Feather Wings
I found a bunch of goose feathers on ebay, does it matter if they are left or right wing when making arrows?
No, apart from some traditions and maybe mystical preferences :) it doesn't.
You can have some of your arrows fletched with right and some with left wing feather and it will be perfectly OK. However don't mix the right with left 'wing' feathers on the same arrow.
There has been however an English trend to use left wing/hand feathers for a right handed archer, some old manuals mention the different flight properties of arrows fletched with left or right feathers but there is really no noticeable difference.
As an aside, the traditional left or right 'wing'/'hand' fletching terminology can be confusing to some. Considering the one side (vane) of the feather, the left 'wing' feather (fletching) is the one with the rough side of the feather to your right (when applying fletchings at an angle to the shaft this side traditionally faces the wind) when looking from behind the nock of the arrow. This means that when utilizing both vanes of one feather (e.g. tail feathers) you end up with one 'right' and one 'left' fletching. The 'left wing' fleching is called left wing becuse traditionally in Western archery the larger vane of (in this case left) wing pinion would be used.
You can have some of your arrows fletched with right and some with left wing feather and it will be perfectly OK. However don't mix the right with left 'wing' feathers on the same arrow.
There has been however an English trend to use left wing/hand feathers for a right handed archer, some old manuals mention the different flight properties of arrows fletched with left or right feathers but there is really no noticeable difference.
As an aside, the traditional left or right 'wing'/'hand' fletching terminology can be confusing to some. Considering the one side (vane) of the feather, the left 'wing' feather (fletching) is the one with the rough side of the feather to your right (when applying fletchings at an angle to the shaft this side traditionally faces the wind) when looking from behind the nock of the arrow. This means that when utilizing both vanes of one feather (e.g. tail feathers) you end up with one 'right' and one 'left' fletching. The 'left wing' fleching is called left wing becuse traditionally in Western archery the larger vane of (in this case left) wing pinion would be used.
Oh so, you cant use both sides of a feather on an arrow?
You can put all left wing feathers on an arrow shaft or all right wing feathers on an arrow shaft. You can't mix left wing and right wing feathers on an arrow shaft and expect good arrow flight.
What i mean is is that if i have a tail feather, can I use both sides of the feather on an arrow? or no?
it consist with side of bow, you are using. For target shooting is better orientation of leader wing out from bow. For right hand shooter with meditteran release left wings, for thumb release right wings.
But generaly , it is impossible to use left and right feathers on one arrow.
Opposite orientation have longer range, but diferention isn?t too big
But generaly , it is impossible to use left and right feathers on one arrow.
Opposite orientation have longer range, but diferention isn?t too big
About using both sides of the feathers for fletching, I'd say yes and no. On wing feathers, especially the primaries, you'll see one side with a big vane. The other side is usually too thin to be useful. On secondaries, both sides are more uniform but again one side is better than the other. On tail feathers both sides are almost the same, but I don't like tail feathers too much. The vane is too soft. In my book, I rate primaries as the best, second are secondaries :wink: and and tail feathers last.
By the way, good point what M??a said about which wing feathers are best suited for 3 fingers or thumb release.
By the way, good point what M??a said about which wing feathers are best suited for 3 fingers or thumb release.
Nothing wrong with trying to use tail fletching. I don't know how well they would work, however, since I've only used primary and secondary feathers. If you make up some arrows with tail fletching let us know how well they worked out. Good luck.
I recently read somewhere: in ky?d? a master ky?d?ka is shooting a haya (right winged) and otoya (left winged) fletched arrow consecutive for purposely induced inaccurary; that way he isn't hitting the previous arrow's nock and destroying it.
Can someone confirm this?
Can someone confirm this?
Mongolianarcher, you shouldn?t use both side of the feather on one arrow because each vane of a flight (flight are wing and tail feathers, those which we use for fletching) feather has two different sides, or to put it another way ?back and belly?; the outside smooth and shiny side and the inner rough and dull. On a typical fletching-usable feather the vanes will be more or less curled, the smooth ?back? will be convex (though it may again be curling outwards on the top edge of a larger vane of a pinion) and the ?belly? would be concave, or curling inwards. Because of this asymmetry you should arrange your feathers ?back to back/belly to belly? to have clean arrow flight (this would be an exaggerated example, but think how a propeller blades are arranged and what would happen if you would change the orientation of one blade), of course you can?t apply you feathers on the arrow with vane?s barbs pointing forward, so to keep the ?back to back? configuration you use only ?right? or only ?left? hand fletchings.
