I know how to fletch my arrows and put nocks on them, however, I am fairly new at putting inserts in and cutting the arrows. I am in the market for getting some new arrows and will most likely get the Gold Tip XT 5575 arrows. What exactly do I need and need to do in order to cut the arrows? I have heard something about cutting off both ends of the shaft to get a more straight arrow? What do I need to use to put the inserts in and is there any special way to put them in to get a better flying arrow. Yes, I know all dumb questions, but this is all new to me. Thanks for the help!

I like the questions, as a newby to fletching myself and would like the feedback on building complete arrows as well.

As I understand it cutting both ends is kind of a general rule of thumb as the "straightest part of the arrow" is in the middle. Before cutting any arrows I would recommend getting an arrow spinner. Spin the arrow you are going to cut and, if it is straight, then just trim equally from both ends to get your length. If one end is more bent than the othe or if just one end looks bent then just cut that end off. When I spin my arrows I place a 3x5 index card with the blue lines under each end and line up the shaft with one of the blue lines. That gives me an excellent visual reference as to the straightness.

You should make sure you square off both ends of the shaft before going any further whether you cut both ends or not.

As far as inserts go the best way is to use hot glue to install them. I understand that this kind of glue withstands the pounding that the tip constantly goes through. It does not crystallize like the other "super" glues. With that said, I just use my current fletching glue (CX expressbond) to glue in the insert. If you have squared off the ends then that should be good enough to ensure good flight as far as the tip goes. I guess you could get into balancing the insert to the shaft but that seems like a lot of extra work for not a whole lot of benefit IF you are using quality shafts to begin with.

brucelanthier...can you or anyone for that matter explain how to square off the tips??

I need to add that I put glue all around near the top of the insert and when I push the insert in I spin it around to make sure the glue is all around it. I have read that some rough up the surface inside the shaft but I haven't found the need to do that.

I use the G5 Arrow Squaring Device. Other folks use some homemade devices. Basically, what you do is take something to grind/sand the ends so that they are square to the shaft length. The G5 ASD has a setup that, when you lay the arrow on the V notches, places the shaft exactly perpindicular to the grinding/sanding surface. If you were to make a home made device you would just need to make sure that the shaft was perfectly square to whatever grinding/sanding device you would use.

The ASD works with carbon or aluminum arrows.

http://www.g5outdoors.com/#sec_asdtool

All good advice the G5 tool works great. On ICS carbons I use a .22 cal. brush to roughen the inside then clean out with a Q-tip dipped in denatured alcohol. I then glue the insert in with Easton HIT epoxy, this makes a very strong, permanent bond

I've had the best luck with 24 hour expoxy. I tried the 5 minute epoxy and lost several points. It's way to brittle. I haven't tried the hot melt, but a lot of guys have good luck with it.

The bore brush is a good idea too.

A precision machine lathe with a collet works really well for squaring.

Ok Roscoe, I think I'll go pick up one of those tomorrow... [8D]