left wing...right wing... feathers!! not politics

[GabeGa]

    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??? ...    

[Javi]

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...

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.

[Pat B]

No it doesn't matter as long as you have the same side on each arrow.

[Jake Diebolt]

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.

[magnus]

If you shoot a single bevel head you want to match the bevel to the fletch.

[Liquid Amber]

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.

[Lincoln Ribeiro]

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.

[Widow's Son]

Get a left and right fletching jig so you can use both wings off of a wild turkey. Wild turkey fletching is the bomb.

[Friend]

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.

[Night Wing]

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.

[Horne Shooter]

I'm a right winger shooting left wing fletch...

Matches my Abowyer Wapiti's

[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?

[GabeGa]

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...

   

   

   

[Javi]

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.

[monterey]

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.

[Liquid Amber]

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.

[Liquid Amber]

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.  

[Bobaru]

I believe the left helical will unscrew your field points, and right will tighten them.  This doesn't apply to the glue on folks.

[JimB]

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.