QUICK TIPS

Getting Fletching to Stick and Stay Stuck

Nothing is a frustrating to a beginning arrow smith than having all your carefully glued fletching fly off your arrow on the first shot. This happens a lot more frequently than a lot of us care to admit and every professional fletchers aren't immune to this frustration when a moment of carelessness intrudes on concentration. There are several steps you can take to make sure premature separation of vane from shaft doesn't ruin your day at the target butts or in the bush. First always make sure your shafts are meticulously cleaned with an abrasive cleaner. Arrow-shaft makers use all sorts of compounds on the outside of their products, none of which are conducive to fletch adhesion. A Scotch Brite pad of medium aggressiveness used with a plenty of water and Ajax cleanser does the job of cleaning this gunk off of both aluminium and carbon shafts. Anytime you use water on a shaft, especially carbon, make sure the shaft is completely dry before applying glue.

Next, check the manufacturer's specs on wether or not you need to clean the base of the vane as well as the shaft. Most vane makers today treat the bases of their vanes to promote adhesion, but not all. Then make sure the glue you use is appropriate to the vane. You can't go wrong using the glue recommended by the vane maker, but this will always be the one they sell. If you want to use a glue by another manufacturer, go ahead, but test it first. And be sure you do your test with the colours of vane you plan to use as some colours stick better than others. Really!

When you have finished each arrow, be sure and apply the heel and toe (sometimes called the head and tail) which fletchers have used since time immemorial. This is simply a generous drop of glue on the leading and tailing end of the fletch.

If you do it right, you will find that your vanes will give you trouble-free service shot after shot.