i just built my first recurve a few weeks ago. i have been shooting it quiet a bit since finishing it and i am wearing out the bottom fletching. i am shooting 400 spine arrows out of a 55 lbs bow. i have been shooting alum and carbons and both are wearing out quickly. anybody have any idea as to what might be causing this.
Okie12, are you shooting vanes, or feathers? I believe feathers are more forgiving as they pass over a rest. They seem to last much better for me. Also if you shoot off your knuckle feathers are more user friendly.
Stan
A few pics of the riser and the fletchings would help diagnose the problem. You might also try taking a pic of the arrow nocked on the string and get a side view so we can see how level your nock is in relationship to the riser. You may be way too nock low and the arrow is scrubbing hard on the riser? Or you could be way over spined for your bow and the shaft is slapping hard against the riser? Lots of possibilities to consider without seeing some pictures of your set up.
My bottom feather wears quickly as well. I shoot all the time, every day. Maybe you do to? If you can turn your nocks a few degrees it will help some, rather than a cock feather straight out try turning your cock feather down 15-20 deg's.
I used to shoot alot. Seems to me if you are tuned right, you should get a couple years out of fletching. Some of mine is four or five years old and still useable. I used to shoot about 500 shots a week.
If it is your lower fletch and you are showing a rubbed spot on the outside of the shelf, your arrow is slightly stiff. This can usually be tuned out by raising the brace height or going to a heavier point. You might have all those perfect and just be short drawing as you get tired. Bill
yeah i wondered aboutthe short drawing b/c i have a hardtime fighting against it. i will try moving and turning my nock.
do you guys think i am shooting the right spine arrow. the arrow a easton epic 400, 29.25 inches and 125 up front. i started shooting these at 31.5 inches and keep trimin them down until i got to 29.25 where i like them the best. i also have one 500 spine arrow and it doesnt shot well at all.
Okie12 I checked out your set up on Stu Millers dynamic spine calculator and there was a large disparity between the bow and arrows you have selected. Your arrows spined out at 83.6lbs and your bow rated at 45lbs. Your bow and arrows should rate to within 2lbs of one another and as you can see here you are almost 40lbs off.
Although this calculator is not always 100% it will always get "fairly close" to what actual spine you need. At a minimum its helps select the right shaft and you have to tune from there. If you don't have it google it and download, it is an excel spreadsheet file.
Add a 100 grain brass insert and try again with those shafts.
Yep, too stiff means riser slap by the shaft = premature wearing of the feather.
Experiment with different weights up front until you get perfect arrow flight. I started out with a 30/50 CX Predator which is .500 spine then added 100gr. brass insert which I had to file down the diameter so they will fit the inside diameter of these shafts, which made them 90gr. brass inserts and I'm currently shooting a 100gr. point and broadhead. So effectively 190gr. up front and a little fine tuning with nocking point and brace height, they now come out of the bow like darts. With the exception of the occasional poor release, but since the shaft is "Tuned" for this set up even when I make a poor release they still recover quickly and hit where I want them to.
That's what your looking for, but there's more variables to it than just point weight, or just nocking point. Try a broadhead on one of your shafts, that will tell you everything you need to know. I imagine it will be all over the place.
NYArrow i guess i am aliitle confused. why is my bow rated at 45 lbs and not 55lbs. i used the chart that easton has for recurve bows, should have know i should have asked here before i bought them.
also i cant seem to get the 190 grain tips i have to fly as good as the 125. i also tried shootin some full lenght arrows thinking that would weaking the spine but they dont seem to fly as well either.
my next question is when i lenghten my brace height wont that shorten my power stroke and hurt me has far as arrow spine???
i guess the best thing for me to do is order a test kit of point from 3rivers. what do u guys think im going to need up front to get these things spined correct.
again thanks for all the help, i would be lost without you guys.
The calculator takes into account more than just the advertised weight of the bow. Things like arrow shelf cut to center or past center, arrow shelf plate material thickness, and string material, style, and strand thickness. All those things in combination work to either break down the amount of spine necessary for proper arrow flight or increase the amount needed.
The make and model of bow also makes a big difference. For example an old style Bear Grizzly with a B50 Flemish twist string won't need as much arrow spine as a new style Samick recurve with a fast flight string, even if they are exactly the same poundage.
Stu's calculator does all this calculating for you. Check it out for yourself and input the proper variables, then compare the 2 output numbers for Dynamic arrow spine, and Dynamic spine required on the bow number.
Be sure and download the new version and the instructions PDF, the instructions are very important to be able to understand how to use the calculator correctly.
It was spot on for my set up.
http://www.heilakka.com/stumiller/
I was having the same problem with my longbow. Too stiff arrows. Went to Rocky Mountain Supply and had them match some arrows up for me.
Great shop!
best thing to do is by a test kit and cut the shafts a quater inch at a time and bare shaft test
best way to get it right
I shoot quite frequently with both of my bows. My lone 2212 test arrow has been fletched for about a year. When the bottom hen feather wears out and it just did, I just replace it and this is the first time I've refletched the bottom hen feather.
