Post by hoosieroutdoorsman on Aug 25, 2006 17:04:56 GMT -5
While I was driving in the semi today I turned on the CB radio and heard some guys in the funniest argument I ever heard. They were going at it over fletching set up, helical or none,left or right,offset or straight.
I thought about keying into the argument but it was more fun listening. I have done alot testing with fletchings and seeing what I liked best or gave me the best results.
For a long time I was a big feather fan, lighter,less apt to be disrupted from a lite contact at the rest or bow,a little faster.
Then I tried the vanes and started out using the 4 inch and that is what I stuck with for years until the advent of the Blazer vanes.
Now this will be long but hopefully it will help others new and old to understand what the fletching set up is and why.
For starters lets take a look at where fletchings began, the Indians. They usually used turkey feathers or whatever feather they had available to them.
Now when they stuck them on they didn`t have grayling jigs or bitzenbergers so they had no way of knowing if they had helical or not or even what it was.
Helical is the curvature of the fletching itself, if you hold the nock end up and look at the vane it is either straight,curved left or curved right. That is the helical, and actually the indians shot with a helical. Depending on what wing of the bird they removed the feathers from depicted what helical they had hence the left wing,right wing.
All feathers have a curvature to them, and the curve is always downward the edge of the feather to their belly. Mother nature somehow knew that if she made the feathers curved and put the bow of the curve upward it would offer a rounded surface and produce less drag on the birds wing when it raised its wings to start its downward flap or power stroke. Some people will argue that a helical will produce more drag on a arrow fletching than being straight, but mother nature sees that differently otherwise all feathers would be flat and not curved. So if mother nature says a curve is good enough for a bird? Then it is good enough for me,,lol.
Now we all must realize that todays modern fletching is based upon the study of the feathers used by traditional archers for years. Some shops today will do their best to push a straight fletched arrow, but studies have shown that a arrow that will spin will stabilize in flight faster and use less of the arrows energy drawn from the release of the bowstring. Now can it spin to much? Yes, to radical a helical and offset will over spin an arrow and cause its energy to work against itself and fizzle out sooner. Why does spin make it better? I tried this with a arrow spin tester, I took a bare shaft and after a few tries was able to spin the arrow without forcing it 1 way or the other just a steady spin.The bare shaft just spun and didn`t move, then I tried one of my right helical fletched arrows with no offset and the arrow moved forward when spun slightly. Then I took another arrow flecthed with the same helical and a 2-3 degree offset and with a steady spin the arrow moved forward pretty quickly 3 inches on the spin tester. I figured without any forward momentum from behind if just the spinning of the arrow made the arrow move forward then with a push from behind the spin kind of pulling the arrow would keep the energy from dropping off and maybe pick up a flatter tradjectory farther down range. Now how much will this gain you? Maybe not 20-30 fps. but the bigger question is how much will I not loose now? Alot of guys will set up a bow for the maximum output at the bow, but very few will take into consideration of setting up the bow for maximum down range efficientcy. Say you loose 2 fps for every yard using a straight helical and no offset compared to a helical and 2 deg offset. At 30 yards you loose 60 fps, now gravity will fall into place and the number could be higher but hypothetically speaking that is a big loss specially where kinetic energy is concerned. Say your bow shoots a 350 grn arrow at 300 fps. that is 69.96 ft lbs. kinetic energy,, now say that same arrow looses that 60 fps,, thats 240 fps, thats 44.78 ft lbs. of KE,,pretty good loss??? Will a helical and offset gain you back any of the loss? Well if it will move the arrow forward with just a spin test and no forward push I would say it will gain you back some of what you lost, how much? That all depends on how you have it fletched, if you go full offset for your jig with the right helical that can overspin the arrow and cause it to work against itself. If you fletch your own arrows play around with it, see what gives you the best groups, take it to a shop with a chrony and see how it affects your arrow down range, there is alot we can do without having to spend a ton of money to improve our bows, concentrating maximizing your down range impact power is always a step ahead, now you may think if I up my IBO speed then my down range has to improve as well?? WRONG ! !
An improperly set up arrow or arrow flight will take the mightiest of bows down to middle class very quickly. So the next time you have a pro shop or buddy start in about how to fletch arrows listen and compare it to what you have read here, I don`t claim to be an expert but I have fiddled with alot of different stuff over the years and I put out my findings so people can use them to compare to others and their own and come to the best conclusion for themself. Hope this helps
I thought about keying into the argument but it was more fun listening. I have done alot testing with fletchings and seeing what I liked best or gave me the best results.
