

[sambow]

With the indoor season now on us. I thought I would try feathers on easton superslams.

I promptly purchased some 5" left wing feathers and set about glueing them, but I faced far more problems than i expected and on the first shot a fletching fell off (soon followed by two more which I easly pulled off!).

By arrows were fitted with vinyl wraps (which I have found in the past really helps adhesion with plastic vanes). I was using a Cartel straight fletching jig with 1-2 degree slant on it. I was using HMG cement for adhesive and following the instructions to glue the fletching, touch the shaft to put glue on both sides, then remove, let dry, apply further glue to fletching and then stick (I must say I found this process a pain!).

Some issues I faced:

• The five inch fletchings seldom sat flat in the jig clamp, bits kept bulging up and It took a lot of efforts to get them to sit flat.
• The length of the fletching combined with the slight angle on the jig, meant the fletching was not in continuous contact with the shaft, the leading edge was effectively lifted away from the shaft. The slight angle makes no difference on small vanes!
• Clearly the adhesion wasn't good, when they came off there was absolutely no sign of any glue on the vanes which looked brand new!

Can anyone advise a workable process for glueing 5 inch vanes?

Some things that would help are:

• What glue works best
• Is a slight angle on the vane possible for 5" vanes or do I need to make them "straight"
• Is the cartel jig likely to be up to it?

[clickerati]

I just fletched my allys with feathers, which you can see here. I used Fastset Gel as I don't have wraps. I used a Tollgate jig and had an initial problem getting the feathers to stick, so I held the clamp firm for about 30 seconds and just left each one in the jig/clamp for 2-5 minutes and that sorted it out.

I think the wraps are going to be your problem.

[Malcy]

I've never shot featherd arrows out of my recurve but I've made plenty for my longbow.

I've always used Bohning Fletching tape then put whipping over them. I'm sure they would hold without the whipping though. You could wrap some tape over the front and back of the feathers though, just to stop them lifting.

[wingate_52]

I shoot 5" feathers on my indoor Fatboys.I use a Tolgate jig with a slight offset. The feathers are held with no problems. And £shop superglue. I leave the feathers about 30 secs in the clamp and top and tail the feather ends with a dab of superglue. I do not use anything by Cartel.

[LIzardEye]

If the vanes looked clean when they came off, then maybe you weren't applying enough glue.
I've just finished fletching some alis with 5 inch feathers using superglue and a cartel jig. I did have to apply significantly more glue than with standard vanes and even then the surface of the feather didn't look very 'wet'. Maybe the feather absorbs the glue more than vanes. And I would leave them in the jig for a minute or so so the curve of the feather doesn't dislodge it.

[clickerati]

Originally Posted by LIzardEye

Maybe the feather absorbs the glue more than vanes. And I would leave them in the jig for a minute or so so the curve of the feather doesn't dislodge it.

It definitely does absorb! Another reason I found colouring in the fletching bases helped - less room to absorb glue! And I found leaving them in the clamp on the jig for a few mintues totally solved the problem of fletches bending or coming off prematurely. They've been rattling around in my arrow tube today and are fine and dandy!

[sambow]

Originally Posted by clickerati

I just fletched my allys with feathers, which you can see here. I used Fastset Gel as I don't have wraps. I used a Tollgate jig and had an initial problem getting the feathers to stick, so I held the clamp firm for about 30 seconds and just left each one in the jig/clamp for 2-5 minutes and that sorted it out.

I think the wraps are going to be your problem.

Clickerati. I took a look at your feathers with purple permanent marker. A quick question. How long do you leave the permanent marker to dry before applying superglue?

[clickerati]

Originally Posted by sambow

Clickerati. I took a look at your feathers with purple permanent marker. A quick question. How long do you leave the permanent marker to dry before applying superglue?

I used Sharpie brand markers, which are permanent and fast drying, but not knowing what might happen when glue met coloured marker, I left them for about an hour. Only one bled and that was one that I put too much glue on. Otherwise, they were fine. I shot them last night and I had no problems whatsoever...just lots of compliments

[Flying Whale]

Originally Posted by Malcy

I've never shot featherd arrows out of my recurve but I've made plenty for my longbow.

I've always used Bohning Fletching tape then put whipping over them. I'm sure they would hold without the whipping though. You could wrap some tape over the front and back of the feathers though, just to stop them lifting.

I use the tape too. Never had any problem with feathers coming off.

[compkiller]

Am I right in thinking that feathers create more drag and hence bring a fast arrow into line more quickly? That being the case at what sort of poundage would you suggest that feathers not be used.

Liegh I think we shoot about the same, did you find a difference to your sight marks at all.