What are arrow fletchings?

There are several things that are indispensable for every arrow, and one of them is the fletching! The fletching is glued to the back of the arrow shaft, and it plays a role in balancing and maintaining the direction of the arrow during flight. Usually the outline of the fletching is streamlined, and this shape has good aerodynamic performance. Today, let's first learn about the basic knowledge of fletching.

Fletching selection

There are two types of fletching: plastic fletching and feather fletching. Generally, there are 3 pieces of fletching glued to each arrow shaft, but occasionally there are 4 pieces of fletching. The fletching is glued to the back of the arrow shaft, and it plays a role in balancing and maintaining the direction of the arrow during flight. Usually the outline of the fletching is streamlined, and this shape has good aerodynamic performance. In terms of structure, the fletching has straight, offset, and spiral types. The size of the fletching is generally 3 inches, 4 inches, and 5 inches, of which 4 inches is the industrial standard and can be used in almost all cases. Nowadays, many archers will DIY the length of their arrow feathers according to the weight of their arrows. In order to meet this demand, some companies have launched more sizes of arrow feathers, the largest of which is 5.75 inches or even higher, and the smallest is 1.5 inches. Common concepts:

1. Plastic arrow feathers or feather arrow feathers

Plastic arrow feathers are made of soft and elastic plastic sheets, which are the choice of most archers at present. Its advantages are cheap price, quiet when flying, easy bonding, durable, not afraid of water, and basically adaptable to all kinds of weather. It is a good choice for bow hunting. However, plastic arrow feathers also have some big shortcomings. The first is that plastic arrow feathers are heavy, which is 3 times the weight of feather arrow feathers of the same size. And because the surface of plastic arrow feathers is very smooth, the stability of flying in the air is worse than that of feather arrow feathers with rough surface.

Feather arrow feathers are made of natural feathers and are very expensive. Their selling price is basically 4 times that of plastic arrow feathers of the same grade. If it is a special shape of feather arrow feathers, the price is 10 times that of plastic arrow feathers of the same grade. Feather arrows are very afraid of water, which will affect the quality of flight on rainy days or in weather with high humidity. However, the biggest advantage of feather arrows is that they are light. Generally, three 4-inch feathers weigh only 8 grains, while the weight of the same plastic arrow is 24 grains. Feather arrows have better ability to maintain their flying posture than plastic arrows.

2. Straight, offset, and spiral

Straight means that the arrow feathers are parallel to the arrow shaft. The offset type means that the bottom bonding part of the arrow feathers is straight and parallel to the arrow shaft, but the upper part of the arrow feathers is deflected at a certain angle to the arrow shaft, generally 4 degrees. The spiral type means that the arrow feathers are bonded to the arrow shaft at a certain angle and have a relatively large rotation. The offset and spiral arrows will rotate themselves when flying in the air. The difference between these is like the difference between bullets fired from a smoothbore gun and bullets fired from a rifled gun.

Characteristics of straight arrow feathers: fastest flight speed, minimum air resistance, cheap bonding, and can be matched with various arrow rests. But the ability to maintain the flight posture over long distances is relatively weak, and the balance is not good when using arrows with arrowheads.

Characteristics of offset feathers: It can also balance arrows with arrowheads well, has less air resistance, can match most arrow rests, and can maintain a good flight posture at a longer distance. However, this type of feather will reduce the speed of the arrow and affect the kinetic energy of the arrow.

Characteristics of spiral type: The flight posture is the most stable, which can maintain stability throughout the flight process and significantly improve the accuracy of the arrow. However, it also significantly reduces the flight speed of the arrow, and the kinetic energy of the arrow will also be reduced accordingly. The air resistance is the largest. It can only be matched with some arrow rests.