For a long time I was a big feather fan, lighter,less apt to be disrupted from a lite contact at the rest or bow,a little faster.
Then I tried the vanes and started out using the 4 inch and that is what I stuck with for years until the advent of the Blazer vanes.
Now this will be long but hopefully it will help others new and old to understand what the fletching set up is and why.
For starters lets take a look at where fletchings began, the Indians. They usually used turkey feathers or whatever feather they had available to them.
Now when they stuck them on they didn`t have grayling jigs or bitzenbergers so they had no way of knowing if they had helical or not or even what it was.
Helical is the curvature of the fletching itself, if you hold the nock end up and look at the vane it is either straight,curved left or curved right. That is the helical, and actually the indians shot with a helical. Depending on what wing of the bird they removed the feathers from depicted what helical they had hence the left wing,right wing.
All feathers have a curvature to them, and the curve is always downward the edge of the feather to their belly. Mother nature somehow knew that if she made the feathers curved and put the bow of the curve upward it would offer a rounded surface and produce less drag on the birds wing when it raised its wings to start its downward flap or power stroke. Some people will argue that a helical will produce more drag on a arrow fletching than being straight, but mother nature sees that differently otherwise all feathers would be flat and not curved. So if mother nature says a curve is good enough for a bird? Then it is good enough for me,,lol.
Now we all must realize that todays modern fletching is based upon the study of the feathers used by traditional archers for years. Some shops today will do their best to push a straight fletched arrow, but studies have shown that a arrow that will spin will stabilize in flight faster and use less of the arrows energy drawn from the release of the bowstring. Now can it spin to much? Yes, to radical a helical and offset will over spin an arrow and cause its energy to work against itself and fizzle out sooner. Why does spin make it better? I tried this with a arrow spin tester, I took a bare shaft and after a few tries was able to spin the arrow without forcing it 1 way or the other just a steady spin.The bare shaft just spun and didn`t move, then I tried one of my right helical fletched arrows with no offset and the arrow moved forward when spun slightly. Then I took another arrow flecthed with the same helical and a 2-3 degree offset and with a steady spin the arrow moved forward pretty quickly 3 inches on the spin tester. I figured without any forward momentum from behind if just the spinning of the arrow made the arrow move forward then with a push from behind the spin kind of pulling the arrow would keep the energy from dropping off and maybe pick up a flatter tradjectory farther down range. Now how much will this gain you? Maybe not 20-30 fps. but the bigger question is how much will I not loose now? Alot of guys will set up a bow for the maximum output at the bow, but very few will take into consideration of setting up the bow for maximum down range efficientcy. Say you loose 2 fps for every yard using a straight helical and no offset compared to a helical and 2 deg offset. At 30 yards you loose 60 fps, now gravity will fall into place and the number could be higher but hypothetically speaking that is a big loss specially where kinetic energy is concerned. Say your bow shoots a 350 grn arrow at 300 fps. that is 69.96 ft lbs. kinetic energy,, now say that same arrow looses that 60 fps,, thats 240 fps, thats 44.78 ft lbs. of KE,,pretty good loss??? Will a helical and offset gain you back any of the loss? Well if it will move the arrow forward with just a spin test and no forward push I would say it will gain you back some of what you lost, how much? That all depends on how you have it fletched, if you go full offset for your jig with the right helical that can overspin the arrow and cause it to work against itself. If you fletch your own arrows play around with it, see what gives you the best groups, take it to a shop with a chrony and see how it affects your arrow down range, there is alot we can do without having to spend a ton of money to improve our bows, concentrating maximizing your down range impact power is always a step ahead, now you may think if I up my IBO speed then my down range has to improve as well?? WRONG ! !
An improperly set up arrow or arrow flight will take the mightiest of bows down to middle class very quickly. So the next time you have a pro shop or buddy start in about how to fletch arrows listen and compare it to what you have read here, I don`t claim to be an expert but I have fiddled with alot of different stuff over the years and I put out my findings so people can use them to compare to others and their own and come to the best conclusion for themself. Hope this helps
If you would please share what you found questionable? I never claim to be a expert and always welcome a different point of view or factual answer. I know this subject is widely controversial with alot of people, some just don`t care they will shoot what ever the arrow comes with, I think if people can come to understand the how and the why of a set up it can help them become a better archer. God knows I need all the help I can get,,lol.
