feather clearance question?

[DBinAlamo]

Any tips on getting better clearance would be appreciated.  I shoot right handed and my feather drags on the far left side of my shelf.  I get good arrow flight but it ruins feathers and rests.  DB

[Outwest]

Tip # 1 Raise nocking point.
Tip # 2 Shoot cock feather in.

John

[Orion]

Outwest nailed it.  

[Fletcher]

Those tips should help.  Black Widow recommends fletching with the cock feather at 12 o'clock for just this reason.

If you are using left wing with a lot of helical, you can rotate the nock an eighth of a turn to put the widest part of the feather into the corner of the arrow rest.  If you are using wood, rotate the nock 1/8th clock wise, left wing, tack the nock with hot melt. then after the fletch is done rotate the arrow 1/8th turn clockwise to realign the nock and get the everything back in line with the grain.

[4 point]

You may also have a problem with your release causing your arrow to bounce off your shelf. If you have shot bare shafts and they fly well then that rules this out. If not are there any marks on your arrows, most likely they will be just in front of your fletchings.

[Reaper TN]

I'm right handed and was getting bottom feather wear when shooting cock feather out, was rubbing on shelf material.  Started shooting cock feather in, no more feather wear.  If your arrows are spined correctly it should eliminate that feather contact.

[Ranger B]

I'm getting the same thing and I raised my nocking point a good bit when I went to 3 under.  I can't turn the cock feather in because I use the tip of the feather touching my nose as a second anchor point.  When I bought the bow I shot it so they brought out a piece of velcro to use as an arrow rest.  This material works great but is beginning to wear my feather down and it's getting worn down as well.  I am going to remove it today and put some seal hair down in its place.  I've used the seal hair in the past. It's softer and slick. I think the arrow will slide right over it better without so much wear but only time will tell.

[eviltwin]

I shoot RH too. Many years ago, I had a similar problem. I first noticed it a bit on my old wheelie with a flipper rest (how old... A PSE Phaser...), but really noticed it when I got my Martin DH Hunter.

Tried all the usual tuning tricks using bare shaft and paper shooting. I ended up with an extremely well-tuned system (ill wind that blows no good at all...), but still had this particular problem. Have always used seal fur rug, so not a velcro issue.

Was getting frustrated. Arrows shot very well, but it was hard on fletching, considering how much I shot at the time. Finally, after much head scratching and talking to my friends, I got some books and magazines and did a bit of reading from several authors, including both trad and wheelie experts -- this was back in the early nineties before there was much available on the WEB.

The most common opinion I found was to rotate the nock about an eighth of a turn counterclockwise.  Some suggested shooting cock feather in, but I just couldn`t get my head to wrap around that idea (yeah,yeah, I know...), so l tried the nock offset trick.

I had to experiment a bit to find the best off set for me, but once I did, the problem was fixed. It worked for both feathers and plastic and both bows, wheelie and recurve. Since then, I set my fletching jig with the nock offset that I found worked best and build ALL my arrows that way. I have also gone to exclusively feathers regardless of which bow I shoot. The old PSE is long gone, but I have a Hoyt Spectra that I shoot traditional too.

Dave

[DBinAlamo]

Thanks to everybody for all the info, I'll be trying some of these ideas for sure.  DB

[xtrema312]

Hay Doug give me a call, come on over, or catch me Sunday.  I will be around all weekend.  I can't type all I have learned on this subject.  I have found several causes for this problem.  Everything from release, grip, nock set, arrow spine, and probably one I can't think of right off. .

[screamin]

Originally posted by Ranger B:
I'm getting the same thing.  I can't turn the cock feather in because I use the tip of the feather touching my nose as a second anchor point.  When I bought the bow I shot it so they brought out a piece of velcro to use as an arrow rest.  This material works great but is beginning to wear my feather down and it's getting worn down as well.  I am going to remove it today and put some seal hair down in its place.  I've used the seal hair in the past. It's softer and slick. I think the arrow will slide right over it better without so much wear but only time will tell.

Wow, sounds like my setup. But I stuck with the velcro. I was shooting right wing feathers so I switched to left and problem solved.

[Ranger B]

I am now shooting left wing as well but I took the worn out velcro off and put beaver fur on. No issue thus far but I haven't shot a tremendous volume of arrows through it yet.