Stovie Goose Fletches!!!

[stovie]

Have enough goose quills to play with, so here is one I whipped up this evening..

Began by splitting the quill to leave the fletch whole...

Then reduced the thickness of the quill to about 1mm...

Sized the fletch, and produced two more the same (all from one wing)

Tied the fletchings, starting at the tip end and worked to the nock, carefully parting the fletch and tying in (no glue used)

Small amount of clear varnish on the whipping and trimmed to shape...A little rough and ready, but servicable...

The fletching has a natural helical twist to it, so it will be interesting to see how it performs later in the week...

 

[AlbeoLupus]

Nice work there Stovie,

but can I ask why no glue?

fledgling archer, so trying to pick up as many tips as possible

Andy

 

[stovie]

Nice work there Stovie,

but can I ask why no glue?


Andy

Didn't have anything appropriate to hand . But that said, tying in using waxed cotton normally holds well. Though I am not averse to glue...

 

[JonnyP]

Nice one Stovie.........How you doing
I bet that is a fiddley job, how long does it take to knock up an arrow ?............Jon

 

[stovie]

Nice one Stovie.........How you doing
I bet that is a fiddley job, how long does it take to knock up an arrow ?............Jon

I'm well, thanks Jon (now anyway...had the lurgy )

Took about an hour and a half, and with a system, should get it down to an hour per arrow (try saying that when you're drunk)

Cheers

 

[Geoffrey_Bubbles]

Nice job stovie, you fired any off yet?

My cane bow is coming along slowly, got all the canes cut and tied together, but I'm a bit worried as they look a little pale green and I think they should be a more pale yellow...

Haven't even thought about arrows yet, but I liked your gaffa tape jobs for simplicity and ease of making, will probably give them a go if I get that far!

Cheers
Geoff

 

[stovie]

Nice job stovie, you fired any off yet?

My cane bow is coming along slowly, got all the canes cut and tied together, but I'm a bit worried as they look a little pale green and I think they should be a more pale yellow...

Haven't even thought about arrows yet, but I liked your gaffa tape jobs for simplicity and ease of making, will probably give them a go if I get that far!

Cheers
Geoff

Hi Geoff

Keep going with the bow. As long as the canes are "dry" they should be okay. Try putting a bowstring on and drawing the bow to around half the final draw length a few times, before you lash it, that way any obvious weakness will show up before you completely bind it tip to tip...saves a lot of frustration

The duct tape fletchings work surprisingly well, and take a lot less time to put on.

I might get a chance later in the week to see how the goose fletches perform...I'm getting 20 wings tonight, so plenty to choose from

 

[wolf]

ive heard to use the same feathers of the same wing,and dont mix up left and right wings..

 

[Ogri the trog]

ive heard to use the same feathers of the same wing,and dont mix up left and right wings..

Too true Wolf,
The feathers all have a slight natural twist to them as Stovie says at the bottom of his post. IIRC a right handed archer is supposed to use feathers from the left goose wing - I might be wrong. If you mix feathers from both wings, the arrow gets all confused about which way to spin and tends to avoid the place where you want it to go
Not that it made any difference to my shooting, I was more qualified to hit the "Green" than anyone on the field

Goeff Bubbles, The word "fired" doesn't come into an archers vocabulary - it was the musketeers who used "fire" to discharge their guns, the archers would "shoot" their arrows. There surely cannot have been a more terrifying sight than the sky darkening as the first volley of the arrow-storm indicated the start of a medeval battle.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[stovie]

Ogri is quite right about this issue of "helical twist" which is provided by the natural curve of the feathers (and can be exagerated by offsetting along the shaft), and using feathers from one wing to make all three fletchings is important to give true flight.

I'm not so sure as to how important it is that left and right handers use specific wing feathers...I think as long as the feathers are from the same wing it doesn't make any difference (but no doubt there are many schools of thought on this ).

Talking of mediaeval terminology, if you nock your arrow incorrectly to the bowstring, so that the "cock" fletch is toward the bow, it then shoots off erratically, giving the term "cock up". There are many more terms I'm sure.

The one in the picture I shot yesterday, and it has a straight and elegant spiral flight.

Received ten more wings last night, so plenty to experiment with.

The scouts started their bows yesterday...we're going to have quite a company of archers when we're finished

 

[Geoffrey_Bubbles]

My most humble appologies Ogri, I stand corrected

Sounds like good fun Stovie, I bet they loved it, any plans to overthrow the monarchy

Geoff

 

[Ogri the trog]

My most humble appologies Ogri, I stand corrected
Geoff

Don't worry Geoff,
It was not my intention to chastise, but I do like to point out the differences between the two sports.

And Stovie is right, there are a huge number of sayings that originate from an archery background; Two strings to your bow, straight as an arrow, and the famous two fingered salute to name a few.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[stovie]

Just in the middle of fletching a few shafts, and thought you might be interested in this picture demonstrating the natural (helical) twist in the untrimmed fletching.

 

[Geoffrey_Bubbles]

S'alright, I like to know whats what

Stovie, they look great with that natural twist in. I bet they will fly beautifully and probably make a nice noise as they sail through the air.

Geoff

 

[stovie]

Stovie, they look great with that natural twist in. I bet they will fly beautifully and probably make a nice noise as they sail through the air.

Geoff

The ones I've done so far fly true, even with my humble skills.

Hard to believe they start like this...Guess what I've been doin' for the last hour???

I now have enough fletches to satisfy my need and those of the scouts...But my fingers are raw!!!

 

[stovie]

Have managed to tie a few fletchings up this weekend. Varying sizes and design. All have some degree of natural helical twist, and hit the target at 100ft. Haven't had a chance to really test them...that will have to wait until next weekend.

Have to say, fletching is very therapeutic

 

[twelveboar]

Very nice work, I've seen (and made) a few arrows and those look very good.