Which fletching?

Which fletching do you prefer and why?

Here are pics of your choices, I am not asking about the arrows just the flechings.

Or you can view them better HERE

Probably the main reason why i use 3″ vanes is because they have less noise during flight. I noticed deer reacting more this past fall due to this. I won’t go back to blazers again

3″ vanes… its all I have ever used, minus when I first started bowhunting, about 25 years ago, I had feathers.

I use Blazers but now I’m curious about noise due to protour’s post. I’ve pretty much used them all and I’m seriously considering trying the FOB’s this fall. Right now I’m not using a drop away style rest but I’m going to make a switch prior to hunting season. I’m either going to the Whisker Biscuit or a drop away. The Whisker Biscuit cancels out the possibility of using an FOB so we’ll see. I’m leary about using a drop away style rest that ties to the down cable because it affects the timing on binary cams so the only choice I’d really have is the Limb Driver.

I think it would be interesting to do a video with different types of fletching and see which ones are quiet and which ones are noisy. Also do a speed/accuracy test especially with broadheads to see which ones perform better.

I’m confident that the Blazers are fast and accurate and small enough to eliminate any clearance problems with my current setup so that’s what I use.

Of the research I did and was available to me, I guess I would say the opposite as Protour. Kevin if you look there are quite a few videos on youtube. Some are set up (fakey) and not scientific, but some are. Look for yourself and come up with your own conclusion. Form what I determined, the Blazers are actually quieter and more accurate then 3″ and other vanes. The FOB’s were louder then the Blazers, but a lil more accurate.

Perhaps maybe we need to set something up and find out for ourselves???? I guess we might just have to do our own testing.

That was my line of thinking, Rob. Put a camera on top of a target and shoot different arrows with different fletchings/FOB’s at the target and see what happens.

Does anybody want to donate a camera???

I like the blazers and love my fobs.

Shoot an arrow with a blazer on it and a different arrow with a 3″ vane and you will notice a difference. Don’t necessarily believe what you see on videos, try it out for yourself and be the judge

I’m using 3″ vanes now, used to use Blazers when I shot a Whisker Bis. – and loved ’em. Blazers sneak through the whiskers with less drag. This was proven to me when a buddy demonstrated it by loading an arrow (but not nocking it), then he turned the bow so the arrow would be pointing straight to the ground. Let go of the arrow and the Blazers would slide all the way through with no force other than gravity. Load a 3″ vane and it would stop midway through.

I now shoot a drop away and went to the vanes as I was having clearance issues with the taller Blazers.

I just read on a bow blog, that Whisker Biscuits, only slow an arrow 1 fps ??? I would think that would be a pretty generic claim…. I would think, like you suggested, it depends on arrow length and vanes used. Anybody else hear this ???

nope, but i don’t think i would believe it anyway if it was true Youre still not going to get good flight like you would from a drop away or the flight needed to make an expandable open up properly in some instances

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Of the research I did and was available to me, I guess I would say the opposite as Protour. Kevin if you look there are quite a few videos on youtube. Some are set up (fakey) and not scientific, but some are. Look for yourself and come up with your own conclusion. Form what I determined, the Blazers are actually quieter and more accurate then 3″ and other vanes. The FOB’s were louder then the Blazers, but a lil more accurate.

I’m with Lip. Blazers are quieter, and more durable than most other vanes. The only setback with them I have noticed is they are fairly stiff, so they will pull off easier when passing through bale targets, than other vanes will. If anyone wants 4 or 5″ Eastons, I have quite a few that would be real cheap!

I also like the FOB’s, but they are noisier and I can’t take the chance of hitting a twig with one of them, great concept though.

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Feathers, vanes don’t fly off the shelf very well with longbows!

Shot feathers for the last 5 years, have a new hoyt and blazers this year. there must be something behind the blazers if thats all most shops are carrying now

I just switched from 2″ Blazers to 2″ Flex Fletch Flash Hunter Vanes and love them. I wouldnt claim that they are quieter but can say that they are 100% consistent in flight and while fletching. With my blazers I have always had 1 arrow out of group or so that would stray somewhat and always blamed my form. I have since found out through hundreds of arrows that it is because I cannot get the perfect fletch on the newest Blazers. I shoot on offset and a helical which is somewhat difficult to fletch with a 2″ vane. Right now I still have a dozen of each fletched up but am slowly giving up with the Blazers. For hunting purposes not a big difference but for the spot shooters I would give them a try. I really like them.

