Anyone shooting plastic vanes , or the short Blazer type plastic fletchings. Have never tried it and was thinking on giving it a go. Never had an ILF set-up either so might try both , don't really want to shoot off a rest but might try a weather rest. The idea is a set-up I don't have to worry about in the rain , have done everything known to man to keep my feathers dry and nothing ever works. Figure a light shaft and heavy point to flex the arrow around the riser. Might be wasting my time and money ?????
,,,Sam,,,
Sam,
This year is the first year I've finally successfully tuned a vaned shaft for shooting off the shelf. Shooting 3x4" vanes on a Hokd Tip Pierce shaft - 500 spine - with 250 gn up front.
Torture tested the set up inducing poor releases and exaggerated bow torque. I can't get this arrow to fly badly with a broadhead.
I'm tickled pink!!
Matt
Back in the early 80's my friends & I all shot aluminum arrows off a Bear Weatherest from our recurves. We never experianced bad arrow flight unless our arrows were bent!
Today, with most comercial arrows being fletched "cock vane down" for compounds, I've seen Traditional shooters just rotate the cock vane up, and shoot them right off the shelf!? I never tried it myself, but I've seen these guys shoot, and their arrow fight looked fine to me!!!
I have a bear b-mag set up as my rainy day bow. Using a bear weatherest and shooting 3 5-inch vanes with cock vane out. Arrow flight is good.
I know guys who do it with an elevated rest. Weatherproof and durable.
Shooting from a rest doesn't do anything but give you better arrow flight with any arrow you are already using. You will see the 1/2" (at most) it raises your arrow from your hand is not the accuracy killer long touted by the magazine article crowd. The Weatherest will work but is a super hard/stiff choice. Without a rest it will be a very tough row to hoe. With a rest, nothing to it. Before my last trip to Alaska (and before Photobucket screwed me) I had a pic of at least a dozen differently fletched shafts that would shoot my 250g Abowyers to the same spot out of my TallTines Stickflinger with a Hoyt Super rest. Three and four fletched Blazers, AAEs, NAP Quickspins, and feathers. I've not had one durability issue in all the time I've used the elevated rest.
Sam - I have a "rainy day bow" set up with elevated spring arm style rest and 4" AAE Plastifletch vanes. It shoots beautifully, and is actually much quiter as you dont get any feather "hiss."
I do agree with Steve in that off the shelf is going to be tough and in my experience e I've found it impossible.
Interesting input here...
Steve, I'm curious to know if you normally use the elevated rest and vanes, or only in certain circumstances?
Anybody find one brand of vane to be best? If so, why?
I shoot plastic vanes out of a couple of my ILF bows,but do use an elevated magnetic flipper rest with a plunger.On my Morrison 17" metal riser I shoot Easton X7 2312 Cobalt with 4" Quick spin vanes,fly great out of it.I have a 25" PSE riser that I shoot 2" Blazer vanes on Easton ACC 3-18 arrows.I prefer to shoot feathers off a shelf,never shot vanes off a shelf.But see no reason why it wouldn't work,with properly spined arrows and adjusting your nock height.
I have all but one recurve setup with the old fashion "brush" rest. I shoot vanes and feathers interchangeably. I modified my rests to sit close to the shelf. My vanes are 4" from AAE or the 4" low banana shape from NAP. I fletch them straight offset. I do not find a big advantage to 5" vanes if any.
I know a couple guys that can use vanes off their LB shelf. Raising the nock point helps them. That's an old trick I saw used by an old bowyer whose name slips my mind.
QuoteOriginally posted by Kevin Hansen:
Interesting input here...
Steve, I'm curious to know if you normally use the elevated rest and vanes, or only in certain circumstances?
Anybody find one brand of vane to be best? If so, why?
Kevin,
I have 2 Stickflingers, one with, one without so 50/50. I have 9 TT tecurves and 6 have rests. It doesn't take much to switch between them but I don't switch much once it gets close to the season and I'm almost always shooting one with a rest by that time.
