# Do you fletch your own arrows?



## PAOUTDOORWOMAN (Aug 21, 2007)

*yes,*

yes it is cheaper to do it yourself.... my boyfriend does ours and the kids we get the shafts and all off of ebay...then do it... you can wrap them also he has a 6 arrow jig and we get a 1/2 dozen done by morning and ready to shoot.


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## TargetWoman (Jul 28, 2007)

Fletching arrows is easy. I fletch my own and my husband's too. I wanted to learn to fletch my own arrows and my husband taught me how. Since I don't mind doing it, he "lets" me fletch his too!

We use a Bitzenburger fletching jig. They are a little pricey, but they work very well. It takes about 10 minutes per arrow. 
Using a fine grit sandpaper, *very* lightly cross hatch the end of the arrow. Clean the shafts very well using the cheap rubbing alchohol you get at the discount store. (the same stuff you use for cleaning cuts and scrapes. You'll hear lots of advice on what to use to clean the shafts, we found the cheapest stuff works the best for us.)
Knock the arrow in the jig, Clamp the vane in the clamp - make a mark on the clamp where you want the end of the vane so that everything is the same. Fit the vane to the shaft to make sure it sits evenly. Remove the clamp (and vane) and apply the glue to the trough in the vane (while the vane is still in the clamp). Just make sure you don't use too much adhesive (just enough to evenly fill the trough in the vane). Place the clamp on the magnet, butt the clamp against the jig and slide it down until the vane firmly contacts the arrow. Slightly sqeeze the clamp so that you can gently slide the clamp to the base of the vane so that the clamp holds firmly. Let everything sit for 3-5 minutes until the adhesive has set (depending on the adhesive you choose). Unclamp, rotate the arrow and repeat. When the arrow is all fletched and everything has dried a little, apply a small drop of adhesive to each end of the vane. That's all there is to it.

It actually takes longer to explain than to do!


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## CountryWoman (Jul 24, 2006)

We do our own too:thumb: at first I was "having" my hubby do it and then he got tired of putting on PRETTY vains :lol: so I do my own now. I get a bunch of arrows cleaned up(basically like explained above) I use the assembly line kind of method first I put all the cock vanes on and then add the others.It is really annoying when the kiddos bug me when like 8 arrow have 2 vanes each though 

We use the bitzenburger fletching jig also. The main selling point for us on the Bitzenburg was they are metal and it is easy to clean if you are messy with the glue :embara: We bought the jig and then ended up getting another attachment for the jig to hold the nock so that it was set for your cock vane to be up since that is what we shoot. 

You can also set if you want your vanes to have an "offset" and everything. The first one I did I was like "this dang thing is crooked" and then my hubby told me he had it set at like a 2% offset :doh::lol:


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## Omega (Jul 5, 2004)

Another self-fletcher here.

If you use regular super glue (I get mine 3 for a $ at the dollar store) you can fletch an arrow in about 3 minutes. 

As soon as I damage one, I get it re-fletched that evening and get the arrow back in service asap.

I use a BPE Pro fletching jig and it's saved me a bundle.

Besides the money saving and convenience, you can pick and change your COLORS whenever you want!!!!!!!!! As we know, color is important!!


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

thanks for all of the info. I'm glad to know that so many of you fletch your own arrows. I will sit down with my husband tomorrow and show him this thread. I'm sure he will think it is worth it...I cost him about $60 last week and I have 8 more arrows that need work right now.


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## mathewsgirl13 (Mar 12, 2007)

We fletch our own arrows and it saves us a lot of time and money!!

I would recommend it...


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## lastcall21 (Jun 27, 2007)

I fletch all my own arrows, plus my son's arrows, but i let my husband do all his own. I used to let him do my arrows, but he uses too much glue and is not "neat" at all when doing them. :angry:

My son uses feathers on his, so i usually borrow a friend's Bitzenburger :thumbs_up(i really need to buy one with straight clamp and right hellical clamp). 

I would do my husband's arrows too (if he asked - nicely), i actually like doing them myself. Still looking for the right glue though. :set1_thinking: I have tried Bohning Fletch tite (don't care for it), Pine ridge glue (really like it - but hard to find) pine ridge gel (didn't like it) and goat tuff (expensive but good).


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## CountryWoman (Jul 24, 2006)

Omega said:


> As we know, color is important!!


:thumb: so TRUE:wink:


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## Critter Gitter2 (Sep 1, 2005)

$5 an arrow thats $60 a doz just for fletching. Crap that is crazy. I charge $14 a doz. that is removing any old vanes and cleaning the arrow. Your choice of vane type and colors. 

An easy jig for beginners is the Arizona Easy fletcher it will run you $40-45 you can get one that puts the vanes on straight with a 1 degree offset or you can get one that does helical. It is nice because it is fast and easy. Does all 3 vanes at once. Another one like it is the Tower Fletcher from Bohning. Bitzberg jigs are also nice jigs.
You should be able to get your fletching jig, glue and a couple of packs of vanes for right around what you pay to fletch a dozen. That would be enough vanes to do at least 2 doz arrows.