I am continually testing fletching combinations…I shoot a Whisker Biscuit and the Gateway Feather Rayzer ( a feathered version of the Blazer vane) is my #1 choice in all flight/sound depts. Faster and more forgiving with broadheads than Blazers.

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I just read on a bow blog, that Whisker Biscuits, only slow an arrow 1 fps ??? I would think that would be a pretty generic claim…. I would think, like you suggested, it depends on arrow length and vanes used. Anybody else hear this ???

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I have seen several tests in Archery Business magazine (I get it at the shop) Average with several lengths of vanes and feather was 2 fps.

For the most part the blazers or a vane of the same size and stiffness will be quieter and very accurate, as today’s equipment keeps getting faster there is more force against the vanes or feathers on a properly tuned setup so as the speed increases this will cause most fletching to fold back some and for the most part still maintain the guidance needed for accuracy but yet not 100% and with the folding back you will get the noise that is created.

This is where the shorter more ridged vanes came into play (Blazers and such) – to overcome some of the increase pressure and maintain a better down range accuracy.

Folks that notice excessive noise from the Blazer type vanes more than likely will have issues that they are unaware of as arrow contact/bow or rest due to center shot setup or even shooting form, or arrow spine issues where the arrow is flexing while in flight and causes noise issues.

As far as findind a glue that bonds well – this seems to change from one arrow type and brand to another I have had great luck with a hard solid bond but many times I will take one arrow from the batch I want to fletch and use different prepping and glues on the 3 or 4 fletches and see which is the toughest to get back off a day later – take notes so you don’t forget and then fletch the whole batch up with what worked the best.

Preps used – plain water – soap water – acetone
Glues used – Gold Tip – Pine Ridge – Goat Tuff – Platinum Gel

Even air humidity can affect on how well your fletching’s bond as you are doing them, some days you will have a instant bond and then the next it seems you will give them a little more time.

Good Luck!

I agree and thanks for the info JDX!

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Feathers, vanes don’t fly off the shelf very well with longbows!

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Vanes do great trad style if you need to shoot around a corner or tree! I had to try it just to see what would happen.

Here’s a little interesting info you might like

For my Reezen this year I am using 7595 Gold Top Pro hunters with the big larger cut 125 gr. G5 Montecs, to help control the big blades and at the speed I decided to throw 3 low profile 4” quick spins to see what happens. On a dead calm day they shot lights out hitting the dot decent all the way out to 50 and 60 yards so everything was sighted in perfect. Then later on a few days we had a 6 MPH cross wind – common to what you can see in the fall at times.

The wind was coming from my left and heading to the right. Now for the most part you would think that the arrows will drift any, they would be right of the dot on the target but actually they would push to the left 8” and pretty consistent I could also see that at mid flight the arrows would tail would wag to the right causing the arrow to point left and push into the wind versus drifting with it.
The wind was catching the largest mass on the arrows and that was the vanes. When hunting I prefer to be able to read the wind if needed and always predict it to push the arrow in this case it should either be on the spot or pushed to the right and not the left.

The very easy test to clean this up was to trim down the vanes to a 2” long profile and reshoot thus eliminating some of the surface in the back of the arrow and see how the drifting and consistency would end up.

Result an arrow that would either hit exactly where I was aiming and or drift a little bit to the right with the wind – an even push on the arrow now and one that can be predicted with confidence.

So now the arrows are set up with 3 – 2” vanes which have plenty of control and a good balance of resistance when shooting with a cross wind – end result arrow on the spot – and deer down!

Most of my shots on deer are around 30 yards I really like being 30 yards from a trail and some do get hit in the 20 yard range as well. I believe that the confidence in equipment and preparation of it hitting at the extended 40 to 60 for myself only builds the confidence to get it done, when it all counts!

Jeff

I shot the 4″ quick spins a few years ago and liked them. They really tightend my down range groups.

Lip, do you get any whistling with the quick spins? Been using blazers the last few years and I’m undecided whether or not to switch to the quick spins.

Drelan, I did not notice. However, with the quick spins you do get a lot more drag, especially with the 4″ I was shooting. Thus slowing your arrow down. Since I switched to 2″ blazers I had to move my long range pins due to my arrow velocity increasing. I did not notice much difference in my groups, but I was thinking about trying the 2″ quick spins, just have not done it yet. I’m very happy how my arrows are flying right now and did not want to mess with it.

Good deal. I’ll stick with the blazers.