Best Adhesive For Feathers?

Turk_man · 04-24-2005, 11:13 AM

I am wondering if AAE Fastset Gel will work for feathers. I use it with vanes but have never tried it with feathers. If not what would everyone recommend. Thanks

LBR · 04-24-2005, 11:18 AM

I figure if it will hold vanes, it will hold feathers--when I used vanes I had more trouble getting them to stick than I ever had with feathers. That was quite a few years ago though.

Chad

Arthur P · 04-25-2005, 06:41 AM

I've stuck feathers on arrows with Fastset, and all kinds of other 'super glue' gels. It works fine. The old standby glues like Fletchtite and Duco do just fine too, but if the arrows are dipped or sealed, then you can have compatibility issues. I haven't used any of the newer glues that have come out for one reason.

A few years ago, I switched to Bohning fletch tape. It does great on all kinds of arrows, all kinds of finishes, it's not as messy and (after a little practice

) I can fletch up a dozen arrows faster than I could fletch five arrows with super glue. The feathers stay stuck until I take decide it's time to them off - even in the extreme heat and humidity around the Dallas area - and then the arrows are so much easier to clean up and get ready to refletch. I don't reckon on ever again using glue to stick feathers on an arrow.

BobCo19-65 · 04-25-2005, 06:54 AM

Art, I have used the tape before and hard a tough time getting the residue off when re-fletching. Acetone somewhat worked. How do you get the residue off?

Longbow Bowhunter · 04-25-2005, 07:28 AM

Duco works great, and if you can order it a German glue called UHU is the best stuff I have ever used.

Arthur P · 04-25-2005, 10:27 AM

Bob, it's a pain but, compared to scraping off dry fletching glue, getting off the stickum residue from tape is a breeze. If you really want to get it off easy, you can spray some WD40 on the glue and let it set for a few minutes. It'll wipe right off. Then you can clean the WD40 off with acetone or denatured alcohol and refletch. I wouldn't use WD40 on carbons though because it could get into the surface of the shaft and make it hard to get anything to stick.

I did forget to mention to put a drop of glue - like Duco or Fletchtite - at each end of the feather when using the tape. Very important!

BobCo19-65 · 04-25-2005, 10:31 AM

Quote:

If you really want to get it off easy, you can spray some WD40 on the glue and let it set for a few minutes. It'll wipe right off. Then you can clean the WD40 off with acetone or denatured alcohol and refletch.

I'll give that a try next time. I tried using straight acetone alone, but it seemed to create more of a mess.

Jakes Cronje · 04-25-2005, 11:49 AM

If anyone wants UHU get in touch with me. Swop you for whatever.

Jakes

LBR · 04-25-2005, 01:11 PM

Art, does fletch tape work on carbons? I'd heard somewhere that it doesn't, so I never tried it. I don't shoot carbons, but I wind up fletching arrows for friends that do.

Chad

Arthur P · 04-25-2005, 02:05 PM

Works like just as well on carbons as it does on any other arrow, Chad. That's the best thing about it. No worries about finish capatablity. You stick it down and it stays stuck. Only thing about it is it seems to have a limited shelf life, especially if you leave it in your tackle box in a hot car on a summer day.