# Best Vanes for Olympic Recurve?



## aiminghigh (Jun 17, 2014)

Currently, I use AAE Wav vanes on my arrows. I like these vanes, but I have encountered a problem lately. They seem to quickly stretch and warp, causing me to replace them often.
Is this normal? Should I stick with my Wav vanes or try something different?

Big thank you in advance for any help!


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## Mulcade (Aug 31, 2007)

If they're stretching and warping, then you most likely getting some vane contact as they pass by the riser. Vanes tend to be pretty durable unless being wacked with something. I'd try to find the contact before looking for vane replacements.

Still, I've found the Plastifletch Max vanes to be VERY durable myself.


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## eagle man (Jun 7, 2011)

I have used a number of different vanes with good results. Spin Wings are nice for the distance but in the last year I switched to Eli Vanes P3's. They are excellent and more durable than Spin Wings. A year or so ago there was quite a discussion on here about using Eli Vanes. The directions say to put them on straight but others were experimenting and finding that putting them on at about a 6% off set was better. That is what I currently do and I'm not looking at changing anytime soon. Just something for you to think about.

Enjoy your day!
Ted


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## Arsi (May 14, 2011)

The best vanes are the ones that work for you 

Ive switched between Spin Wings, P3 Eli Vanes and WAVs for the past year. The WAVs ended up being more consistent for me on the target. 

Funny thing is that the Spin Wings made my arrows fly in the air nice and pretty, but not sure why but the scores were not as consistent as the WAVs. Sometimes when I lose eye focus, I see my WAV arrows flip flopping in the air all the way down the line into the gold.


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## leschrader (Jun 26, 2012)

Use a hair dryer or heat gun on the vanes. Warm them up...don't melt them. Flex/straighten them a little while hot and when they cool, they will straighten out. I've got a set of CX medallion1500's that students have been using for over a year, putting them thru bales and targets and only lost one vane due to a leading edge getting caught on a wire in the bale. When they get all wrinkled, I just heat them up, smooth them a little and they're good to go.


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## williamskg6 (Dec 21, 2008)

I've tried WAVs. I've tried FFP187s. I've tried VaneTec Swifts. I've tried Elivanes P3s. 

Basically, I had a similar experience to the O.P. with WAV vanes - they stretch and distort. Additionally, I used Flex-Bond glue, and because of that the vanes would literally just fall off the shafts of my arrows. (If I used the glue AAE specified I'm told that wouldn't have happened.) The WAVs fly well, look really cool to me (when they're not stretched and warping), and they're very lightweight. One other problem I had with WAVs - the base is so narrow that they're harder to glue on, which almost certainly contributed to my vanes falling off.

FFP187s discolored rapidly for me and were a little expensive, but fly well and looked nice until they discolored. 

VaneTec Swifts are more or less my ideal plastic vane. The Swifts are easy to glue on, work with any glue, are reasonably lightweight (though not as light as the WAVs), are very durable, look great over long periods of time, and fly well. My daughter uses the 1.87" Swift vanes on her Medallion XR arrows and has great luck with them.

I personally use Elivanes P3 right now. They fly very well, they're lightweight, surprisingly durable, and can be fixed at the range. I don't think they look quite as nifty as the shield cut plastic vanes, but everyone has different taste. My daughter tried using them, but due to her arrows being a tad stiff and a bit of a pluck at release, she was stripping them off on her arrow rest. The Swifts don't seem to care and keep on going without issue so she'll continue using them until draw weight increasing time, when I'll give the Elivanes a try for her again.

So, my advice is, if you want plastic, check out the VaneTec Swift. If you want mylar, Elivanes P3.

-Kent W.


