feather fletching placement

[woodsman1031]

Hello,

  I made an arrow from a 5/16" dowel last week and used duct tape for fletching. It shot really well, even better than aluminum arrows I have! I got some craft feathers from walmart to put feather fletching on this shaft as an experiment. I removed the tape and tied on 2 feathers. I dont think it shoots as well as the duct tape. The duct tape fletching showed an orientation (nock direction) preference and so do the feathers. I wish I had marked the shaft so I could see if it was the same.

Do yall think my problem lies in the craft feathers being inferior or in the way I tied them? I really expected the feather performance to be better than the duct tape. One thing I noticed is that I could not get the feathers to run paralell to the shaft. Both of them "ran off" a bit to one side. The feathers sound COOL flying through the air!

here is a picture, thanks for all of the input.

Tommy

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[Pat B]

The fletching on an arrow is the steerage. You may not have enough drag with the feathers you are using. Try 3 or 4 of them and see how it works. Do you have a pic of your duct tape fletching?     Pat

[woodsman1031]

here it is

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[woodsman1031]

One thing that suprised me about the duct tape is that I would have expected the arrow to "jump" off the shelf. I sure expected the feathers to do better because they should "fold" when they pass the shelf.


Tommy

[Pat B]

Tommy, When you release an arrow, it shouldn't touch the bow at all. You must have the tape fletching positioned just right so it clears bow on release.
   One reason if flies better is because the tape is more rigid than the feathers and adds more wind resistance.     Pat

[woodsman1031]

PatB

How do you position the tape where it clears the bow on release? Here is a picture of how I had the tape on it. The picture is also of the orientation that I shot it.

Tommy

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[Pat B]

If that arrow flies well with the tape fletching it must be lined up OK. It looks like that arrow would fly erratic with the fletching offset like it is.     Pat

[mullet]

 Tommy, If you look at the string wraps on your feathers, It looks like they are mounted upside down.  OOP's I looked at it wrong. The other thing though is those Craft feathers might not be stiff enough. They look kinda flimsy.

[woodsman1031]

Mullet,

 You are right, they are flemsy. I think I may just buy a set of arrows spined for this bow. I need to know exactly how a good arrow flies from this bow. I dont have much to compare it to to know what to expect from a self made arrow. I guess I need to start off with a bow scale and see exactly what the weight is at my draw length. I am really new to this and I need a good reference point.


Thanks for all of the replies

Tommy

[Pat B]

When you find out the bows draw weight make your arrows about 10# less in spine weight. Also, leave them long by 2" to 3" and see if that helps too. You can always cut them shorter if necessary.    Pat

[armymedic.2]

pat are you saying that my arrow rest and strike plate should not show wear if my arrows are correct?  im confused, my arrows always wear against my strike plate, and form a groove in my rug rest........can you clarify what you were trying to say?  i know about archers paradox, but doesn't the arrow have to touch the bow to bend around it like that?

[Pat B]

With ideal arrow flight, the arrow shouldn't touch the bow once released. The weight of the arrow and the force of the bow is what causes paradox. My strike plates show wear also and with properly spined and tuned arrows it shouldn't.

[Kegan]

The duct tape was taller. Those feathers are lying very low. They also SHOULD lean toward one side (the front of the feather should be facing away from the concave side of it).

And Pat is perfectly correct. If the bow and the arrow are perfectly matched, then the arrow will flex the perfect amount around the bow without pushing hard against the bow. But it would also not need fletchings.

But few of us are so fortunate, hence tall feathers, tapered arrows, and leather strike plates to silence any recoil .

[armymedic.2]

aww, crap pat, just when i thought i had my arrows shooting good i find out they arent spined right at all!  lol, interesting info, thanks i did not know that

[Pat B]

Most of us are in the same boat, Doc.  I think it is human nature to go until it works and not go farther. If my arrows hit where I'm looking , they're done. If they give me too much trouble they become either flu flus or tomato stakes.      Pat