RE: Fletching tape
I pretty well use Bohning Fletch-tape exclusively. It' s great stuff. I can do a whole shaft or two in the time it' d take to do one feather with fletch-tite. I' ve never had problems with the tape not sticking unless I had something on my hands that didn' t let the adhesive stick, or I got glue chunks on it. I put the feather in the clamp, then lie it down and measure out some tape. Snip the tape so there' ll be a bit of excess and apply it starting at the front of the feather. I guess it doesn' t matter which end you start at, but that' s how I do it. I run it along the quill keeping it as straight as possible with as little bubbles as possible. After I have it stuck to the quill I make sure there are no bubles and it' s on good by rubbin it down. Then I peel the backing away and put the clamp on the jig and push it down onto the arrow shaft. Give it a good push to make sure it adhered to the shaft. Open the clamp and remove it from the feather, rotate the jig and prep another feather. It' s super easy and a lot faster than glue. You can also put drops of glue at the fronts and ends of the quills if you' d like to add strength or whatever. I hardly ever do, usually because I forget to, and I' ve never suffered ill effects when I' ve done a good " tape-up." The stuff is pretty cheap too. I think it' s $6 for like 300 yrds of it. I' m still on my first roll since I started usin the stuff and I' ve fletched and re-fletched 2 1/2 dozen arrows. I' ve gone through over 150-200 feathers with it. I wonder how many tubes of glue it' d take to get that many feathers. I' ve always use it with wood, and haven' t tried it on aluminum or carbon, but I reckon it' d work just as well. Sorry it' s so long-winded, but I love the stuff so much I don' t see why everyone doesn' t use it.
Brandan
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