Again confusion may arise because the left and right terminology when used with whole feathers applies only to asymmetrical wing feathers; a feather from the right or left wing. A tail feather is usually symmetrical.
But considering vanes each wing and tail feather has one left and one right vane.
There are arrows where the fletcher kept the ?back to back? fletching rule, but using for example two big vanes of a left wing feather, and one corresponding vane of a tail feather.
As an example, looking at the attached picture you can see two arrows fletched utilizing three feathers from a right wing of a goose, for the top one I used untrimmed small ?left hand? vanes and for the bottom the larger ?right hand? vanes.
As to you question on using two sides of a tail feather, there are however some two-fletch arrows where a whole tail feather is inserted into a split shaft end?maybe the performance of such an arrow is not great but it flies?
As Anda said, nothing wrong with tail feathers, this actually depends on a species used.
The wing feather is the traditional fletching in the West, in Asia tail feathers were often used.
Many archers dismiss the rule ?left hand feather for a right-hander etc.?, as Carol Edwards once put it ?it?s an old wives tale?, I don?t have much experience with the thumb draw but with Mediterranean release I really see no difference in using left or right. Please understand, I?m open minded and don?t try to say this is superstition, I would be actually very interested if someone have experienced the difference and could shed more light on the matter.
The only coming at the moment to my mind case in which ?right or left? may be significant is when using single beveled hunting broadheads, due to importance in which way the arrow will spin in relation to the placement of the bevel. (Bow-hunters but not only may find the following interesting: http://www.tradgang.com/ashby/single-be ... dheads.pdf ).
Consider Roger Ascham?s advice:
?Betwixt the wings is little difference, but that you must have divers shafts of one flight, feathered with divers wings, for divers winds; for if the wind and the feather go both one way, the shaft will be carried too much.?
(There is little difference between right or left wing fletching, but within a matching set you should have some arrows fletched with right and some with left hand feather to cater for different wind directions.)
An exactly the same piece of advice is to be found mentioned in ?Saracen Archery?. Maybe some archers of old were really so experienced to sense the difference, who knows? There are other ancient, sometimes diametrically opposed and rather doubtful tips concerning the matter to be found elsewhere.
Again confusion may arise because the left and right terminology when used with whole feathers applies only to asymmetrical wing feathers; a feather from the right or left wing. A tail feather is usually symmetrical.
But considering vanes each wing and tail feather has one left and one right vane.
There are arrows where the fletcher kept the ?back to back? fletching rule, but using for example two big vanes of a left wing feather, and one corresponding vane of a tail feather.
As an example, looking at the attached picture you can see two arrows fletched utilizing three feathers from a right wing of a goose, for the top one I used untrimmed small ?left hand? vanes and for the bottom the larger ?right hand? vanes.
As to you question on using two sides of a tail feather, there are however some two-fletch arrows where a whole tail feather is inserted into a split shaft end?maybe the performance of such an arrow is not great but it flies?
As Anda said, nothing wrong with tail feathers, this actually depends on a species used.
The wing feather is the traditional fletching in the West, in Asia tail feathers were often used.
Many archers dismiss the rule ?left hand feather for a right-hander etc.?, as Carol Edwards once put it ?it?s an old wives tale?, I don?t have much experience with the thumb draw but with Mediterranean release I really see no difference in using left or right. Please understand, I?m open minded and don?t try to say this is superstition, I would be actually very interested if someone have experienced the difference and could shed more light on the matter.
The only coming at the moment to my mind case in which ?right or left? may be significant is when using single beveled hunting broadheads, due to importance in which way the arrow will spin in relation to the placement of the bevel. (Bow-hunters but not only may find the following interesting: http://www.tradgang.com/ashby/single-be ... dheads.pdf ).
Consider Roger Ascham?s advice:
?Betwixt the wings is little difference, but that you must have divers shafts of one flight, feathered with divers wings, for divers winds; for if the wind and the feather go both one way, the shaft will be carried too much.?
(There is little difference between right or left wing fletching, but within a matching set you should have some arrows fletched with right and some with left hand feather to cater for different wind directions.)
An exactly the same piece of advice is to be found mentioned in ?Saracen Archery?. Maybe some archers of old were really so experienced to sense the difference, who knows? There are other ancient, sometimes diametrically opposed and rather doubtful tips concerning the matter to be found elsewhere.