school me on feathers

[quarbles]

compound being sold, going trad. love the arrow, never got the feel for a compound. longbow inbound, ordering some arrows to play with for tuning. have idea of what i want up front as far as insert, footing, broadhead and adapter..... no idea as far as fletching is concerned. want to go 4 fletch, right helical. 3" or 4" shield a good place to start?

i'm hoping to use an easton axis with brass insert and around 300g of broadhead/ adapter. bow's a 58@28" pulling around 29.5".

any insight or guidance is appreciated...

[Stumpkiller]

Shield or parabolic are mostly a personal asthetic preference.

5" is all I have ever used.  It costs you a bit in drag and speed but, with a broadhead, can be te stabilizing difference you need.  

And, IMHO, there is no sense in using arrows for practice and target that have no practical hunting application.  

Three fletch I use 5".  Four fletch would allow 4" feathers, of course.

I have both right and left helical (I'm right handed).  As long as you stick to one or the other for a given quiver of arrows it doesn't seem to matter.

[sheepdogreno]

Left wing or right wing doesn't matter as long as they are all the same...same goes for helical. I use 5in left wing helical shield cut. Depending on what spine arrow you use adding 300g up front will weaken the spine so it may take some playing around to find what works with your setup. Paradox is one thing you need to learn coming from a compound to trad. I Dont know you or your history of shooting bows but keep in mind a 58lb bow at 28in will most likely be over 60#s at 29.5. If 29.5 is your compound draw it probably will be less with a trad bow. Remember you will be holding the full weight at draw so make sure not to over bow yourself.if you can pull it and hold it ten seconds or so and repeat without much fatigue then you'll be fine! I'm far from am expert but others will give you great advice on here!

[M60gunner]

I like 4in feathers for the shaft you mentioned. With the weight you hope to front load with the feathers will be along for the ride. Also I find 5 in feathers harder to fletch onto those skinny shafts. Right/left really is not a factor anymore for fletch. Both wings are easy to find these days.

[stalkin4elk]

You will find parabolics a bit quieter than shield cut. 4x4 parabolics are hard to beat for great flight and widely available. Truflight brand is generally considered the highest quality.If you choose single bevel broad heads then match the bevel to the wing for best results. Smaller fletching requires perfect tuning and approx 30% foc to work well.
Your Axis shafts will fit the 4x4 pattern diameter wise.
You will likely need the 300 spine with your draw length,bow weight,and point with insert weight if you bow is close to center cut. Should finish about 30.5 to 31 inches tuned and about a 650 grain approx.26-28% foc completed tuned arrow...fantastic combo worthy of moose photos next fall!

[KentuckyTJ]

I am worried you are over bowing yourself to start out.

I use four 4" fletchings. That will serve you well.

[Jack Hoyt 75]

Axis are smaller diameter.  I shoot them with 3 left wing, 5 inch Thru Flight feathers set on a helical.  They shoot great with the 75 grain insert and a 150 grain broadhead.  I personally dont foot them.  I never tried but due to helical wrapping around the shaft more than straight or offset I would think 4 would be crowded on a Axis??  But as I said I never tried and three works for me.

[quarbles]

wow! thanks so much.... a lot of great info!

[Stone Knife]

Originally posted by KentuckyTJ:
I am worried you are over bowing yourself to start out.

I use four 4" fletchings. That will serve you well.

I am too

[njloco]

Not to go against the grain here, would you put a parachute on your arrow ?, why four feathers then ? I use three 3" to 4" feathers. If your arrow is tuned well and your form and release are good, that should be the ticket, I'm thinking about trying 2" feathers on the next set of arrows.

Good luck

[Roadkill]

Start out with the 3x5.  As your form matures, and it will as you adjust to the vary different muscles and aiming system you will need, the shot consistentcy may allow you to cut down on the length or profile of your fletching.  Do not frustrate yourself on trying to do what guys with 15 years in this business do.  Go basic as the guys above recommend and then adjust as you master the craft.  JOM

[quarbles]

my reason behind my initial starting point i guess is because i've always 4 fletched and found it more forgiving in the compound realm, so i suppose i was applying that ideology to trad. perhaps just defaulting to my basic experience, albeit compound oriented. way off?
area wise, wouldn't 4x4" be slightly more than 5x3? so if i applied that to a parabolic, as suggested above, over a taller profile 3x5" it would apply similar drag at a lower profile than the 3x5"? or is this way off? i guess that is where my thinking was at initially, anyways. i certainly am not trying to cause more drag than necessary! and i liked nocking without looking, which i could do with the 90 degree 4x...

as for being overbowed, i certainly hope not! i have had -some- exposure to a 60# recurve i borrowed from a guy i knew and had no issue with it... or at least none i was aware of. ha! it's a significant drop from what i was pulling compound-wise, which i know is a poor comparison, so i guess i'll just commit to the pour and see how it goes!
thank you again for all the input, it's definately given me some things to chew on! i appreciate.

[BOWMARKS]

Originally posted by Stone Knife:
 

Originally posted by KentuckyTJ:
I am worried you are over bowing yourself to start out.

I use four 4" fletchings. That will serve you well.

I am too [/b]

Me Three

I started there at 58lb way back when and soon found out I wasn't made for it!!!!  

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I don't think you need to be able to hold a bow at full draw for 10 seconds to determine the right draw weight. But you'll definitely need to shoot often and slowly build your strength.

Just shoot until you get tired, and call her good. try and draw your bow every day even if you can not shoot.... when i was just starting out traditional i was drawing well over 60 pounds, and in pretty good shape but i had to get used to the heavy holding weight.

I'd pick up my bow every day and draw it to anchor real slow and hold for a count of 3.... then let her down real slow. I'd do this a dozen times morning and night.... After a month of exercise i was shooting very well and could hold 5 to 6 seconds, but rarely did while shooting. i found my accuracy was much better without holding at full draw for longer periods....

How did you measure your draw length?

[quarbles]

kirkll, i will definately take your advice! yes, i'm on board with practicing smart. i've hurt myself weight training whilst tired and thus having bad form..... not a good experience but a very good teacher. i've no interest programming slop mechanics into muscle memory..... i will try your exercises. thank you for that.
as per draw length, i did the measuring exercise on the centaur archery site initially and coroborated it with a marked arrow at full draw (with a 60# recurve). i drew with my eyes closed until i felt my "anchor" as to not subconciously overdraw to hit my mark. i could hold it drawn for a decent count of seconds, at least so that i didn't feel 'panic-y' to release.
so i feel good about that draw length as long as my anchor is savy......ha!

either way i'm excited about the trad journey and glad i figured out that i didn't need to love the compound to love the arrow....

[njloco]

That's good thinking, but with shooting three fletched, you really don't have to shoot odd out if your shooting carbons. You'll also do well if you stick to blind bale shooting for awhile, while the form is pretty much the same as shooting a compound the release could become a nightmare, plus the rolling Of one's shoulder slightly back at full anchor. Blind bale will help with this a lot.

Good luck.

[quarbles]

does that mean there wouldn't be an impact in groups if someone shot odd out and in as they came out of the quiver? not sure if i follow...

i will start on bale shooting for sure! will focus on release, thanks for the tip!

[Jon in North Idaho]

I have shot 4 fletch for years.  I've used 2.5", 3", 3.5", and 4" feathers, and honestly have never seen a difference between them.  I always bare shaft to get them flying straight before adding feathers, though.

[quarbles]

so i might be able to use only 3" feathers? that seems short in a trad sense... anyone else experiment with short fletching in regards to a heavy high foc arrow?

[stalkin4elk]

PM sent for good reads.