QuoteOriginally posted by Bill Skinner:
If it is your lower fletch and you are showing a rubbed spot on the outside of the shelf, your arrow is slightly stiff. This can usually be tuned out by raising the brace height or going to a heavier point. You might have all those perfect and just be short drawing as you get tired. Bill
Sounds like what's happening to me with my newest bow/arrow combo. My arrows fly great, and I'm more accurate than ever. I can't see being overspined as I'm shooting a Beman MFX 600 with 125 broadhead and a 75 insert. Total length is 30". Bow is rated at 40@28, but I put it on a scale and got 45@28....plus I'm drawing 29.
Anyway...just thought I'd throw it out there in case someone had a suggestion. I'm not overly worried about it. I'm shooting this little recurve really well.
i think i might have messed up tonight. i was talking to a guy yesterday about my fletching problem. he suggested that i may need to cut my shlef to center, that it would give my flecting more clearence.
so tonight i decided to cut it to center. well its still together , but now my arrows are flying bad. before my arrow flew great i was just wearing out my fletching.
i still dont understand why they arent flyin as well now. i thought any time you can get the arrow closer to center it would be better. i am going to play around with it tomorrow with diferent arrow lenghts and tip weights.
Sense you cut your shelf to center. Your arrows may be weak in spine. So you could try lowering the point weight up front.
Schafer
i will try that this afternoon. i tried doing alittle bare shaft tuning and i was gettin pretty good flight except for nock high.
i have been shooting it stright off the shelf since i recut it, where as beofre i was shooting off a rug style rest. i dont know if that would be making any diffence, thought fletching might be hitting hard. i guess im just going to keep playing with it.
QuoteOriginally posted by vth0kie12:
i think i might have messed up tonight. i was talking to a guy yesterday about my fletching problem. he suggested that i may need to cut my shlef to center, that it would give my flecting more clearence.
so tonight i decided to cut it to center. well its still together , but now my arrows are flying bad. before my arrow flew great i was just wearing out my fletching.
i still dont understand why they arent flyin as well now. i thought any time you can get the arrow closer to center it would be better. i am going to play around with it tomorrow with diferent arrow lenghts and tip weights.
There's an old adage. "If it isn't broke, don't fix it."
Since you're having problems, you might need to play around with the brace height too.
yeah i know i should have left it alone and jsut got somemore arrows, but i thought getting it closer to center would have to help arrow flight. i guess i was thing to much like tuning a compound.
I shot cock feather out for 20+ yrs. and always had problems with bottom hen feathers wearing out.
I can assure you, my arrows weren't/aren't "too stiff" and are tuned very well. But the bottom hen always showed wear after some shooting.
So one day I decided to shoot cock feather turned in....wa-la! No feather wear at all after hundereds of shots....arrows still fly great!
It was that simple for me...been shooting this way for a few years now and have no reason to ever shoot any different.
thanks for the adivise i will try that also
Are you a right hand shooter using right hand fletching Guru? Art
Art thats a good question should i be shooting left wing or right i am right handed. i am currently shooting left wing with left hel.
well i think i firgured out my srrow flight problem: it was all me jerking the bow trying to see the arrow.
still have flecthing contact any way i try the flecthing or point size or shaft lenght. also i still cant seem to get them to bare shaft tune either. i think i am just going to have to buy a test kit of arrows and points from 3river, unless someone know of somewhere else to buy test kits.
guys i do thank all of you that have help me out. its nice to have i site where a beginner can come ask questions.
I'm also a right-handed shooter Robbie and I use either fletch. Since I shoot wood arrows, with a fixed nock/grain oriention I don't have the option of flipping my arrows over. So I orient the hens for best clearence. Left fletch comes out just right in my left wing bitzenburger. I made a right jig that gives good clearence. But I've noticed many right wing fletch arrows where one hen rides against the window and the other on the shelf. Using carbon or aluminum arrows you can rectify this situation by simple flipping the arrow over. But not with doweled wood arrows where you are often locked in with grain run-ups.
First thing I thought of when you mentioned feather wear was these flimsy immuture fletching we're getting for our money these days. Last set of arrows I re-fletched with Trueflight feathers the lower hen frayed within a few dozen shots. I've since gone back to using wild turkey fletching.
I am late on this one - ran across the thread waiting on my daughter trying on clothes. Thank goodness for an i-phone and Tradgang!
Bill's comment caught my eye. My favotite recurve tuned cutting 1/4" at a time(bare shaft & paper) with BH and field tips in the same holes... But, I get the same wear patterns discussed above - subtle but noticeable wear on the lower hen feather and outside of my shelf (Velcro). Stiff? Maybe, but flight is great...
I am working on a new bow cut past center and still getting a weak reaction with arrow that should be way stiff by Stu's calculator. Getting ready to add to my strike plate & see if that helps. Tuning can be fun & frustrating!