Fletching ?

[taz3]

Why can you helically fletch, left or right, is this for vertical bows or is there another reason for this?

[Boo]

I was told a long time ago that when you used a traditional bow and shot off your knuckle that a right handed person using a left hand fletch would be cut by the leading end of the feather. Personally I think it had to do with the fact that when feathers were the only fetch available it was a way to use both side of the bird wing. Right side wing feathers can only be used on a right hand fletching clamp because of the way the feather grows off the the rachis (main vein of the feather). Right and left side feathers cannot be used on the same arrow as they lean in opposite ways.
Rotational value of a fletched arrow is not great so they do not turn very fast in flight so don't believe that a right hand fletch will tighten a target tip or broadhead.
Check this out. In 145 meters this arrow only rotates 11 times! It's a cool vid!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1fHsZ8F0x4

[taz3]

WOW! That was cool, thanks for the explanation, being new to the sport, I've been poking around to see what is what and every now and then, I run into something like this that stumps me. I was completely unaware of how much of an art archery actually is or can be.

[SR CHIEF]

Is it better to have a helical fletch and if so how much?

[Boo]

Assuming the same mumber of degrees of offset you'll get more turning with helical. Offset as much as you can but you will be limited to what you can fit in the groove/track. I just use an Arizona Bolt to fletch my arrows.
The debate between helical and straight offset might be more theoretic than because both will do the job. One things for sure the more offset you have the straighter you arrows fly.

[sumner4991]

Thanks for the education Boo . . .I have never had that explained in that way before . . .very good video too!

The shorter vanes need more twists than a longer vane to achieve the same spin. The long vane simply catches more wind.

The trade-off is between accuracy and down range speed or drop-off. Another issue with a tightly twisted vane is noise.

Trade-offs are everywhere in archery. The trick to accuracy is consistancy in your arrow making. Make every arrow exactly the same and the rest is fairly easy.

I have found that a 4 degree offset is hard to beat.

[badredbird]

boo is correct , lol was fletching some traditional arrows other day ,

[Michiganhunter]

Years ago I had a guy who made and sold arrows explain to me what determined fletching spin direction. Back then everything was real feathers and wood arrows. He told me that the reason almost all fletching direcion back then was determined by availability. Apparently at turkey farms they would clip the right wings off the birds when the bird was very young so they couldn't fly away. Since most workers that performed this task were right handed they would grab a bird from behind then clip that rightwing off using their right hand. It was the fastest way of doing this job. So when bird matured it only grew one wing with large feathers capable of being used for fletching and that was the left wing. Now that we use plastic fletching it no longer matters obviously.

[taz3]

Great info, I also read that left offset fletching may cause arrow heads to come loose during impact, because of the counterclockwise rotation. Probably not a big deal, but good info to know.

[nchunterkw]

Here is a good link with alot of info on feathers. I'm thinking of trying the Rayzrs - mostly because I think they look cool.

http://www.gatewayfeathers.com/feathers.html