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## target1 (Jan 16, 2007)

micro blazers


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## hoytshooter15 (Aug 13, 2012)

If there was a single, "best vane" for olympic recurve it would be the only one on the market. There are many vanes for a reason, what works for you may not work for so and so. Godda experiment and find what works best for you. For me, I like AAE Wav's and Eli Vane P3's


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## Mika Savola (Sep 2, 2008)

AAE WAV's are great; Good size, light, flexible enough to glue with my Bitz helical clamp. I 've torn three vanes but that's from tight grouping... I have prepared about three dozen arrows for myself and others with these vanes using max bond glue, and not a single vane has come off. I 'll stick with these


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## mrcina (Dec 2, 2013)

Yeah I saw Elisson using wav in world cup, I think he's the only one using straight, non-spinning vanes. Wavs look great, seems like they fly good, too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBma-YK_224


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

It would be deceiving to call the WAV's on Brady or Jake's arrows "non spinning" as they are fletched with as much helical as I'm sure you can possibly get. They spin alright.


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## northernrecurve (Oct 16, 2013)

I use the vanetec vanes or x vanes


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## Apollon (Dec 9, 2013)

limbwalker said:


> It would be deceiving to call the WAV's on Brady or Jake's arrows "non spinning" as they are fletched with as much helical as I'm sure you can possibly get. They spin alright.


I don't know ...

Brady:
View attachment 1979464


Jake:
View attachment 1979465


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## Xrod (Dec 12, 2013)

From the pics of Brady and Jake it sure looks like the vanes are attached with a left offset for a counterclockwise spin. Perhaps it doesn't matter the direction of spin, but I thought that right handed archers most commonly use a right offset on the fletching. As long as all arrows are fletched the same, does it make a difference?


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## Dacer (Jun 10, 2013)

If you have ever tried to fletch wavs helical you'd know that what you see on Jakes arrow there is really as much as you can get with a small diameter shaft like that. 

I recently have been giving spin wings a try. They shoot the same as the wavs for the most part. I had no elevation change but arrow flight is much better with spin wings. 

I may switch switch back simply due to how high maintenance the spin wings are, but it takes a good amount of patience to get a good consistent fletch with my Jo Jan jig with wavs.


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

> If you have ever tried to fletch wavs helical you'd know that what you see on Jakes arrow there is really as much as you can get with a small diameter shaft like that.


Yup.


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## Mika Savola (Sep 2, 2008)

Xrod said:


> From the pics of Brady and Jake it sure looks like the vanes are attached with a left offset for a counterclockwise spin. Perhaps it doesn't matter the direction of spin, but I thought that right handed archers most commonly use a right offset on the fletching. As long as all arrows are fletched the same, does it make a difference?


Could be a clearance thing; When arrow passes the shelf area, the tail of the bottom vane is slightly farther from arrow rest...


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## gster123 (Dec 17, 2012)

I doubt it would be anything to do with clearance. Those guys will have a near spot on tune with correct arrow spines etc so clearance simply will not be an issue.

On the OP shoot whatever you feel is best and easy to maintain.


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## Mika Savola (Sep 2, 2008)

gster123 said:


> I doubt it would be anything to do with clearance. Those guys will have a near spot on tune with correct arrow spines etc so clearance simply will not be an issue.



OK... I remember once reading an article somewhere, in which three times world champion Rick McKinney told he had always had difficulty getting good clearance due to this technique, and was forced to use only 1 9/16 spin wings on his 30+ " arrows...


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

My guess is that it's because they happened to have a LW jig at their disposal.


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## gster123 (Dec 17, 2012)

Mika Savola said:


> OK... I remember once reading an article somewhere, in which three times world champion Rick McKinney told he had always had difficulty getting good clearance due to this technique, and was forced to use only 1 9/16 spin wings on his 30+ " arrows...


So 2 members of the USA team shooting the same vanes have the same issue with clearance??....

its nothing to do with it.


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## Fury90flier (Jun 27, 2012)

is it that you don't like the way it looks or that there is actually a difference in accuracy with deformed vs new fletching? I don't shoot these vanes, have been using duravanes...they're quite deformed and strike exactly with new fletching....zero difference in group size- this at 50m


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

gster123 said:


> So 2 members of the USA team shooting the same vanes have the same issue with clearance??....
> 
> its nothing to do with it.


