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[Ssamac]

Hi

What's the value and/or downside of a feather rest? Do you set the nock to the shelf or the rest? How does it work with the fletching?

Thansk
sam

[wadde]

I set the nock to the top of the feather rest and have not had any problems with fletching wear. However I use the feather rest on my hunting bows and am not putting many arrows thru like I would on my target bows. On my target bows I like self adhesive brush rests or shoot off the shelf with a rug rest. I believe it is Trap on this site that makes killer feather rests, top quality rests that are awesome.

[Horney Toad]

Feather rests will wear for a long time. I made a feather rest for my hunting bow, and that has been on my bow for about 8 years. Occassionally I spray a little dab of water proofing on it.

[yellow bow]

yes set the nock to the top of the feather rest.I too find very little fletching wear.to me the rest is very forgiving. they last forever. Trap makes the best feather rest around and is a good guy to deal with.

[TRAP]

I build and sell a few feather rests (FR) and I'll give my honest assessment of them.  

On the positive side:

-They are surprisingly durable if made with wild turkey feathers.  When I first started making them I used artificial barred feathers and they were "junk" IMO.  No big secret here.  Those of you that fletch arrows with natural barred feathers will attest to their superiority.  Look at how many bows are being turned up from the 50s and 60s that still have original feather rests in place.  I assume many of those bows were shot a great deal.

-Feather rests are easy on arrow fletching.  I hate having my 4 oclock feather all frayed up from other arrow rest materials.  With FR this hasnt been a problem.  A small investment in a feather rest may keep your $100.00+/dozen custom arrows looking great longer.

-They look "right" on certain vintage bows.  This of course has nothing to do with function but it's important to some.

-They are pretty forgiving.  I find that arrows fly pretty good off of them and they are less critical of nock placement than a rest material that is more rigid such as leather or a rug rest.

On the negative side:

-When they are soaked with water they are about as worthless as soaked arrow fletching.  It's possible to cover arrow fletching and keep them somewhat dry, but in a downpour a FR is gonna be wet and you'll lose the benefits of shooting off of a FR and be shooting off of a piece of leather.  I also find bloodtrails rather hard to follow in a downpour so this hasnt been a real issue with me.  Drizzly damp weather is fine, downpours not so good.  The rain doesnt hurt the rest and it will dry out and be fine just like arrow fletching.

-The feather rest elevates your arrow at least a 1/4" above the shelf .  Today's traditional archer typically likes the arrow shelf down close to his hand.

I suppose there's pro and cons with all shelf materials.  I like feather rests on my bows that originally had feather rests but I don't have them on my bows that came with something else.  

Trap

[Gary Sewell]

sent you a pm

[Ssamac]

Thanks guys. I'm wondering if the elevation takes some getting used to since the dead center is on the shelf. If you cant the bow a bit it might throw the arrow off a bit. Not sure. I'll shoot for a while like this.

Gary, I did not get your PM. Use my email please.

The plate on this bow is flat. On my other Red Wing hunters, I always put a little strip under the center of the plate to help the arrow off the shelf or now the feathers. Is this a good think to do with all Wing Hunters?

Thanks
sam

[Gary Sewell]

I messed up. I meant to sent Trap a PM. I am going to send him a bunch of wild turkey feathers for his rests when I get back.

[Bjorn]

I have several bows with Trap's feather rests on them-they work great, and last forever.

[Ssamac]

That explains that. Forever is good too. Any ideas about putting a little ridge under the middle of the plate to help the arrow curve around the riser?

sam