# Anybody still shooting the AAE Wav vanes?



## Captain Kirk (Sep 11, 2016)

Back in 2013 the appearance of these vanes generated many positive expectations on these vanes and some first tests (as i did pretty soon as they were on sale in Europe).
Many had issues with glueing them on the shafts - as i had.
Most had positive results during testing - as i had. Especially in difficult cross winds they perfomed for me better than SpinWings.
Nonetheless i went back to Spins because of the difficult fletching job. (so did most of the rest?)

So - actually i see only Jake Kaminski still shooting AAE Wav at the World Cup or Olympics. 
Anybody here with some long term experiences?
Or some tipps and tricks which would let me try the Wav again?


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## damiaan (Feb 17, 2014)

from what I know, Jake uses some pretty serious helical on them (7 or 8 degrees or something) and that, Jay barrs had to do a similar kind of helical when he was shooting aae vanes (obviously not aae wav's).
listening to Greg Poole, he mentioned having to use the aae primer pen with the wav vanes, or at least cleaning the shafts really well. alcohol+water rinse or acetone+water rinse.

I do not have any first hand experience myself, but if I were to try them that is what I would do.


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

I used them for a while but found my Elivanes gave me better groups in the wind and were IMO just as durable. I did put them on my wife and daughter's arrows and they are still there providing good service.


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## Rylando (Jul 30, 2016)

I used them for a while but they're awful to fletch, awful to try and get a helical on with their narrow base, it's do-able but a pain in the butt to set your jig up to fletch them. I switched to elivanes and never looked back. Eli and Spider vanes fly better in my opinion as well. I had better luck getting a helical with AAE MAXs.


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## st8arrow (Apr 25, 2005)

Too bad AAE can't come up with an improved base on the same vane....Wav ll

I liked them, but hated fletching them...Shooting Spiders now


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## BobCo19-65 (Sep 4, 2009)

I concur with Rylando. I remember when the wave first came out, they were a part of a gift bag at a tournament. I bought one pack and used them for a little while. They just did not fit my shooting style for some reason. I went back to AAE Max. IMO, the AAE max can not be beat for a vane.


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

I love the AAE Max's too, and even managed a 336 at the 2012 Olympic trials shooting them, but they are very heavy. That does not promote good nock end clearance for a finger shooter. In fact, that 336 I shot saw me resetting the wire arm every shot because of contact. 

If you don't have clearance issues, I agree they are really hard to beat. Great vanes.


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## Captain Kirk (Sep 11, 2016)

st8arrow said:


> Too bad AAE can't come up with an improved base on the same vane....Wav ll
> 
> I liked them, but hated fletching them...Shooting Spiders now


Same here. Shooting now an before the Spinwings - whats your opinions to the Spiders?


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## 10X Archer (Mar 7, 2016)

Captain Kirk said:


> Same here. Shooting now an before the Spinwings - whats your opinions to the Spiders?


I used to shoot AAE and I didn't find them that hard to fletch if u use AAE glue. Spider vanes group better for me though. I have tried spin wings, gas pro, and XS wings. Spider's are by far the best.


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## grantmac (May 31, 2007)

If you want to shoot a glue on vane it's worth trialing the very under hyped Impulse. They shot virtually identical sight marks to Eli P3 for me.


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## Jim C (Oct 15, 2002)

grantmac said:


> If you want to shoot a glue on vane it's worth trialing the very under hyped Impulse. They shot virtually identical sight marks to Eli P3 for me.


I got a ton of Impulse and like them for JOADs but they aren't very durable. I use WAVs a bunch, You have to really push those suckers down. I shot my best scores about 15 years ago with K spin vanes or Kurly vanes-my son has switched to the spider vanes and that is what I will be giving my best kids from now on


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## Arsi (May 14, 2011)

I would rate the AAE WAVs as my #2 vane. #1 being Spin Wings. I have been wanting to try the WAVs again. I feel like the best way to fletch them are using the Last Chance Archery fletching jig that Jake always promotes. But it is super expensive just to test out the fletch. Though I have located a LCA jig nearby that I can use so maybe I will test the WAVs one more time.


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## vlesiv (Oct 20, 2013)

Just to add my 2 cents. I've never had issues with AAE WAV. Used AAE MaxBond glue - and never even a single vane fall off my arrows. 

I tried to use 1.5 arrow wraps and then glue in vanes, then just glued vanes directly to carbon shafts. 

There is another issue thought - hard to scrap off AAE Max Bond glue off shafts if vanes get damaged to re-fletch


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## rat4go (Apr 14, 2011)

Still using them with a little offset. Using loctite 422 C/A glue (viscosity between normal C/A and gel glues) and I wipe arrows and arrows with acetone first. The trick is the right amount of glue. 

I am happy with the durability and arrow flight.


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## caspian (Jan 13, 2009)

vlesiv said:


> There is another issue thought - hard to scrap off AAE Max Bond glue off shafts if vanes get damaged to re-fletch


that stuff sets really, really hard. I would not use it without wraps.


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## rat4go (Apr 14, 2011)

rat4go said:


> ...I wipe arrows and arrows with acetone first.


Hmm. Not sure how i screwed this up.

I wipe arrows and VANES with acetone first. No need to wipe arrows twice.;-)

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## vlesiv (Oct 20, 2013)

Also guys just watch the most recent Jake Kaminski's video on how he fletches his arrows - he is using AAE WAV and happy with them 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## Nick728 (Oct 19, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7drTGLfIg68&feature=push-u&attr_tag=W3Y2NaAaWdcSAV6v-6


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## rat4go (Apr 14, 2011)

vlesiv said:


> Also guys just watch the most recent Jake Kaminski's video on how he fletches his arrows - he is using AAE WAV and happy with them
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


Video was interesting. For me, the take away is that Jake is happy with wav vanes and more importantly, he has data compared to other vanes for his rig and his skill that supports his use of them. That doesn't mean they are perfect for any of us, but it shows to me that he is not just out selling AAE (sponsor) product. In God we trust...all others must bring data! 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## st8arrow (Apr 25, 2005)

OK....after the talk about WAV's I started re-thinking WAV's....Yes they are a little harder to fletch, but not that hard. I used them when they first came out and always shot good scores with them.

