I handed over a bunch of arrows to my local archery shop have them refletched from 3" rw feathers to 4" rw feathers. Collected them couple of days ago and turns out to be a mess! Glue all over the shaft and feathers making them hard. But more concerning is he used 1deg left hand offset on my right wing feathers. He said he forgot to check the offset angle on his Fletcher and it wont matter for a casual shooter like me. I still paid him anyway.
Does it make much difference if offset direction is wrong?
Sounds like you were insulted and did not know the difference, what's done is done, I would not go back and learn how to do it yourself. Probably a thread on here showing you how under "tutorials". Everybody needs some to fling around the planet, you have those now.
Learn to do it yourself, it is very easy. You don't need to spend a lot on a jig.
Your own flecther is nice because if have on fall off you can simply go inside and glue it back on instead of driving a mile or more down the road. It's not hard to do. Just make sure you use what ever jig you get being rightwing or leftwing and get the feathers to match.
It's not a huge deal. I have tried it. Feathers seemed to wear faster.
Seems like poor service to me. The gentleman that fletches mine would have made them right before he let get out of the shop.
QuoteOriginally posted by FerretWYO:
It's not a huge deal. I have tried it. Feathers seemed to wear faster.
That's good to know. Thanks. I figured the feathers will still add drag to the rear of arrow and stabilize it. They hardly spin now though.
QuoteOriginally posted by Yolla Bolly:
Seems like poor service to me. The gentleman that fletches mine would have made them right before he let get out of the shop.
Yup. A proper gentleman would have redid them right or even refunded the cost of the feathers.
Fletch a man's arrows, and he shoots for a day. Teach him how to fletch, and he shoots for a lifetime.
The feathers are shaped in a particular way naturally. When you bend them the other way, it is wrong. period. Yes they may work, but it is wrong. The shop guy didn't know what he was doing plus gave you poor service, period.
When you take your car to get fixed and they fix it "kinda" but not right, and then they say " but for a "casual driver" like you it won't matter much, do you accept that?
I agree with rraming. You were insulted, and sold a bill of goods that you just didn't need. On top of that, they screwed up your arrow shafts.
Chuck
For their mistake I would ask for a credit in the shop. Use it to by a fletching jig.JMHO
QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
The feathers are shaped in a particular way naturally. When you bend them the other way, it is wrong. period. Yes they may work, but it is wrong. The shop guy didn't know what he was doing plus gave you poor service, period.
When you take your car to get fixed and they fix it "kinda" but not right, and then they say " but for a "casual driver" like you it won't matter much, do you accept that?
I agree with rraming. You were insulted, and sold a bill of goods that you just didn't need. On top of that, they screwed up your arrow shafts.
Chuck
I like your car analogy. I did express my dissatisfaction but I guess it's no use. He then tried to sell me a fetching jig for $98 ($82 USD). I think I can get one online for a better price. Anyone can recommend one?
Bohning make a red polymer one that works great and is around $40.00.
QuoteOriginally posted by Nativestranger:
I handed over a bunch of arrows to my local archery shop have them refletched from 3" rw feathers to 4" rw feathers. Collected them couple of days ago and turns out to be a mess! Glue all over the shaft and feathers making them hard. But more concerning is he used 1deg left hand offset on my right wing feathers. He said he forgot to check the offset angle on his Fletcher and it wont matter for a casual shooter like me. I still paid him anyway.
Does it make much difference if offset direction is wrong?
Time to purchase a fletcher, and learn how to fletch. I have never been impressed with "pro shop" level of quality of fletching. Learning to fletch will save you time, money, and you develop a sense of pride in self accomplishment. Sounds like you like stuff to be right if you are worried about what he said. My experience is I have have to fletch my own to get the quality I want unless you use a custom arrow maker. Just my 2 cents.
Fletch them yourself, it is fun, rewarding and a great hobby. What he did is way unacceptable IMO. Remove those fletches, clean-up your shafts and start over.