If you do feathers try out the feather tape from bohning instead of gluing them. It works great and it is an instant bond. Makes fletching go much faster. 

Good Luck
Jen


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## Critter Gitter2 (Sep 1, 2005)

lastcall21 said:


> Still looking for the right glue though. :set1_thinking: I have tried Bohning Fletch tite (don't care for it), Pine ridge glue (really like it - but hard to find) pine ridge gel (didn't like it) and goat tuff (expensive but good).



Try the Fletch-tite Platinum. I like it better than the regular fletch tite.


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

My hubby and I discussed it today and we decided we are going to start fletching our own arrows. It will pay for itself, that's for sure. Since we both use the 2 inch blazers, do you know of a specific fletcher made for that product, or will all jigs work? Thanks again for all of your input!!! It has been extremely helpful!!


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## PAOUTDOORWOMAN (Aug 21, 2007)

*we use the same*

my boyfriend uses the same jig to do his 2 inch blazers and my 4 inch vanes... as long as you have it marked on the clamp where the end is to go then you are set.


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## absolutecool (Mar 26, 2006)

I love to fletch arrows. My husband even lets me do his sometimes!!

We use a Bitzenburger jig and both shoot 2 inch blazers. Even when we used to use feathers we used the same jig and had no problems. I have never used anything else so I can do no comparisions but I must admit that I am partial to the Bitzenburger.

Happy fletching!!


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## Bullseyebabe (Mar 30, 2007)

Yep! We fletch our own arrows - at least my hubby does. This lets me change colors whenever I want. He uses a Bitzenburger jig.


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

Seems like the bitzenburger jig is the way to go.


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## themooses (Jun 20, 2007)

I work for a pretty large archery shop, and so I fletch hundreds of arrows a week - literally. For Blazers, our shop charges 2.25 an arrow and that includes cleaning and a complete refletch. In my experience, All-Fletch works best on any shaft except platinum plus or x7's - particularly on Blazers (which are super easy to fletch). I agree with the others about the Bitzenburger - it's a great jig and very easy to use. I had never fletched an arrow in my life four months ago and now I do 90 percent of the fletching for our shop. I do use a bit of FletchTite on the very end of the vane - I "spot" them to ensure that the end doesn't start to lift after a little wear and tear and that proves to be something that does help preserve the fletching longer. The only complaint I have...with all that time spent playing with glue, my nails look like h*ll - I can't ever wear polish anymore because the glue actually bonds with it. All-Fletch is stronger than traditional Krazy Glue (like you use for artificial nails) so acetone-based polish remover doesn't break it down. Any suggestions for something that breaks down glue and keeps your nails looking decent?


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## PAOUTDOORWOMAN (Aug 21, 2007)

*we use*

clear finger nail polish at the tips of the fletching so that you don't have the glue drop there it works nice in making the fletching stay on longer also...i was going to say put baby oil or some type of cream on the nails but that wont work as of the chance you getting it back onto the arrow or the fletching.. ask the nail salon maybe if you treat your nails at night after words then it would help them.....just a thought


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## Phyllis D (Jul 11, 2006)

We fletch our own and we got the bitzenburger with the right helical and it makes such a difference with that extra spin. It was well worth the money


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## huskerbabe (Jun 15, 2007)

*I must be spoiled!!*

I can fletch my own, I bought my son a Bitzenburg and they do work well. We even have a mini chop-saw so I can cut my own too. But I have a friend who works at Cabela's and he wraps and fletches all of my arrows for free! You should have seen my arrows I took bear hunting-they were *****in'!
they had two yellow fletching one orange, yellow knock and the wraps were orange with a bear on the top and a guy in a tree stand shooting a bear at the bottom. I got my wraps at customarrowwraps.com


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## PAOUTDOORWOMAN (Aug 21, 2007)

*ummm*

i tried going to customarrowwraps.com but it says that there is no such site:embara:


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

I will try to check out the custom wraps....that sounds really cool!!


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## huskerbabe (Jun 15, 2007)

*Ooops!!*

Oh so sorry they changed their web site!

try www.onestringer.com


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## hogdgz (Jun 24, 2007)

*It is awesome!*

Hey! My bf fletches my arrows and I love all the cool ways we can make my arrows look. He bought a Bitzenburger Straight Fletching jig and it works perfectly. www.onestringer.com is a cool website that you can go to and find lots of different crest to add some character. I shoot the 2" Blazer Tigerstripes and I get them form a guy on ebay who has a ebay store. He will send any quantity and color with mix and match options. He also has some awesome crest that he will mix and match with your vanes. Ya'll should get a fletching jig, it is a lot of fun and it saves so much money!


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## PAOUTDOORWOMAN (Aug 21, 2007)

*Thank You*

now all i need to do is figure out how to make my own desine and colors that i want as i think i will get the kids, and bf some for a christmas present:wink: and of course santa has to get mommy some too lol


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

*we did it*

We bought a bitzenburger jig. We should get it in the mail one day next week. Thanks again for all of your help and advice.


