Now, I have read a lot on here about this subject through the months. Crazy how opinions differ.
I have noticed that the Pope and Young cut fletching is by far the noisiest---is it because of the sharp points? They LOOK great! I have been experimenting a bit with the help of friends and have actually found that the banana cut fletching is the quietest one of all. Now--I know--I have read differently here once with a guy wanting to know if his nanners were too noisy(this thread is what spawned my little mad study), and I have found that the banana cut feathers are the quietest ones. I found that the fletching that has sharp angles are the loudest(Pope and Young cut being the worst). Shield cut feathers are a close second to the P&Y's for noise.
I want to know if anyone has had any different experiences. For now, I'll just stick with my nanners.
I've found parabolic to be the quietest for me, shield cuts probably second. I get the complete opposite as you with banana's, I still have a few around they howl all the way down range. - eric
Unless the nanners are real low-profile they are not very quiet. I shot them for years though. I have to agree parabolic(which I do not like)and than shields are the quietest in my experience. Shawn
I also believe that parabolic are the quietest (it's about all I use now). Banana's were never very quiet for me.
My experiences are about like JBiorns, probably flipflop the parobolics and bananas but I have had good luck with both of these.
I'm with Shawn and deerfly on this one.
I like the shieldcut performance, but they are by far not the quietest I've ever used. I'm sure that when I exhaust my supply of shield I'll probably try parabolic for something different.
I've been using maxifletch banana cut feathers exclusively since '93 after a friend (who owned an archery shop at the time) and I spent considerable time paper testing various feather shapes, lengths, and configurations (helical, strait, offset, 4-fletch, etc.) The main purpose of our "test" was singular in nature. Our goal was to determine which combination of shape, length, and configuration would stabilize an arrow in the shortest possible distance as evidenced by the tear mark in paper. Although arrow noise and speed were NOT the focus of our "experiment", you couldn't help but notice the noise associated with one fletching combination compared to another.
Of course we began with the bare shaft tuning process to determine proper arrow spine. But once we established which bare shaft flew the best, we didn't stop there. For our fletched arrow paper test we also used similarly spined shafts that were either slightly overspined or underspined. Our reasoning was, if a particular combination of shape, length and configuration would MOST QUICKLY stabilize even a slightly overspined or underspined shaft, then a properly spined shaft would stabilize at least as quickly.
As far as noise, it became apparent that there was a direct relationship to the length of a feather and the amount of noise it made. The larger the feather, the more noise was associated with it. Because we were just using our ears and not a noise meter to make the comparison I cannot say whether or not a particular shape is more or less noisy than another. But suffice to say that a 5.5" banana was perceived to be noisier than a 4" banana; a 5.5" shield cut was noisier than a 4" shield, and so on.
Which combination of length, shape and configuration resulted in a properly spined (and slightly overspined and underspined) arrow stabilizing in the shortest possible distance? Actually, TWO different combinations worked about the same: 1) a 5.5" banana cut maxi and 2) Four, slightly offset 4" shields (The four, 4" shields were noticeably quieter, and if I remember correctly, about 3-4 fps faster than the 5.5" banana maxis).
Because I try to set up my shots to occur within 16 yards at relaxed animals, the amount of noise my 5.5" banana maxis make has never really been a concern for me. Besides, I like the LOOK of my 5.5" maxis.
Critters freeze in fear at the hissss of death coming from my 5" shields!
Noise from your fletching means your bow is too fast ...
What do bananas look like?
:smileystooges:
sorry , couldn't resist
http://www.arrowsbykelly.com/Arrows.html
Like this.
I found the shields shot best for me when wet. Have not had trouble with shields and deer that I know of.
thanks JBiron. HEY ALASKA MIKE :p
Noise of fletching is infact influenced by the shape but another factor that needs to be included is the height of the fletch. A low shield could be quieter than a high banana, that's probably why the different results. To compare you have to keep height the same. When I was testing mine the thickness of a burning wire made the difference between noisy and quiet.
Bob
el oso,
This is what my current batch of practice arrows looks like.
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s157/WIDOWWALLERS/Picture002.jpg)
In theory, once you've taken the time to go through the bare shaft tuning process, you should be able to get by with the smallest feathers available- ASSUMING that you do EVERYTHING THE SAME each and every shot. But if you're like me and thousands of other traditionalists who occassionally let an arrow get away from us with less than perfect form - especially with a broadhead on the business end- then LARGE fletching will stabilize your arrow in a shorter distance than smaller fletching.
We keep reading/hearing about how important it is to maximize kenetic energy by using heavy arrows and shooting the heaviest bow we can handle accurately- well, a fantastic way to waste kenetic energy is to have your arrow hit its intended target less than strait on. Large feathers will help compensate for less than perfect shots far better than small feathers. And at traditional distance, a little fletching noise should not be an issue.
A soft edge is where the noise comes from.
Pope and Youngs are noisy because of the weak trailing edge that point makes. Nanners are noisy because of their height....the top edge is the softer part of the feather.
LABS4ME i also use nanners great flight even on bad release on 285 grain snuffers.
What Longbowben said!!!