flu flus

[steve schrank]

I know this has got to easy for the pro,s on hear.Ihave never made flu flus before.  the question I have is can you use right or left helical clamp for flu flus or do you use straight clamp   thanks

[**DONOTDELETE**]

You can use any of them, But no mix & match

[CJ5]

A straight clamp can be used with both left and right wing feathers,and can be offset to give some helical. But, I'd suggest a helical clamp, one that matches your feathers (left wing feather, left wing clamp or vice versa). The more helical you can get, the better. I have some 6 fletch's that were done with 4" full height feathers that look like boat propellers...  :D

[BUFF]

what CJ5 said

[steve schrank]

thanks guys been wanting to try it out but to cheep to buy allready made ones.plus it,s fun to buildem

[Pat B]

Why not try a full, uncut feather spiraled around the shaft. Less feathers and greater stopping power. Mine are good to 20 yards then die fast.     Pat

[Dave Worden]

What Pat said!  The spiral wound feathers seem to stop the flu-flus better.  They go great to about 20 yds, then stop and fall (well, almost!).  If you strip the feather, they're easier to wind on the shaft than if you try to use feathers with the quill.

[snag]

Pat you just take an uncut full length feather and spiral, or in flyfishing lingo palmer, it down and around the shaft? I am guessing you put glue on it and then spiral it and on the ends secure it somehow until it dries...with tape?

[CJ5]

Fletch tape is great for doing spirals. But first, you need to remove the hard pith from the quill so it's more pliable. I break the quill every 1/4" or so and remove the pith with my thumbnail (tedious, but I've yet to find a better way) leaving the barbules(?) attached to a thin membrane. You can then use your clamp to hold the feather while you apply the tape. Palmer it down the shaft (feather laying forward)and put a spot of glue on each end       .

[Jerry Jeffer]

IMO the spiral fletch is awesome. Cheap and great stopping ability in a short distance.

[Bob G]

Love the spiral fletched Flu Flu's but they give me fits. Mine always come unwound when drying, I am going to try them with the pith removed and see if that helps, seems like it might. Do you have the feathers open foreward or to the rear? (is that clear?) Do they slope to the front or rear?

[doeboy]

do you have to use a longer feather(full length) in order to make it down the shaft? how many feathers do you use? i think we need a build along!

[Wednesday Caste]

Yes please build-along.  Wanted to make some for meself for some jackrabbits and some shorties for my 5y/o son.

[BMN]

There's some good stuff here:
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000007

[LC]

Heres my favorite flu flu. I use standard 5" shield fletch glued like normal on the front two thirds of the fletch. The last 1/3 is spiraled, depends on how tight you spiral as to how far it flies. The one shown will fly about like a standard spiraled full fletch flu flu. A real eye opener about how extreme spiral can slow down a arrow. Some of the things I like about it is it fits in a regular bow quiver, doesn't smash down like full uncut fletch and wears better. Not to mention you can use your regular parabolic or shield fletching.

[The Gopher]

That looks good LC, i'll have to give that a try. I would imagine you could get away with using the less desirable feathers such as secondaries, etc. when making flu flu's, especially spirals. Is that correct? thanks, Dan.

[LC]

I suppose you could get by with secondaries but I gotta be honest I never ever use them for anything because they are less durable. These flu flu's are extremely durable compared to all other flu flus both uncut straight fletch and completely spiraled uncuts. However they are a little more tuffer to make so if I'm gona make them I personally would use regular flight feathers cause they are gona last you awhile. The flu flu in the picture is probably 5 years old and goes squirrel hunting with me every year. I can't say that about all the other flu flu's I owned in past.

[Jerry Jeffer]

Here is mine. I peel the feather using mickey's technique. There is no pith, just a nice thin membrane holding it all together. The I use fletch tape with a drop of glue on the ends. One full feather wrapped tight.
 

[Running Buck]

LC,
I like your Idea. How do those sound in flite? I am always looking for a better Flu-Flu. I squrrel hunt with Flu-Flus and the more noise they make the less chance for a 2nd shot.

[LC]

The noise is directly related to the amount of spiral you put in it. However it's ALOT quieter than standard flu flu's in my opinion.