feather fletch help

[rover brewer]

ok need help I have a fletching jig and it has a right , left and stright clamps, I have some turkey wings for feathers, now what goes where,like what make the feather a right or left is it the wing it comes from or the way you grind it . I do know that right goes in a right clamp and left in left. also when you split the feather can you use both sides or just the one with the widest feather, is there a vid on u-tube.HELP!!!!!! please. thanks.

[Pat B]

Right wing feather(and fletching) comes from the right wing of the bird and left wing from the left wing. On a primary flight feather you want to use the trailing edge of the feather for your fletching.   If you use secondary feathers you will have a right side and a left side of each feather and the same on the other wing.   Tail feathers will also hace a right side and a left side of each feather whether it be from the right side of the tail or left.

[rover brewer]

thanks PatB that helps a lot and the grind I guess is just a flat even grind.I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by trailing edge. I'm sorry I missed you and others at the Tn Classic was really looking forward to seeing all .

[osage outlaw]

I take a razor knife and start cutting the quill in half.  Then I pull on it to split it the rest of the way.  To grind them down, I have two scrap pieces of 1x4 that I attached hinges to.  I sandwich the feather between the boards with just the quill sticking out.  I squeeze it tight and put it on the belt sander for a few seconds.  I use a fine grit belt and it takes maybe 3-5 seconds of grinding.  I glue them on the arrow then use my home made feather burner to shape them.

[rover brewer]

Thanks osage outlaw , I've made a burner too hooks to a battery charger.

[JW_Halverson]

On the primary feathers the thinnest side of the feather is the leading edge and the wider side is the trailing edge. 

With secondary feathers they don't have a leading edge so much, so you can use both sides. 

[rover brewer]

ok I think I got it with primary feathers you can only use one side the wider side and the secondary feathers you can use both sides because they don't have a trailing edge thanks JW-Halverson so to make my wing feathers do as many arrows as possible I should use primary for just my cock feather and secondary for the others.

[Pat B]

Use either all primaries or all secondaries. Mixing them won't give you the best results.  You do have to remember that the secondary feathers have 2 sides, a right side and a left side. Don't mix them either.

[rover brewer]

ok can't mix them, thanks Pat B.

[JW_Halverson]

The secondaries are also less stiff, you will need a slightly higher fletching profile, too. 

[rover brewer]

ok thanks JW-Halverson just one thing I am very green at this so what do you mean by higher fletching, and I was thinking makeing bows is hard this is driveing me crazy. Is there a good book on arrow makeing or dvd.

[JW_Halverson]

You can either make them longer or trim less off so they stand out further from the shaft.  I personally like the look of long and low fletching.  My fletching on my own arrows is often 5 1/2 inches long and as liittle as 1/4 inch high at the back! 

Super low fletching like mine requires you to match the spine of the arrows to the bow VERY carefully, but that is a long and involved thread all in itself.  Fact of the matter, you can leave the whole feather standing up without any trimming and it won't really slow your arrows much by the time they reach a reasonable hunting distance of 20 yds. 

[rover brewer]

Thanks again JW_Halverson I also like the long short profile most of the native american arrows I've seen are that way so maybe I'll make them longer 5.5 but not trim them too low,that will work won't it.

[JW_Halverson]

If you were to cut them half an inch high at the back and then taper down to 1/4 inch in the front you should have plenty of fletching to make up for any shafts that aren't perfectly matched to the bow.   Good luck, DogBeer, I mean Rover Brewer.

[rover brewer]

Thanks JW thats what I'll do.