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need the jist of the two fletch

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markinengland:
I find fletching by hand failry simple if I bind them on rather than glue them on.

I cut the feather so that there is about 1/2 inch of bare quill front and back.

I put a few turns of thread around the nock end, position the cock feather and put a few turn around the quill.position the next fletch and put a few turns and then the final one. The fletchings are now firm enough to hold on the shaft but not too tight that they can't be fine tuned by eye to get the placement right. When happy I whip the entire 1/2 inch of quill leaving the nock end of the fletchings firmly fixed.

Now you go to the front end of the fletch. I have found that bound on fletchings can expand and lengthen and arc away from the shaft when they get damp so I would now steam the fletchings to dampen them. Set the postion of the front end of the cock fletching. You can either set it straight, offset or helical. Wind a few turns around it and pull it tight be hand. Set the next fletching relative the the cock feather making sure there is an even gap, wind a few turns and do the final fletching. I now pull;each fletching ashard as I can using pliersso they sit very tight to the shaft and then whip the front 1/2 inch of quill completely.

I little bit of hand dexterity is needed but as long as each process is done one fletching at a time, rear then front it isn't very hard.

Once the feathers are on it is also quite simple to do the final fletch shaping.

Mark in England

Pat B:
Someone a few years back(may have been Jamie  Leffler) had a simple jig for holding feathers for hand tying. It was a small piece of cardboard with a hole in the center and 3 cuts raying out from the hole at 120 degrees, like a 3 fletch. The shaft goes in the hole and the feathers each in one of the slits. This way your hands are free to tie the wraps to secure the feathers.

recurve shooter:
i might have to try that jig, because i hand fletched one of the 4 river canes i had last night and it came out ugly as sin, and it was kinda difficult to do.

stringstretcher:
recurve shooter, take a look at this and see if it will help you

http://www.primitiveways.com/fletching_jig.html

half eye:
Recurve Shooter,
        Got a pic from a museum here in Michigan of a two fletch Eastern Woodlands arrow...it might help, may be not. These guys cut wavy lines down the length of the shaft (incised carving) and they set their fletch into groves with a little pitch and then tied them down......May not be the style your after though....so for whatever it's worth.
half eye

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