what is the best way or tool to remove old vanes without chunking up the shaft??

An old dull knife seems to work the best. I bought on of the saunders arrow mate fletching removers and it doesn't work very well. Just scrape the shaft with a dull knife and you can knock most all of the old glue off.

That's what I use, a VERY dull knife.

I believe this same topic was on here awhile back. A couple of the posts mentioned using a serrated (sp?) knife. I tried that and I thought it worked great.

how does that cut the vane? another question i have is , if you leave small gouges in the shaft , is is ruined?

Kevin,

if you gouged the carbon much, I would say not shoot it. The trick is to scrape the vane and glue off, not cut it. Be sure you are not looking at glue remaining on the shaft, vs carbon missing. Both cases will leave the shaft a rough/bumpy feeling.

Those cheapo curved-blade linoleum knives work great.

Dull -knife is all i ever use, works very well