Kris
If you do any serious quantity of shootin a jig will pay for itself in short order. Plus its a toy, and who doesn't love that. To be honest I think that shops which are familiar with Trad Archery are few and far between, and becoming less common by the day. I have the Bohning Jig and it's not bad. You can get nice clean fletch with it. I have a RW clamp and a straight clamp (for offset fletching vanes). It wasn;t very expensive. I fletch all my own, and for anyone who asks. I kinda enjoy it.
If you're really obsessive type, and only absolute perfection will do I'd suggest going with the Bitzenberger. Its more loot but its suppopsed to be the bees knees as they say. Oh and FWIW I think Tru-Flight is easier to fletch than Gateway, I still use w/e I have, just saying.
Good luck.
Learn to fletch and build arrows-it is a blast! A simple and easy way to decide whom to do business with: unless the guy/gal is a sponsor here just don't bother!
What made you a "Casual Shooter" ???
Feathers instead of 1 1/2" vanes. :dunno:
I have the red polmyer Bohning it works great and the clamps are only around $10 each i have all 3 LH RH and straight.
Tony
QuoteOriginally posted by BOWMARKS:
What made you a "Casual Shooter" ???
Feathers instead of 1 1/2" vanes. :dunno:
Exactly! Well I am one out of only a handful of traditional archers in my country. And there are no carbon and aluminum space age gadgets on my bow.
QuoteOriginally posted by Tony Chinn:
I have the red polmyer Bohning it works great and the clamps are only around $10 each i have all 3 LH RH and straight.
Tony
Thanks to all for the suggestions. Which glue is best to use for feathers?
3Rivers carries a BPE jig
http://www.3riversarchery.com/BPE+Pro-Fletcher_i4083X_baseitem.html
that works pretty good. It's totally adjustable so you can set the degree of helical, do 4 fetch or whatever. I've had mine for 25 yrs and it still works as well as the day I got it. I have both a left and a right jig but pretty much only use the right these days. Where I live, and lived before, there are no traditional shops so I learned to do it all myself, it ain't hard. I even bought an arrow saw back then and it still works like new to this very day.
If the shafts I am fletching have a rough finish, like a Goldtip XT Hunter, Fletchtite Platinum works well. If it has a smooth finish, like a Beman Hunter, then super glue gel does the trick. The fletchtite will work on a smooth finish but you will lose a feather every now and then.
you go taken, NS, sorry about that. I was fletching my own arrows when i was 10 yrs old.... my point, it's simple! You are probabably better at it than that dude who messed your arrows up. Get yourself a decent jig and start learning how to do it yourself. you'll save money in the long run and it's very enjoyable.
x2 what cromer said. I've been fletching with the same jig since I was 12, and I'm 41 now. As everyone else has said, its cheaper, more fun, quicker, and you can be more creative. It's like anything else, the more you do yourself, the more you understand about the WHOLE process of what puts the arrow in the target. Good stuff.
By the way, it's a BPE, much like the one in the post above, and cost me like 20 bucks back then. That's 68 cents a year to have control over how your arrows are put together....
QuoteOriginally posted by jason.fletcher:
By the way, it's a BPE, much like the one in the post above, and cost me like 20 bucks back then. That's 68 cents a year to have control over how your arrows are put together....
As advised, I will get a jig to redo my arrows. But probably not get the BPE one as the price is now pretty expensive.
Anyone can recommend this $29.9 Grayling fletching jig?
http://www.lancasterarchery.com/grayling-fletching-jig.html
Or this AAE fletch III jig? Only fixed 1Deg RH offset which is all I need.
http://www.lancasterarchery.com/aae-fletch-iii-fletching-jig.html
The Grayling works fine. The Jo-Jan mono jig would be a good choice also.
Don't forget you can also find good deals on used jigs. A lot of people will sell goods when getting out of archery for awhile, or just "upgrading".
I recently found a BPE for $35.00 with the straight clamp. I wanted right helical, so just bought the clamp I needed.
I fletched for years with an Arizona EZ-Fletch. It worked OK.
Ray