With a Bitz jig, you can offset the helical clamp itself Rob... Only played around with a Grayling for a few minutes before boxing it up and returning it for the Bitz, so I'm not sure if other jigs allow this. Of course you're right that you can't change the degree of helical WITHIN the spiral itself, but you can offset the whole helical clamp ... obviously ensuring your bases are making good contact with the shaft along its entire length. But you probably knew that and we're picking nits, as Bruce says. And he fletches with both a helical and offset as well.
I understand what you are saying Rob and agree, but there always or should I say usually a bit of adjustment available and................................ I always use as much offset as possible and still keep feather/vane in good contact with arrow shaft. You can't start a fletching job with Helical and say I'm going to fletch 2 or 3 degrees offset.......... Because it might not work. It's pretty much a job to job decision. Dan
ok, im starting to think im getting my terms messed up. i think, now, that i have no idea what the difference between helical and offset is. what i did with my jig was set the back end of the vane as far to the left side of the "imaginary center line" of the shaft as i could while keeping contact, and the opposite for the front end. is that helical or offset?
Helical or Straight is only determined by the clamp you are using. Offset is the adjustment you control on the jig. Dan
Offset means your fletching is in a straight line, but you move the front or back towards one edge of the shaft or the other to induce spin... but the fletch itself is in a straight line, usually. You'll sometimes see this referred to as "straight offset" by some. Helical means the fletch itself has "curvature" to it; in other words, it will spiral around the shaft. When some of us say we fletch helical with an offset, we simply take a helical clamp and then offset it a few degrees to gain even more of a spin-inducing effect. Considering that most average bowhunting shots in the woods at game animals are around 20 yards, I like for my arrow to have as much help as it can in gaining the maximum amount of spin I can help it attain -- because the arrow's going to take several yards from clearing the riser before it even begins spinning. I've seen no corresponding negatives to maximing the spinning of the arrow even at longer distances in my personal shooting.
What we're doing is (don't take this as a negative, please) adjusting offset to (______) deg. to ensure you get a solid bond with your shaft. The fill-in-the-blank will be what it'll be.
so by doing what i said i did was helical, but isnt measured in degrees. how do you explain helical? aggressive? hard? extreme? or is it just personal preferance as to how you describe it? and just so i know what im talking about, offset is if the tail end is centered, but the leading edge is off to one side, right? i really appreciate you guys taking the time to school a newbie like myself. i learn something new everytime i visit this site. also, id personally like to put as much spin on my arrows to make them as accurate as i can. i dont really care if it robs speed as long as i can have my arrows fighting for the same hole at most practical (ethical) ranges.
I'm trying something here... hold on and let's see if this works. This is a VERY crude drawing I just did to see if this'll help: LOL... maybe it'd be better to find some existing pics for you... Keep in mind the helical will wrap in a continual spiral all the way around the shaft of the arrow... kinda hard to draw that in a 2D pic in Microsoft Paint...
Yes, people often refer to helical as aggressive or hard... but keep in mind, you can't control how aggressive the helical itself is -- the clamp does that. In other words, it's strictly determined by how the manufacturer of the clamp and how much helical they built into it As far as the offset goes, I used to offset my straight clamps as much as I could by moving BOTH the top and the bottom to the extreme edges of the arrow shaft while ascertaining I still had physical contact between the base of the fletching and the shaft. These days, as I alluded to, I do the same except in conjunction with a helical clamp. Hope that it's starting to make sense a little now...
Your fletchings (no matter which you choose) will "appear" to be more severe/hard helical.......the longer they are. Imagine a 2" blazer v. a 5" feather. Greg's diagram is good.
that drawing actually helped alot more than you think. im in the army, and the motorpool i work in is very interesting. guys draw stuff for me all the time trying to explain things, and all i can think is that my 2yo could come up with something better. and thanks for all the advice. so from what ive read and seen, i put offset on my vanes. i think ill just stick with what ive got then, i have that bohning jig that holds the clamp with a magnet. its not the greatest, but as far as my amature fletching goes it works just fine for me. again, thanks guys.
mech, I have the same jig and have fletched a ton of arrows with it. The most important thing in fletching IMO is doing the same thing to each arrow. Have fun and good luck.
i kind of figured consistency had something to do with it, haha. and thanks, ive got the jig set and its marked as to where i had it for my last batch i fletched so if i have to do it again i can make sure nothing moved.
The Sad thing is the shops I have visited and see all their arrows fletched straight with little to no offset. They sell them (to anyone that might notice) by saying faster and better clearance I'll stay with a Helical clamp with all the offset I can get. There is some adjustment and still be able to keep them on the shaft so it's not like they have to go one place. I'll take a hard spinning accurate arrow over a few fps anyday. Regardless of what range I'm shooting Dan
well, the shop i bought my arrows from fletched them in house with blazer vanes at some pretty good offset, but i figured i could do better. they are a smaller more personal shop i guess. but most of the other arrows are fletched from whatever factory they got them from. and yes, theyre all straight. i guess the eastons i bought came in bare shaft. however it happened, it worked out for me.
