What alternative fletching materials have worked for you?

[Kjikakakuj]

   I'm putting out feelers for possible local feather sources, but want to shoot right now. What are some of the alternative fletching materials that have worked for you. In one of the posts I saw duct tape, andheard referance to bark. Birch bark? Would leaves work? Cardboard?

   Inerested in what you hsave to say.

    Sean C.

[mitchman]

im interested too so im going to leave a post .

[Pat B]

I've seen primitive arrows made with pine needles swirled around the shaft for fletching. Anything that will add drag to the rear of the shaft will work. Adding a heavier point will help some too.   Pat

[mullet]

  I've seen arrows with heavier points that do not need fletching inside of 10 to 15 yards.

[mitchman]

anyone ever try summer coat deer hide strips with fir on swirreled around the end. it did this just cuz it looked kool on a crappy wooden arrow and it worked. it might act as like a flu flu feather or something

[huntertrapper]

yeah just plain pine needles work but the turkey feathers are hard to beat

[huntertrapper]

actually for one of my hardwood dowel arrows i used a parrot wing feather for fletching works the same

[Ludi Mile]

I read at www.atarn.org messageboard that arrows could be fletched by cutting grooves in place where you would tie/glue feathers. I'm pretty sure they would add spin if cut at an angle and with heavy tip it might be enough to stabilise the flight.

[Kegan]

Ducttape, leaves (don't last though), bark (inner or birch), bits of cloth, rawhide, and my personal favrotie, leaving arrows 3' long. All work well, but none beat good feathers (though some come reallly close ).

[basil_brush]

I read at www.atarn.org messageboard that arrows could be fletched by cutting grooves in place where you would tie/glue feathers. I'm pretty sure they would add spin if cut at an angle and with heavy tip it might be enough to stabilise the flight.

This is interesting. Would certainly be a lot easier. Has anyone tried this? Any pics of arrows that were made in this way?

[huntertrapper]

you could maybe even try fur like thick rabbit or coon. cut it into strips or somethin, cardboard

[bikermikearchery]

I read years ago that some Mongol type arrows were fletched with silk cloth that had been stiffened with glue.
After reading that I stretched out a bandanna and varnished it, after it dried I cut veins with a pair of scissors bent a small foot on them and glued them on. they worked as well as modern plastic veins, and looked good to.

[Ludi Mile]

This is interesting. Would certainly be a lot easier. Has anyone tried this? Any pics of arrows that were made in this way?

I tried it. Doesn't work. With forward of centre about 20% it stilll kinda floats and it also zig-zagged a lot since my arrow was overspined. BUT, I got caught on alternative fletching thingy so my arrow became an experiment hamster! I tried leaves, they work but are too "dragy", make a lot of noise and last two shots at best. They were fresh from the tree though and bound with simple twine. Then cloth inserted into a split, it's not bad but would not last I think. And then I came to this:



two pieces of leather simply laid onto the shaft, glued and bound in place. It works great and is very I would say rugged, no much care and pampering needed. The only thing where it isn't so great is when shot high into the air, it starts droping down a bit too late, it almost doesn't stay straight when hits the ground. But maybe three fletches would fix that, I don't know. You can see between the leathers one of the actual grooves that didn't work, hehe.

I read years ago that some Mongol type arrows were fletched with silk cloth that had been stiffened with glue.
After reading that I stretched out a bandanna and varnished it, after it dried I cut veins with a pair of scissors bent a small foot on them and glued them on. they worked as well as modern plastic veins, and looked good to.

after i read this, I did the same thing with common cloth, it's cotton i guess, only I used carpenter glue instead of varnish. stiff and flexible, I like it. Haven't used it yet but I'm sure it will work well.

[theguywitheyebrows]

I read years ago that some Mongol type arrows were fletched with silk cloth that had been stiffened with glue.
After reading that I stretched out a bandanna and varnished it, after it dried I cut veins with a pair of scissors bent a small foot on them and glued them on. they worked as well as modern plastic veins, and looked good to.

after i read this, I did the same thing with common cloth, it's cotton i guess, only I used carpenter glue instead of varnish. stiff and flexible, I like it. Haven't used it yet but I'm sure it will work well.

after i read this, i created an account on this forum (hopefully this becomes one of my [few] go-to spots to share stuff online!) and i went to the shed to find out if i had any of these kinds of varnishes or glues....turns out i have half a can of min-wax polyurethane floor treatment and random bandanas/rags/cloth i can shred into flights. it was too cold out yesterday to make this happen, but today is warmer and im itching to make my own flights. i don't expect these things to win any competitions or family reunion shoot-outs (maybe!) but i wanna be able to not purchase 63,000 flights in my life when i can just reuse old random junk to create new things and space in the shed. i'll be back after i make this happen, with pictures and hopefully some of you guys are still sub'd to this thread so i can offer thanks after my trials.

[aaron]

if your arrows are flying well, use nothing. If they need it, you could lash on a tuft of any hair or wool or yarn, keeping it symertical and even all the way around. The more point heavy your arrows are, the less fletch you need.