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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: GabeGa on October 16, 2011, 11:39:00 PM
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:archer: I only have left wing feathered arrows because i have a left wing jig clamp...but my question is: - Does it mater if you are RIGHT handed and you shoot left wing 5" feathered arrows (shield - parabolic) or for right handed the right cut is better...because you practically shoot from the left side of the bow,, with left wing feathers ...or the right wings are better??? ... :archer2:
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In the day, right handed archers shot left wing to keep the quill out of their knuckle.. today unless you shoot off a knuckle it makes no real diff...
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On a couple of my longbows,I tend to have the arrow run on my finger. Left wing three fletch for right hand and right wing three fletch for left hand eliminates the cut. However, I have found that with four fletch the opposite is true.
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No it doesn't matter as long as you have the same side on each arrow.
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If you shoot left wing feathers, it means you're a communist. :D
Because I screwed up on a feather order, I now have left wing feathers fletched with a right-wing jig. I still get good arrow flight. I don't think it matters as long as you keep all the same feathers on the same arrow.
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If you shoot a single bevel head you want to match the bevel to the fletch.
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Actually, left wings were more available in the old days because turkeys had a wing clipped to limit their mobility. If you hold a turkey correctly to clip a wing and are right handed, you will clip the right wing.
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I prefer left wing feathers, left helical. I tried RW, right helical, but I'd fletching interference on my longbow. The cock feather hits the shelf.
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Get a left and right fletching jig so you can use both wings off of a wild turkey. Wild turkey fletching is the bomb.
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Have observed no difference other than a rt wing fletch will occassionally will strike my left bow arm hand. Also, don't mix left and rt wing. Stay with one for that set of tuned arrows.
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With shooting off the shelf, it doesn't make a difference if the feathers are left or right wing. I started with right wing feathers 47 years ago and I stayed with right wing.
BTW, I'm right handed and shoot a right handed bow.
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I'm a right winger shooting left wing fletch...
Matches my Abowyer Wapiti's
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Left wing was the most commonly available fletch for many years. Liquid Amber explains why above. Turkeys had one wing clipped to keep them flightless. They were clipped by a person walking with a sort of long handled grapple in one hand and a clipper in the other. Right handers grappled with the left arm and clipped with the right. Since the turkey had escape on their mind, they were caught while running awah and got their right wing clipped.
Since left wing was the most commonly available, I've always shot left wing.
Wonder if feathers cutting the finger could be remedied by rotating the nock after fletching?
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thanks for the input , i like to learn new things...like the turkey wing cutting, and i will stick then with the left wing helical feathers
I use 3 of the same feathers to fletch the arrows...i don't use the cock feather from another bag of feathers, i just mark my cock feather with perm marker...that way are all from the same batch...
(http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu90/gagalmg/bear%20kodiak%20recurve%20bow/7024592f.jpg)
(http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu90/gagalmg/bear%20kodiak%20recurve%20bow/DSCF7292-1.jpg)
(http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu90/gagalmg/bear%20kodiak%20recurve%20bow/4806eb84-1.jpg)
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Originally posted by monterey:
Left wing was the most commonly available fletch for many years. Liquid Amber explains why above. Turkeys had one wing clipped to keep them flightless. They were clipped by a person walking with a sort of long handled grapple in one hand and a clipper in the other. Right handers grappled with the left arm and clipped with the right. Since the turkey had escape on their mind, they were caught while running awah and got their right wing clipped.
Since left wing was the most commonly available, I've always shot left wing.
Wonder if feathers cutting the finger could be remedied by rotating the nock after fletching?
Back then we didn't have nocks that rotated.. nocks were either cut in (self nocks) or glued on..
The wing clipping thingy is plausible but as far back as I can remember (late 50's) right wing feathers were available but most folks still shot left wing. I did because I was told it was best for a right hander.. I switched to right wing when screw in points became popular because the left wing made the point unscrew when it hit a tight target.
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Javi, not saying right wing was not available. There were just more right handed wing clippers than left handed ones.
I'm still glueing mine on but they go on wood. I suppose they could be squeezed on, fletch attached and then glued? I've not shot off the hand since about age 14, but still have some feather scars!
Self nocks I've not used just because a damaged nock might be irreplaceable. Can usually fix a broken plastic nock.
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From Duff forward to the 1970s, the first published account [that I have in my files/books] of left wing best for right hand and vice versa, is by Max Hamilton in the September 1965 "Archery." All he was promoting was left wing with a right hand shooter contacts the arrow shelf the lightest and vice versa.
The next account I have is the article "The Great Fletch Flap" by Steve Barde in the M/J 1970 "Bow & Arrow." Jim Easton made up aluminum 2016 shafts with three arrow groups in a variety of combinations of turkey fletching. Each group had color coded fletch so they could be identified. All were shot out of several right-hand bows using Easton's shooting machine at 45 yards with Black Diamond two blade and again with a four blade.
If you want all the details you need to read the article, but the short and sweet was, "The best groups with the right-hand bow were with the right hand fletch, both spiral and helical, with the later giving the best groups of all." All tested combinations grouped within the deer vitals' sized target. The right wing helical fletch/right hand bow group was tightest and closest to center of target.
Its plausible there is more "published" stuff around on this subject after 1970 but my files rarely extend past this date.
If some one has more modern testing I'd like the source so I could locate a copy for my files.
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This article is not the defining answer to the question, just one's attempt to shed some light on the subject.
The author interviewed a number of experienced archers and received a variety of reasons "why" they selected right or left wing feathers. Most of the reasons are represented here so we find that little has changed over the years.
IMO, the findings support just about all of our preferences. By that I mean "right or left" doesn't make a noticeable difference in accuracy at the ranges we need it.
I use right wing and have no idea "why" I initially started using them, but continue to do so, mostly from habit, but they do what I need of them and are easier for me to fletch.
There is nothing in my experience that suggest I would improve my accuracy with a change. They are other variables requiring improvement before I would even be at the stage I might could notice a difference. :)
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I believe the left helical will unscrew your field points, and right will tighten them. This doesn't apply to the glue on folks.
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I hear that all the time but I have several dozen arrows,all right fletched and they unscrew within 2-3 shots if I don't Loctite them.And of course,the left wing ones do also.
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This year I decided to build my own arrows and had the same delima, I did a google on the subject and the best explanation I found is a right handed bow needs left wing helical fletched arrows so they roll off the shelf, away from the bow faster and opposite for left hand bows.However, the facts from the Easton experiment seem to overide the explanation. www.stickbow.com/FEATURES/ARROWMAKING/featherbasics.cfm (http://www.stickbow.com/FEATURES/ARROWMAKING/featherbasics.cfm) www.trueflightfeathers.com/faq.htm (http://www.trueflightfeathers.com/faq.htm)
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Just a thought. I talked to one of the Bitzenburger folks (last week) and he said that the way the Bitzenburger Left helical clamp was originally cast it gives you about 2 degrees more of helical twist than the Right helical clamp does. Also the index nock that you use, can change the relationship of the back of the fletching to a glue on nock. I shoot right handed and use a left helical twist because that is what I was told to do many years ago. I've shot both LW and RW though and never noticed any difference off the shelf of a longbow.
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Originally posted by GabeGa:
[QB] thanks for the input , i like to learn new things...like the turkey wing cutting, and i will stick then with the left wing helical feathers
I use 3 of the same feathers to fletch the arrows...i don't use the cock feather from another bag of feathers, i just mark my cock feather with perm marker...that way are all from the same batch...
(http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu90/gagalmg/bear%20kodiak%20recurve%20bow/7024592f.jpg)
I had to put my sun glasses on to read this thread! Those feathers are so bright they 'bout burned out my eyes! :eek: I bet they glow in the dark right before dark and are pretty easy to find!
LOL...I was just thinking...they have to look like tracer rounds on their way to the target or some big 'ol buck! :thumbsup: Mine by comparison are quite,,,how shall I say...bland...
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Seriously though, L or R dosen't matter as long as they are all the same on the shaft.
As for the reasons why we do what we do...I don't know, there are some good posts before me on that subject.
As for safety I can say this...I got stuck real good by a quill just once...I wasn't even shooting, just pulling the shaft from a butt.
I now sand the quill to paper thin and trim the point off of all my feathers. A dab of glue on the very tip of the point helps keep it from lifting. I used to wrap some thread (which really makes the bond strong) with glue but no longer find it necessary since I sand and trim the quill.
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It does not matter as long as you don't mix feathers on an arrow. Try this and see for yourself. Make up 2 identical arrows except one with r-wing feathers and one with l-wing feathers. I have never seen an archer who can tell a difference in their flight. That said I use r-wing feathers as they are more available in the area I live in.
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More simple question. How do you tell if your arrows are right or left? Which way will spin the arrow clockwise?
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I'm a right handed shooter using left wing fletching. I was given a set of right winged arrows. They shot fine but I did have issues with cuts on my finger and the occasional quill sliver. I also had issues with abnormal wear on my rest.
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I've got a blitz for either fletch. Haven't seen any difference. The dead deer are usually within 30 yards of the bloody feathers.