Fletch tape and cold weather

Jerry Jeffer · January 25, 2011, 08:42:00 AM

Out hunting in minus temps. Just sitting in my spot and I see some of my fletch on the snow. I look at my arrows and some of the feathers are only held on at the ends with a drop of glue, but the whole middle section is unattached. Cold weather turned the tape into a useless pieces of plastic.

Bowwild · January 25, 2011, 08:43:00 AM

Jerry,
This is good to know. I just discovered this tape this year and love it. But, I haven't been out in the cold with it -- my hunting arrows were fletched with glue. The arrows I fletched with this tape have only been shot indoors.

L82HUNT · January 25, 2011, 08:58:00 AM

I've never had any problum with it. Been using the Bearpaw fletch tape for two seasons now, on both shafts and on wraps. Hunted from cold to warm 200' to 10000' elevation.

ksbowman · January 25, 2011, 09:00:00 AM

Jerry, How cold was it? I've hunted in single digits and had no problem. Maybe you got a bad batch or didn't have your shafts real clean.

Tim Fishell · January 25, 2011, 09:05:00 AM

I have hunted in some cold temps as well and never had a problem. I dont know that I have been out in minus temps but for sure single digits.

Rob DiStefano · January 25, 2011, 09:08:00 AM

if the tape used is relatively fresh and not old, and allowed to 'cure' after fletching up an arrow, any attempt to remove the feathers will pull off the barbs and leave the ground quill attached, no matter what the air temps read.

i've found lost arrows of mine, that were out in the woods for over a year, where the feathers are almost destroyed but it still takes a knife to get the quill to scrape off. i love bohning fletch tape.

make sure both the quill and shaft are oil free. when you lay the tape down on the quill, press it down hard with yer fingernail b4 removing the protective film, after fletching, run yer fingernail across the entire feather, pushing the barbs down into the shaft hard, then do the fore and aft dot of glue.

leatherneck · January 25, 2011, 09:16:00 AM

Just another thought here. Did you spray your feathers with any type of waterproof spray? Reason I ask is I did this once years ago and the chemicals in the spray reacted to my GLUE and the feathers came off. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

ron w · January 25, 2011, 09:17:00 AM

Never had any problem from 100 degrees to -10.......

BowMIke · January 25, 2011, 09:18:00 AM

I do mine just like Rob and they work great.

Jim Wright · January 25, 2011, 09:30:00 AM

There have been posts on this subject before and you didn't say, but if you are shooting carbons they are not all the same as to what works to clean/prep the shaft before fletching. I had some beman mfx arrows fletched by a friend that fletching started coming completely off of during shooting. When beman (easton) tech staff was contacted they told me after finding out that acetone had been used to definitely NEVER use acetone and use 91% isopropyl alcohol instead and since doing so and re-fletching it is still there.
I suspect your problem is more likely to be similar to mine as I've not seen any effects on my fletching tape from cold weather.

Rob DiStefano · January 25, 2011, 09:39:00 AM

i use naphtha for cleaning shafts and quills. iso alky is good, too. if using acetone, such as to remove carobn shaft logos, follow up with naphtha or alky.

Frank Warnke · January 25, 2011, 09:43:00 AM

Although not necessarily the problem, I was curious if anyone knew what kind of shelf life the fletch tapes have?

Jerry Jeffer · January 26, 2011, 01:35:00 AM

This is the first time I have had this happen, and I have used tape for a few years now. The tape stayed on the shaft, just the feather fell off. It was minus 10 degrees. Guess it was just a rare occurrence. I'll still be using tape in the future.

CEO · January 26, 2011, 02:19:00 AM

We do a lot of rabbit hunting here in Alaska in temps down to 20 below. The only time I've had fletch tape fail is when I did not clean shafts first.

ishoot4thrills · January 26, 2011, 06:02:00 AM

What Rob said. I use denatured alcohol to clean shafts and I've never had one come off.

Stone Knife · January 26, 2011, 06:12:00 AM

That's why i stick with glue(no pun intended)

cyred4d · January 26, 2011, 07:26:00 AM

I've also had good luck with fletch tape. The only time I ever had a problem with it was when I did not use acetone or denatured alcohol on the shafts first.

centaur · January 26, 2011, 08:28:00 AM

I just started using the stuff this year, but I hunted when it was cold enough for my toes to get frostbit, and the fletching never budged.

hunt it · January 26, 2011, 08:39:00 AM

15yrs now using tape. My arrows see minus 20 all the time, never had an issue. As Rob has, I've had shafts lost in snow all winter and I go back in spring, feathers still stuck on as good as new.

Sounds to me like your quill had grease etc on it prior to using tape. As also menttioned, some spray on waterproofing renders tape useless-melts glue.

xtrema312 · January 26, 2011, 09:04:00 AM

I tried the tape last year and had them flying off in the winter when shooting outdoors. The tape would come off both the feather and the shaft. It would look and feel like a strip of cellophane wrap with no stick at all in the cold temps. I prepped my carbon shaft every way possible using all the proven methods plus I tried steel wool to scuff them up and then clean them. I even prepped the feathers trying to get things to stick. They still came off. I must have had a bad role, but it came from Lancaster so I wouldn't think it had been setting around a long time. I went back to fletch-Tite platinum and never another problem. I may have had a bad role of tape, but I don't care. Why take the chance again when I have something that works great. I wasted a lot of money shipping on the feathers and tape already. I may pick up a role again someday to try when I run across it someplace. Too many people like it to not figure it can work.