I have always used 3 inch vanes on Easton A/C/Cs. I have become tired of the drives and the money so, I am going to do my own fletching. I wondered if 2 inch vanes would make any difference.
My vanes were always helical and wondered if straight would make a difference. Since I am about to buy a fletching machine, I found that you have to pick a model accordingly.
I like the 2 in blazers ,I own the arizona fletching tool .its quick ,perfect ,and havent had a fletch come off yet .They fly very true ,Killed my first deer of the year with my own fletched arrow .Takes me about 2 minutes to do 1 arrow .
I bought a Bitzenberger over the weekend. The person at Cabelas seemed fairly knowledgeable on the subject and recommended the 2 inchers. I bought the straight fletch model as this too seems the common recommendation from people I have asked. I just need to get some 91% alchohol for clean up and I am ready to start.
Right now im using 4 inch vanes which are set on offset. However i was using 4 inch helical for a long time and swore by them. But i have since then realized that the rest im using works best with strait or slightly offset vanes, and that for the most part helical vanes are usually only used with traditional bows.
As for the length of the vane, im not quite sure what difference it makes.
definitely go with the bitzenberger. you can get the addition clamp for a small extra charge and that way you will have both straight and helical clamps. as far as fletchings go, the longer the vane the faster it will stabilize the arrow. the more helical the faster it will stabilize your arrow. the trade off is the faster it stabilizes your arrow means the faster it slows down. I like a 2.5" feather fletched with a helical for hunting.
I bought 2.1" for my practice arrows. I will see how they work before I change the hunting arrows. Surprisingly, there did not seem to be much selection in vanes. I found 2.1 and 4". Currently, I am using 3".
For my recurve, I think the arrows I bought are 4" feathers. I'll have to check. I intend to buy a helical clamp for the recurve.
I use the Bitzenberger and Bi-Delta 2-1/2" vanes. I use a slight helical on GT Velocity XT 400 Carbons. I have used the Bi-Delta vanes for over 10 yrs with great success. I have used from 4" down to the 2-1/2". They get attention whenever I am at a shoot.
I use a Bitzenburger Dial-O-Fletch with the 2" predator and zeon fussion vanes. I set it up with as much helical on the vanes as i can get and still keep good contact with the shaft.
What size vanes?
Victims Aren't We All
