Main Discussion Area > Flight Bows
Flight Arrows
DC:
Does the cock fletch have to be 90°to the string? I want to try some vellum fletching but the arrow has a horn insert in the nock end that is 90° to the string(right where i want the cock fletch to be) and it will be very difficult to cut a groove for the fletch in that thin piece of horn.
avcase:
--- Quote from: DC on October 12, 2020, 09:49:39 am ---Alan, I think it was in the build a long you mentioned pinching feathers to decide if they were good for flight arrows. Have you arrived at a legal species to use? Can a feather be too floppy/soft?
--- End quote ---
I have had success with various pheasant tail feathers and smaller waterfowl feathers. I used to have some Guinea fowl feathers that worked pretty well too. I used to sort through a lot of feathers to find a few precious ones that were exceptionally stiff and thin. The shape and size of the feather is pretty important to combat flutter. My best mimic the shape of the typical Turkish flight arrow. I make the height about the same as the diameter of the arrow shaft.
It has been too long since I have been able to devote time to the natural material flight categories. It seems like vanes from thin vellum parchment should work better. Ivar Malde used vanes made from some kind of durable hand made paper for his 600+yard record. Adam Karpowicz also uses this kind of vane for his horn bow flight arrows and they work great. The only thing I found which could be better is vanes made from very high quality water buffalo horn. They seemed very promising if you can avoid contact with the bow.
Alan
DC:
I've been making shafts out of various woods. I have a 25" Hemlock with a .700 deflection, 2 lbs @ 22" That flies well so I'm trying to duplicate that in different wood to see if I can get a smaller diameter. So far I've tried Hemlock, Doug Fir, Ocean Spray, Sitka Spruce, Beauty Bush and Cotoneaster. (PS and Black Walnut) All of them except the OS ended up with close to the same diameter. The OS was getting to close to the pith to continue reducing and it still weighs 470 some grains. The weights were similar too with the Hemlock being the lightest at 213 grains. Should I be seeing a bigger difference? Did I happen to pick woods with a similar weight/stiffness ratio? I finally get to go shoot them this weekend so that may tell me something. I do have one OS arrow that I cut out of a stave so it has no pith. I can reduce it more but it weighs almost as much as the bow ;) ;) ;) so I don't think OS is the answer. It just seems that it doesn't really matter what wood I use. Can you see something I'm doing wrong?
willie:
--- Quote ---Should I be seeing a bigger difference? Did I happen to pick woods with a similar weight/stiffness ratio?
--- End quote ---
arrow stiffness changes fast as diameter increases. on a bigger order of magnitude than if you optimize material stiffness.
on the other hand, diameter imposes its own aerodynamic penalties that cannot be avoided.
DC:
I thought that the idea was that you can use a denser, stiffer wood and so reduce the diameter and end up with the same weight and spine in a skinnier package but it's looking like dimensions trump density. At least as far as stiffness is concerned.
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