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## huskerbabe (Jun 15, 2007)

PAOUTDOORWOMAN said:


> now all i need to do is figure out how to make my own desine and colors that i want as i think i will get the kids, and bf some for a christmas present:wink: and of course santa has to get mommy some too lol


One stringer will do that for you! They just made some for me and my kids!
Seth has his college colors and emblem on it. John's are green and yellow with John Deer. Chris loves skateboarding so she put on the DC emblem with a skateboarder on the bottome and Tara loves Pink and Black so she did a cool design with her initials TLC. Shorty has a waving flag and mine are black and red that is awesome looking!


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## CountryWoman (Jul 24, 2006)

huskerbabe said:


> One stringer will do that for you! They just made some for me and my kids!
> Seth has his college colors and emblem on it. John's are green and yellow with John Deer. Chris loves skateboarding so she put on the DC emblem with a skateboarder on the bottome and Tara loves Pink and Black so she did a cool design with her initials TLC. Shorty has a waving flag and mine are black and red that is awesome looking!


Wow lots of variety :wink: they sound really cool


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## doe_eyes76 (Aug 2, 2006)

*I just learned*

I filled in one day for the owner at my local archery shop. He and his wife are awesome and so helpful. I asked them to teach me how to fletch arrows and they did. I put blazers on mine, all white with pink nocks on GT's. Anytime I get some free time I hang out over there and try to learn as much as I can. I want to get my own jig so I can do it at home. I would love to learn everything he knows! I gotta mention his store, The Outdoor Store in Orange, MA.


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## BuckeyeGirl (Mar 5, 2007)

I started fletching my own arrows this year...I use a Jo-Jan Multi-Fletcher...mine are black and white zebra wraps with white and zebra Blazer vanes, and pink and black tiger wraps with pink and black tiger vanes. I actually enjoy doing them! Our fletcher lets you do six arrows at once.
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/samanthajsheppard/sept071012.jpghttp://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/samanthajsheppard/sept071011.jpg


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## CountryWoman (Jul 24, 2006)

Those are great :thumb:


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## huskerbabe (Jun 15, 2007)

On Saturday I taught 90 kids how to fletch arrows!! :mg:we used short cut off arrows and made pens-what a long day and I was exhausted!!

Hey show us that multi fletcher-I would love to have one of those!!


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

We got our Bitzenburger jig today!! Woo hoo!!! I will post some pics soon of our arrows. We are waiting on some custom wraps from onestringer.


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## turkeygirl (Aug 13, 2006)

I started to do my own in the spring. Sure is alot more convenient to be able to do your own then have to run to the shop everytime you rip a fletching off. It's fun also, especially putting on customized wraps


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## HiMaintenance (Sep 11, 2007)

I'm brand new to archery (and hooked already!)...recently bought my own bow..and I'm proud to say I fletched my first set of arrows last night! My boyfriend taught me and I loved it! It's pretty easy..one of those "sit-in-front-of-the-tv" projects...and yeah..i like getting creative, too...mine have maroon and orange flames with HOKIES written down the wrap...


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

turkeygirl said:


> I started to do my own in the spring. Sure is alot more convenient to be able to do your own then have to run to the shop everytime you rip a fletching off. It's fun also, especially putting on customized wraps


I can't wait to show you guys the custom wraps I ordered. I ordered 2 dozen for me and 2 for my husband. Hopefully I will have some arrows ready to show you all by the weekend.


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## BuckeyeGirl (Mar 5, 2007)

Where do you huys order custom wraps from? I would love some, but I don't know where to get them!!


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

You can order custom wraps from a website called onestringer.com 

I learned about it through this thread actually. They can pretty much do anything you want. Check it out...I know you will like it.


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

*pic of first self fletched arrow*

I just wanted to post a picture of the first arrow we fletched with the bitzenburger jig. (Thanks for all of the info about this jig, it was a great purchase for us) This is one of my husband's arrows with one of the custom wraps from onestringer.


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## Lawrence Archer (Feb 5, 2007)

I really, really want to do my own.


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## ctarcherygirl (Jan 30, 2007)

*I fletch my own arrows*

My husband taught me how to fletch my own arrows. I enjoy it and now I can do it quicker then him!!! :shade: We use the goat tuff glue which dries very quick. OzCrest also has some awesome wraps here on Archery talk. I have been trying to get my pictures to post for a couple of days now and no matter how small I make them they won't show up  But here are some links to pics of my arrows that I fletched.


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

ctarcherygirl,
your arrows look awesome!!!!!!!!!!


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## mooseswife (Aug 2, 2007)

*more fletched arrows*

here are some more pics of the arrows my husband and I fletched with custom arrow wraps from onestringer!!


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## laurie6805 (Jun 29, 2007)

I know this is a thread about fletching, but has anyone ever tried the F.O.B.S ? My hubby and I got our wraps from onestringer and use the FOBS instead of fletching. They work great. This will be the first hunting season for using them but we have had luck at the 3-D shoots so we are pretty excited. And our arrows look cool too!:wink:


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## BuckeyeGirl (Mar 5, 2007)

Those are some great pics!! Love the different wraps...I just ordered some Bengals, Ohio State, and striped wraps from onestringer-can't wait to get them!!


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