It's actually entirely possible that those two could have identical clearance issues.


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## Mika Savola (Sep 2, 2008)

I did not say that they have clearance issues. I was merely suggesting that maybe they get even better clearance with those. When you try to be the most best top archer in the world, it's the little things that make the difference...


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## andyman1970 (Apr 2, 2008)

I've done a fair amount of experimenting. I'm currently using the Bohning Impulse vanes, and I really like them. I've got some GasPro's that are next in line for experimentation, but one could argue that's comparing apples and oranges.


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## aiminghigh (Jun 17, 2014)

Thanks for all of your help! I'll use some of these tips to help my vane problem.  I'm going to try the hairdryer trick first, because I do like my WAV vanes, but if I need to replace them anyways, I'll definitely look into some of the types recommended here.


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## Last_Bastion (Dec 5, 2013)

I like the SitarSitar XSWings. They aren't very durable, but are nice and stiff for excellent rotation. I recently got some kurly vanes just to try them out, but I must say that when I run through all of them, I will never buy Kurly's again.


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## Scott_cr (Oct 22, 2015)

I would appreciate advice/recommendations/pros/cons between 1.5 and 1.75 inch Bohning X-vanes. I moved from compound target to olympic recurve about 8 months ago and have a great assortment of Bohning X-vanes... I know there are tons of other great vanes available, for now I'm really looking to understand if the size of the vane makes much difference and under what conditions. I'm currently shooting (still working up) 30lbs on the fingers at 29inch AMO draw length and generally shoot outdoors between 18-50meters (groups at 70m are really not groups yet...)


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## SHPoet (Nov 13, 2009)

Scott_cr said:


> I would appreciate advice/recommendations/pros/cons between 1.5 and 1.75 inch Bohning X-vanes. I moved from compound target to olympic recurve about 8 months ago and have a great assortment of Bohning X-vanes... I know there are tons of other great vanes available, for now I'm really looking to understand if the size of the vane makes much difference and under what conditions. I'm currently shooting (still working up) 30lbs on the fingers at 29inch AMO draw length and generally shoot outdoors between 18-50meters (groups at 70m are really not groups yet...)


Personal opinion because I'm in the shape. I think I have 300-400 X-Vanes of one form or another in the basement.

I think they are too stiff for recurve shooting plus, and this is a BIG plus, with a recurve you need to impart as much spin as possible as fast as possible. That's why the Olympic recurve vanes are shaped the way they are.

Just fyi, I have been using the KSL vanes lately and those things are TOUGH!!!


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## Giantsnarf (Jul 29, 2015)

I know it might be marketing hype, but I'm really liking my spyder vanes. Got them on my arrows in metallic blue, and white. They look great, and seem to correct my crappy shot pretty well!


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## Scott_cr (Oct 22, 2015)

Thanks SHPoet! I had not even considered the stiffness of the vane as a factor, but it makes total sense. Would you elaborate a little more on what you mean by Olympic recurve vanes are shaped the way the are? Assuming we are still talking about plastic vanes. Do you mean more rounded towards the rear? I found another thread that said that anything less than 1.75/1.87 inch did not provide enough stabilization for recurve shooting. would you agree? I don't want to go too large though due to the lower poundage and increased drag for outdoors. I also see that top archers are moving to the curly derivatives, but I don't believe my level or my patience is quite up to switching over yet. I did look at the KSLs and perhaps later on...


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## tunedlow (Nov 7, 2012)

Giantsnarf said:


> I know it might be marketing hype, but I'm really liking my spyder vanes. Got them on my arrows in metallic blue, and white. They look great, and seem to correct my crappy shot pretty well!


tried it and tried to make it work for almost 2 seasons - not for me. I tested the vanes against elivanes and trusty spin wings, even the jet 6. low profile works best for me so i went back to spin wings and not fixing what ain't broke.


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## josh_gml (Jun 21, 2019)

I like the yellow of the Original Spin Wings the most, it a nice intense yellow. 

For me they are the best vanes.


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