I re-fletched 5 arrows out of my dozen a few days ago with WAV's.....Wow ! They out grouped my "Spin Style vanes" all weekend.

I'm busy re-fletching the rest of the dozen....they will be my number 1 vane the rest of the year. I think the results are worth the extra trouble of the fletching job.

I don't know how well they will work for your set-up, maybe not as well, but they are working for mine.


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## Jim C (Oct 15, 2002)

vlesiv said:


> Just to add my 2 cents. I've never had issues with AAE WAV. Used AAE MaxBond glue - and never even a single vane fall off my arrows.
> 
> I tried to use 1.5 arrow wraps and then glue in vanes, then just glued vanes directly to carbon shafts.
> 
> There is another issue thought - hard to scrap off AAE Max Bond glue off shafts if vanes get damaged to re-fletch


yep that takes a lot of work. I am phasing out the WAVS for my JOADs and using the new Flex Fletch NO PREP Vanes. they are more expensive but far more durable. for Cubs and Bowmen and for field, I think they are the best possible vane-I use the 225 size. My son uses Spider vanes but he's shooting senior distances now


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## airwolfipsc (Apr 2, 2008)

Why the need to glue this vane?? anyone try just double sided tape? I think i might just do that instead of buying the glue,primer pen and if you want perfect fletch of left helical minus 7 degress $220 master vane pro JIG. right? lol.


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## Arsi (May 14, 2011)

airwolfipsc said:


> Why the need to glue this vane?? anyone try just double sided tape? I think i might just do that instead of buying the glue,primer pen and if you want perfect fletch of left helical minus 7 degress $220 master vane pro JIG. right? lol.


Hey Ed. I tried this already back in 2014. The double sided tape did not hold the vane well. In humidity, the fletches were coming off easily. I wouldn't recommend it. Though it could have been the tape I was using? I used the Bohning feather fletching tape when I did it.

The reason why I did it was it allowed me to get a pretty intense amount of helical on the fletch out of a Bitzenburger. I had to manually finish the front and back of the vanes by hand which definitely did not help with the adhesion. But I did shoot my best scores with that setup at that time. Since then I have improved with just Spin Wings due to ease of fletching. Though I do want to go try WAVs again soon.

When I go back again to test the WAVs, I will be using a Last Chance Archery jig as this resolves the problem I was having. But then again, this is a problem I had back in 2014. I wasn't as experienced back then... maybe I won't have issues this time around


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## Brendan1993 (Mar 24, 2010)

I really like the WAV vanes. I glue them on with the AAE max bond glue and I wipe the arrows first with the AAE wipes. The jig I use is the Bohning tower jig with the yellow "impulse" arms which I believe is 1 degree helical. I tried the Bohning Impulse vanes, they shoot ok but they tear very easily. As someone else said, the problem with the WAVs is getting them off but if you use the right knife its ok. The tower jig makes the process quick and easy but I would be tempted to try the Easton EZ fletching jig.


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## bcbike50 (5 mo ago)

I've fletched around 24 arrows with AAE WAV. Small right offset. I use the AAE glue and arrow wipes. Fletching is already primed. I cannot understand the complaints of hard to fletch and I am using a simple Bohning tool without any grief. Much easier than the easton fletching but that is likely the glue as the AAE sets in about 10 seconds. Have not tried spin wings but these fletches are super light and have far less effect on my arrow tune. I really like them


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

bcbike50 said:


> I've fletched around 24 arrows with AAE WAV. Small right offset. I use the AAE glue and arrow wipes. Fletching is already primed. I cannot understand the complaints of hard to fletch and I am using a simple Bohning tool without any grief. Much easier than the easton fletching but that is likely the glue as the AAE sets in about 10 seconds. Have not tried spin wings but these fletches are super light and have far less effect on my arrow tune. I really like them


the initial run of AAE Wav vanes were prone to wrinkling and a lot of people gave up on them pretty quickly - myself included. But later runs didn't have this problem and they solved the adhesion issue, so looking for a more durable, more permanent option for my wife and daughter's arrows, I fletched them with WAV's and they worked great. Still on those arrows 7 years later.


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## "TheBlindArcher" (Jan 27, 2015)

Anyone know anything about the new [assuming upcoming since I can't find them for sale yet] WAV Pro? 

I use and like the WAVs [which means everyone might want to avoid them  ]... To my ability I tested them against longer/taller AAE Trad vanes, and didn't see any difference in groups indoors to 40yds, but had noticeable group shifts outdoors in a cross wind. Can't compare them to curly spinny spidery vanes, and no comments on installation as I loathe fletching and my LAS charges less to do it than is worth my frustrations/hatered, although they do groan whenever I bring them in to the shop.


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## SHPoet (Nov 13, 2009)

bcbike50 said:


> I've fletched around 24 arrows with AAE WAV. Small right offset. I use the AAE glue and arrow wipes. Fletching is already primed. I cannot understand the complaints of hard to fletch and I am using a simple Bohning tool without any grief. Much easier than the easton fletching but that is likely the glue as the AAE sets in about 10 seconds. Have not tried spin wings but these fletches are super light and have far less effect on my arrow tune. I really like them


I don't think many folks have complained about it in the last 3 or 4 years.....


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