Ok, so as I understand it,

1. The force applied by the fletching to the shaft is a function of the surface area of the feather (like the lift from the wing of a plane). So as far as stabilizing force goes, short and fat or long and thin, surface area is what matters.

2. As far as speed goes, a feather has to cut through the air just as surely as a broadhead has to cut through flesh and bone. So the same mechanical advantage Doc Ashby discusses with broadhead design applies. The shallower the angle of attack, the greater the mechanical advantage (picture trying to push something up a ramp, the steeper, the harder it is and vica versa).

3. I really don’t know how much this matters but shield cut must create a lot more turbulence at the tail of the feather than parabolic. It’s the same cause behind all the uniformly sloped rear ends of cars nowadays, less drag, more efficiency.

4. I’m told by engineering friends that the most efficient wing is a disc. That is as a relationship between drag and lift. Perhaps the best fletching design is a semi-circle… but if that were true wouldn’t airliners be the same?

In conclusion, I have no idea.

I like regular shield or parabolic die cuts, 4″ long and about 9/16 high. Banana cuts the same height work good, too. Taller fletch and/or pointy ends tend to vibrate in flight causing noise and eating up energy. As with most things, it is easier to deal with too much than not enuf, so I try to err on the side of a little extra feather with broadhead arrows, but too much extra is just gonna cost energy that I would rather have go toward driving the point.

ausjim wrote:

4. I’m told by engineering friends that the most efficient wing is a disc. That is as a relationship between drag and lift. Perhaps the best fletching design is a semi-circle… but if that were true wouldn’t airliners be the same?

I’m not an engineer, just a 40+ year aircraft mechanic so maybe I don’t know anything, but the most efficient aircraft, such as gliders, have long span narrow chord wings. Short wing acft, such as fighters, are more manuverable but take lots of power to fly and glide like rocks. Which can you throw further, a Frisbee or a boomerang?

Fletcher wrote: the most efficient aircraft, such as gliders, have long span narrow chord wings.

Without doubt you are correct. Discs need to be spinning for stable flight, that’s pretty hard to achieve in an airplane!

I just googled the frisbee/boomerang question and the results were astonishing!

The world records are:

Frisbee – 1333 feet

Boomerang – 1401 feet

Wow:)

Grumpy,,I think you got it right. Long narrow feathers. are the key. The wider you make the fletching the more drag you can create.

The key to making any arrow stablize is the balance of that arrow. ( spline not withstanding). I have always felt that an arrow should be built by:

1. picking the spine/and of course material of shafting.

2. Picking the Broadhead -other head (what work do you want it to do)

3. Glueing or other wise attaching it to the shaft.

4.Pick the knock,and aline to the broadhead and glue it on.

5.Picking the fletching to balance the arrow ( size/weight/ material). Colors and such are just make-up.

6. Picking the style of fletching ( straight/ helical) Imparting spin stablizes better. Just as do longer arrows.

Arrows do not Fly,,(as in aircraft) they gluide. Feathers and vanes should not and do not impart lift. You do not want to impart lift on any part of an arrow. You don’t want to airfoil any fletching. Because lift must be controlled,,,Unless you have raido controled arrows,,,no lift.

So what does make it gluide and stablize? That is air pressure. Not only do you have a balance point (mecanical), a physical mid point (static ), you also have a center of Air pressure. You control the C. P. by the shape of the fletching. To increase control, you use surface area. The longer (cord) is to width or height (span), the more suface area, and the less drag. You could make a vane that is three inches wide and one inch long. But it probley won’t shoot around or thru a rest. And it would have more drag.So what makes an arrow go farther, velocity, and angle of attack relitive to the earth.

Balance is the key to good arrow flight,, want to make great arrows, buy full length feathers, and find the shape and number that you need that is best for balancing your arrows and finish that trully stable arrow. So how do you do that? use a string. And hang the headed-nocked arrow and add weight to the nock side (hang the fletching your using now) with thread and see how close to the 60/40 % percent rule you are now.

So why do they sell 5 in feathers,, 4 inch vanes,, 2 inch super vanes for carbon. One reason, that is convience, well maybe tradition also. Sheild cuts,,, cause they look cool, and for finger clearence supposedlly.

Just take a gander at the arrows our ancesters used and check out the Fletching on them.

Thanks for your time. Ernest,

Good thoughts up there Ernest. Don’t get caught up on my use (or misuse) of the word ‘lift’, I was just using (misusing) terminology I was familiar with to explain exactly what you’re talking about, the feather’s relationship with air pressure and how that force is applied to the shaft. Obviously we don’t want the fletching to be an airfoil, we just want it to rotate the shaft in flight 😉

Guys,

Check out the link of A Long Look at Fletching,

https://www.tradbow.com/members/cfmbb/messages.cfm?threadid=C8EA4FBD-1422-1DE9-ED1A1C909376B7B6

It’s under the Tying the Threads Together that Troy assembled in the FOC forum. dwcphoto

dwcphoto wrote: Guys,

Check out the link of A Long Look at Fletching,

https://www.tradbow.com/members/cfmbb/messages.cfm?threadid=C8EA4FBD-1422-1DE9-ED1A1C909376B7B6

It’s under the Tying the Threads Together that Troy assembled in the FOC forum. dwcphoto

Thanks for bumping that, D. I hadn’t read through that thread in a while, and there’s lots of great info in there.

Grumpy, if I understand your question correctly, my answer would be – the minimum amount of fletching that you need, after getting perfect flight with a bareshaft and the point weight you desire. I have yet to see much need for 5″ to 5-1/2″ fletching on arrows that fly well with no fletching at all. In fact, I think it can actually be a detriment. As the quoted thread above points out repeatedly, simply put – the more weight you have up front, the less need (or desire) there is for a large surface area of fletching at the rear of the arrow.

A pleasure. I tried a small variety of fletching, starting with the 3 x 5 inchers. I cut some square off at 4 1/2, 4, and 3 and now I’m using 4 x 3 inchers. I have had good flight with any of the above, with no problems of any sort that were noticeable. The 3 inchers now are parabolic style and I use tape to hold them on. All good. dwc

Anyone much better at math than me willing to calculate the surface area of 3 x 4″ vs. 4 x 3″? 😆

Dw ,,,Thanks for the url to past thread on Fletching,some great info there.Being new to to the forum I had not read many threads as of yet.

Smithhammer,,Shooting arrows with no fletch shows you got one fine tuned set up. I believe fletching is/was used to stablelize arrows because of inferior materials used in the maufacture of arrows, and bows. Old man Newton told us that, a body in motion will remain in motion in a straight line with constant velocity,unless acted upon by an exterior force. Would you hunt with those bare shafts? Neo-man did,in some cases. In reading the older threads, I see that I whipped a dead horse,so to speak. Appoligies.

Grumpy,,Rocket Science,,,my highschool physics teacher did a number on my head,,,half the people I try to explain any thing to walk away shaking their heads. The other half just get glassy eyed and stand very still.

If you have time to experiment, do so,,But Dr. Fred has done some wonderful things,,(will have to read more)May be we can get together some day, i will show you my experiemnets on shooting arrows out of muzzleloaders, with 1/4″ iron heads,no Fletching,,but with a turbulator made with masking tape. Course at the time I just wrapped them with the tape to make it ride the bore better.

Seriously, they made giant holes in my straw target butts.One thing for sure, “old will be new again” We are old enought to start seeing that.

Ernest,,,,hey if you want to find out what your C.P. is on your arrows I can help with that also,,:wink: