Feathers

[SB919]

First of all Happy New Year to all!

I'd like to know what R wing,L wing, straight etc. mean in regards to feather fletching and is one any better than the other?


And to those who applied to me earlier, I should get my tuning supplies this week so wish me luck with my first tuning attempt.

[DoninVa]

You will need a right wing clamp to fletch right wing feathers and left for left. You can fletch right or left wing with a straight clamp. There is no difference between shooting left or right wing feathers, one flies no better than the other. I use right wing with my recurve as I get better clearence between my hand and arrow. With my compound I will use what I have on hand, right or left. Straight will work well with field points but I would use some offset with a straight clamp and as much helical as I can get away with on right wing or left wing clamp, on broadheads. Only fletch right wing feathers on a right wing clamp and left on left and don't mix left and right feathers on the same shaft, and you will be good to go. Don

[jmac_or]

Some jigs and/or clamps call a right wing clamp a right helical clamp. Both are the same and must be used as described above.

JMAC

[SB919]

What does the term helical mean?

[Sniper151]

SB, Left and right wing feathers reference which wing of the bird the feather was harvested. When visually inspecting a right wing feather the feather curves down, left to right. The backside, or the wider area is what is used for manufacturing the feather for arrow applilcation. The left wing is just the opposite tapering down from right to left from the base to tip. There is very little difference to most shooters, but there is a difference if you shoot finger style. If you are a right handed shooter there is slightly more clearance with a left wing. The opposite applies if you are a leftty. Look at the right and left clamps for fletching. Each is bent slightly to one side or the other. This is refered to a helical. You can adjust the amount of helical with quality jigs. The more helical the greater the spin or revolution. The down side is the more helical equals more drag and less speed. A helical of 1/16" to 3/32" over the length of the fletching I found to produce very good spin with minimum drag. A right wing will give you better clearance. When shooting a release there is virtually no difference because the cock feather is down rather than out with little or no side kick or fishtailing. Straight fletching works the best with a release aid. Experiment with both.