Refletching

[Code-Man]

So I'm new to the whole archery thing with only a year half under my belt but I'm wondering about Refletching. I'm in the Fargo/Moorhead area and wondering if someone in town does it or if it's not that hard of a thing that a person can do it themselves.

I am having issues with my flight of my arrows. Thought it was my sight being loose checked everything out and some were flying different then others. Checked the arrows out and the fletching is different on them and all the groups are all the same fletchings.

I didn't think it would make that much of a difference but my groupings are good just I have two of them and it's not accurate enough for me to go into the woods and take a shot at a deer.

[vister]

I have noticed my bow will shoot all arrows the same, as long as the fletching is the same. thats the biggest problem with buying new arrows and shooting some of the old ones with the new ones. the fletching may be different. usually, i will buy my arrows in bulk, or at least a dozen or more, if they come fletched. this way they are all fletched the same, and fly more equal to each other.

i haven't tried fletching my own, yet.

as far as finding a shop in your neighborhood, i'm not sure where to aim ya. i think there is one in detroit lakes, but i am not sure.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Fletching is quite easy.. All you need is the tools to do it. I have a bitzenburger and love it.

All your arrows should be fetched the same. If one arrow has more offset than the other it will affect arrow speed and thus Point of impact.

[buckhunter21]

Fletching is not hard at all if you have a good fletching jig. I tried a cheap plastic one for about 25 bucks and it was pretty much worthless so I upgraded to a bitzenburger like Deitz and it works awesome. They run about 70 bucks though but I think its well worth it considering now they charge you over 2 bucks an arrow for refletching and half the time they rip off after a week or 2 at least where I used to take mine. Another nice thing about having your own is you can switch around the angle of the fletch to get more or less spin and once you find what works best for you keep it there.

[harvey lee]

I have all of my new arrows fletched by the archery shop that takes care of all my equipment needs. I usually purchase a dozen arrows when I get low and I do not use the old ones unless they shoot the same pattern as the few I have left. All of my new arrows are fletched the same and if I go to a new fletching, I will also have my older arrows refletched.

I won't take a chance on missing a deer due to a different fletched arrow.

Fletching ones own arrows is a great idea only if one has the needed equipment. There are times when one damages an arrow and it would be nice to quickly fix the fletching instead of running back to the archery shop.

[lichen fox]

If you're in the Fargo area check out the Sandhills archery club...I think they have a shop right in thier clubhouse...

I have built all of my arrows for over 20 years...it's quite simple and as other's have mentioned, it gives you the option of experimenting with various angles, vane material and vane lengths...I use a JoJan 6 arrow fletching tool...I shoot right handed and I use 4 inch left wing feathers for my compound and 5 inch left wing feathers for my recurve...general rule is right handed shooters shoot "left wing"....left handed..."right wing"....you will find that real feathers are more forgiving than plastic vanes...You can pick up a "single" arrow JoJan for about $10...it will come with one clamp...Left-right-or straight...you can probably order a different clamp for 3 or four bucks if you want more than one option...to save

on cost I usually purchase my feathers in hundred packs...doing your own fletching gives you alot of options and it is an ejoyable "hobby"....

[metrojoe]

Another vote for the Bitzenburger. I've had mine for a few years now and with 2 young shooters in the house besides myself, I found I needed to have arrows refletched constantly. Very easy to do yourself. I was a feather shooter for many years, but when my boys started shooting I quickly switched to vanes.

[Scoot]

Code, I had arrows refletched at two different places in town before I started doing it myself. To say I was unimpressed with the job that was done at the two shops that did the work would be an understatement.

I use the Bitzenburger too- it's easy and works well. Get ahold of me if you'd like to take a look at mine and get a quickly tutorial on it. It's like so many things in archery... it's not difficult, but it makes a world of difference to have someone show you how to do it. I can tell you all I know about refletching in about 30 seconds and I've never had a problem.

[Code-Man]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Scoot if your ever bored should drop me a line and maybe 30 seconds could turn into a beer and burger in town for your hassle. Always willing to learn something new. I just don't want to run two different things then shoot wrong and wound an animal. My grandpa would come down from heaven and kick my rear if he knew I did that. Keep me posted scoot with what works for you buddy.

[Scoot]

Sure- no problem. Shoot me an e-mail at scootsfishing at yahoo and we can set up a time to meet. Do you have an hour at lunch to meet sometime? If yes, I'll just have you come up to the bowclub and I can show you the scoop pretty quickly.

E-mail me and we'll go from there...

[Powerstroke]

I've also got the Bitz and both my deer this fall fell to my home fletched arrows. Its very satisfying knowing you can do the work yourself, save a few bucks and produce a high quality piece of equipment.

[woodspliter]

My question has to do carbon arrows. I have fletched and re-fletched aluminum arrows with sucsess, but have not had to work on carbon arrows yet. How do you remove the old fletch and prep the arrow to apply the new fletch?

[buckhunter21]

My question has to do carbon arrows. I have fletched and re-fletched aluminum arrows with sucsess, but have not had to work on carbon arrows yet. How do you remove the old fletch and prep the arrow to apply the new fletch?

What I do is use a razor blade or utility knife to get most of the vanes off, once you get the main part of the vane off then just run the blade real lightly along the arrow to get most of the glue and stuff off. After that I take a piece of emery board and just sand off the rest of the glue where it needs it. I do this until I run my finger over where the fletch was and it feels completely smooth. Then I clean the shaft really well with just a paper towel or cloth. They do make a prep cloth that is used to clean the shaft but I have never used one and have never had a problem not using one. After its cleaned its pretty much ready to go, just try not to touch where your going to fletch.

[woodspliter]

Thanks buckhunter. My wife has some of those pads that are supposed to smooth away unsightly hair. I wonder if those would work? Does anybody know what grit those are? Maybe I can pick up some final prep paper from a body shop.

[metrojoe]

I just use one of those green scouring pads.

[Scoot]

I use a dull razor blade, then sand until smooth, then wash off with water and let it dry. Lastly, I use acetone to clean the shaft, but be very careful with that stuff- it's really nasty. Once it's dry, I fletch away.

[Code-Man]

I got one of the Bitz and tried it out. Only problem I'm having is getting the shaft all cleaned off. It seems that some of the fletchings don't want to come off very easily. Any tips? I'm trying with a razor blade but that don't seem to work too good.

[buckhunter21]

I always just rip mine off with my fingers if I can for the first step. Then I just slice off the remaining fletching with a sharp razor blade and do this until I get most of the fletch off the shaft. Next I hold the razor blade straight up and down to the shaft and start scraping lightly until I get almost all of it off. Then I take emery board or very fine sandpaper and sand lightly until its completely smooth.