more help for newboy; could I get one of you kind gents to give me a quick rundown on what is what with arrow jargon? I have started with a gold tip xt hunter 7595 and it has vanes by blazer that are slighjtly rotated and are 2" long.What is significance of 7595 and what is difference of using a say 4" vane or a 2"? I am gonna have to start repairing some of these, where should I look for supplies? Also what is deal on using a straight vane versus one that is so to say twisted or rotated?
helical will place more control on the arrow in flight much like rifling in a barrel. the 4" v 2" is the length of the vane or feather. check out Lancaster Archery for supplies, 3 Rivers if trad.
your 2" vane will have a tighter rotation when flying through the air. At least thats my thinking. Bigger vanes means more air friction
We'll deal with the 7595 first. Go to the Gold Tip web sight and look up your arrow and you will find this: Shaft Size / Color___________Weight GR/IN__________Spine_________Length_______O.D.________I.D. 7595 Black....................................8.9..........................0.340"...................32"............0.300"..........0.246" 7595 Camo..................................10.9.........................0.300"...................32"............0.310"..........0.246" Since you did not say whether you have the Black or the Cammo, I posted both sets of numbers. The first set of numbers is the weight in grains for every inch of arrow you have. If you look a couple of columns over you will see that the arrow is sold in a 32" lenght. This allows you or a shop where you bought the shaft from to cut it to the desired lenght of the shooter based upon his draw length. The 7595 Black will weigh 284.8 grains and the Camo will come in at 348.8 grains. By know this you can get a good idea of what your arrows are going to weigh after they are cut to lenght, but before the inserts and fletching are installed. The second set of numbers are the spine. The spine of an arrow is a measure of deflection. From the Carbon Tech web page I stole this: "Spine was established in modern times by Easton who uses a 29" arrow. You place this arrow on two posts measured out 28" apart. You then place a 1.94 pound weight in the middle of the shaft and measure how far the arrow shaft drops down." All arrows bend or "wrap" around the bow as they are shot. How far they bend is the measure of spine. As a general rule faster bows, longer draw lengths, and heavier poundage will cause equally spined arrows to bend more on the shot. The arrow will leave the string and will oscillate in flight as it attempts to straghten back out. The spine that you need has been calculated by the arrow manufacturers and they all have a table on their respective web sites to help yo in making the right descision. Here is a link to the Gold Tip Calculator: http://www.goldtip.com/calculators.aspx The more information you have about every aspect of your bow, what you want to do with your arrow, and your draw length will be placed into the supplied table and it will spit out a range of selections that will meet your needs. O.D and I.D. are measurements of the Outside and Inside diameter of your arrow. These are important in order to insure you have the right size nocks, inserts, and even practice tips for the arrow you have chosen to use. If all else fails or your head is spinning simply haul your bow up to the local Pro Shop and ask for advice. The 2" inch vanes are simply the length of the vanes that are installed on the arrows. This is a personal choice and if you are happy with the way your bow shoots using the arrows you have as set up then there is no need to fix what isn't broken. More than likely the brand of vane is written on the side of each and every vane glued to your arrow. When you go shopping for supplies just look up that brand name and you will be amazed at the choices you have in colors alone. If you lose a vane or three you may even want to change the type or length on a coulpe of arrows and see if they shoot better for you. If you wish to repair your own you will need a few things: Something to remove your old fletching. This can be a knife you own or one that is desgned specifically for that task. A fletching jig. This will hold the vane in alignment with the shaft while the glue sets. There are quite a few choices in either left or right hand helical or straight fletching. I personally use a Right Hand Helical Fletch with Bohning Blazer Vanes. Glue. This is simply super glue and all I can say is pick one. They have many geared toward the bow hunter or just go buy some Gorilla Super Glue or the Lok Tite brand at Wal Mart. I touched on the Helical vs Straight when I talked about the different fletching jigs. I believe that the helical's shoot better at range. The straight fletch should shoot a bit faster and any accuracy difference will more than likely not show up at shorter distances. Here is a link I found of some testing that was done regarding this matter: http://archeryreport.com/2011/07/helical-straight-fletch-accuracy-repeatability/ So, that is my take on your questions. If anyone finds errors or wishes to add to what I have stated then please feel free and I will edit this with corrections.
