What fletching shape does everyone feel is the quietest and best flying?
I am thinking about getting a fletch cutter since I have a lot of turkey wings.
Parabolic or low profile banana.
I think if everyone felt that one particular shape were the best, there would probably be only one shape. If we're voting, I'll take a standard height parabolic.
Bet you get a lot of different answers here :)
Are there any down falls to a banana or low profile banana?
(http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g359/tradhunter1/DSCN0223_zps9eecc971.jpg) (http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/tradhunter1/media/DSCN0223_zps9eecc971.jpg.html)
I have loved these for several years now....looks all kinds of wicked, and quiet as well.
Those are bad to the bone! My premiss for wanting to know about banana feathers, is that I can buy a single cutter and it will work on both left wing and right wing feathers. As for making my own fletching it seems like it would be more efficient. I just don't have any experience with them.
I find that high cut bananas are noisy as heck, but the low bananas fly very well, and you don't have the sound.
I shoot banna cut they are as quiet than any other I have used. Mine are the standard not the low profile.
As long as your arrow is tuned well,any shape will be fine.Feather height will makes a feather noisy,not the shape.I like 4-4" parabolic,works great and is quiet.
Ok thanks. I will go ahead and get it ordered.
Parabolic is best overall. IMO I would want arrow steering over a little noise. I recently got a 5" LW shield cutter and like them a lot also. Low profile could create flight issues maybe??
all i use is the banana. cuts both right and left. I don't notice any noise. i fletch 4 5.5" with a R or L helical. but only use left helical out of selfbows, i found with right helical the feathers contact and cut my knuckle. right handed.
I also find parabolic or low profile banana's quieter than shield. The A&A fletch is very quiet but you need a high foc. In the real world it probably does not matter regarding the sound of the fletch. Don't sacrifice stability for noise.
I use 5-1/2" banana cut and they are very noisy.
BUT they just look too cool to change
I've always liked the banana and think the noise is cool. I've never had the fletching noise bother the deer either. I have several choppers, but now I burn them and can make them any height and length I want. Right now I have them at 4 1/2" and about 5/8 tall.
Besides, isn't trad archery all about looking COOL?
I shoot shields and they seemed to be a little loud so I took my chopper and put a shim on the bottow where the quill sets and made them a lower profile and this helped out. 3 Rivers has a chopper shape called the swift and I think it look pretty cool to me. Just shoot what YOU like best.
as with bows and strings and shafts, there no best overall fletch shape. that would make life too easy.
Nothing with a trailing edge is going to be as quiet as a parabolic. May look cooler, but when hunting I want performance, not esthetics.
Yea I find that it's the broad head that really annoys the deer not the noise;)
Ive used the 5.5 magnum for years (since I switched to trad)
Mine are pretty silent.
But I like the look of sheild cut, and may switch this year.
recently did a little field test with the traditional cut, parabolic and shield.
traditional cut was my favorite to look at, but the noisiest. parabolic and shield were both very quiet.
I've never noticed a heck of a lot of performance difference but low cut bananas look the best on everything from fancy painted wood and carbon to plain Jane bamboo primitives. My Bearpaw cutter adjusted all the way down turns 'em out at a hair over 4 3/4" X 1/2".
I've done quite a bit of testing for noise.
I found any shape that has a trailing edge starts out the loudest.
The quietest have rounded backs ( para, moon, t-hawk)
Also the shorter in height the better.
Also the more twist in the feather the louder.
Once I found the best combo of looks and quietness in a feather for my taste, while still having a good amount of feather back there to do the job ( ended up a slightly modified 4x 5" T-hawk chop).
They were silent in flight and more than enough feather to forgive my mistakes a little.
it took me quite a while to come up with this "perfect" combo.
After shooting a while the feathers got a bit worn and made noise anyway...lol
moral...shoot what you like...lol