And I really like the NAP Quickspins; the come in all sizes from tiny to 5". The 3" are a great compromise and the really stabilize a broadhead better than 5" feathers. Blazers work excellent as long as you put them on with a good sharp helical.
I'm the same as Joe2Crow only using an "A" Mag. Works out well.
I'm shooting four 3.25" plastic vanes for exactly the same reason you described. The vanes I'm using are VaneTec vanes and I'm very pleased with their performance. I bare shaft tuned my hunting arrows with plastic vanes and they're flying great.
What I found interesting was the small Blazer vanes flew well from my Bear TD. I envisioned the wide vanes hitting the riser or shelf. But I was wrong. I use them on my son's arrows for his wheel bow. Just can't get used to the smallish wide vane look.
got a set of arrows with 4" vanes that I shoot off the shelf out of my longbow and a couple recurves. They are absolutely silent in flight.
One of my shooting buddies shoots 4-inch vanes off the shelf with great results. The veins are quite soft. I can't remember the name, but he indicated they were rather old.
Sam, I have around a thousand Plasti fletch vanes from the 60's if you want to try some I will send some off. these were used by tournament archers back in the day. Problem is they are stiff and the longest I have are around 2.5 inches long and they have to be straight fletched BUT they were used by many archers.PM an address if you want to try some. I have some around 1.5 inches long also. Again these are not the soft kind but very stiff.
These are left overs from my dads archery shop.
I started experimenting with vanes when feather prices started to climb a few years ago. I like Blazer vanes for their ease of application, replacement and the fact that I can actually get them to fly off the shelf of my bows with the addition of a longish sealskin rest since they are so short. Although I can't really see what is happening, I suspect that the arrow fishtails away from the shelf just in time to avoid hitting it. Sealskin may cushion it a bit. If you fiddle with it, it will fly, maybe a little faster and quieter than a feather.
PS nothing replaces feathers aesthetically....
Thanks everyone , I'm stuck in Houston working so haven't got to look at this. When I get home I will start working on a set-up..
,,,,Sam,,,
I have shot vanes off the shelf by just shooting cock feather in. It worked very well for me.
I also have a rainy day bow that I tuned arrows with plastic vanes for. Mine are 4" predator duravane style and I have a brush style rest. They fly great this way. I tried off the shelf as other have said they were able to do this but I didn't have that result. The shelf my arrows flew like a deflating balloon and I didn't even attempt broadheads. My 2 major issues with this bow is: 1) the vanes are much heavier that feathers, approximately 12 grains each. They seemed to make the arrow act stiffer and I am using a spine weaker than I normally would (not that big of a deal as long as it tunes) 2) When I switch between this bow and my other bows the bow with the rest seems to shoot very high. Probably mental or I just need to spend more time with that bow. Just my experience.
I have off a flipper rest ,they fly good
I shoot the Bear Weather rest and love it. I can pretty much shoot any vane or feather off it. Bareshaft tuning seems to go a whole lot smoother to.
Big Ed
I just switched from feathers to 3,4 " Marco vanes shot off a Hoyt Super Hunter rest and plunger.Had to go down one spine size due to the added weight of the vanes.I couldn't be more pleased though,an a ll around better setup for me.
I treat my feathers with Never Wet outdoor fabric treatment from Rust-Oleum. Works great for weather I'll hunt in, if I was going to Alaska or Western Washington or similar, I'd probably try figuring out the vanes!
I put a bear weather rest on my Widow recently and tuned 5" helicaled vanes. They fly right with my feathers and will now be my go to arrow set up from that bow. I also saw no difference in broadhead flight or accuracy.
does anyone use them on wood arrows? thanks
Did vanes on woods years ago for my son. He wanted what we call "stumpers" these days. His bow had a raised rest so there were no issues with flight. I used a straight clamp on my Blitz and offset it a little. I did seal the shafts with clear Fletch Laq so I would not have issues using Fletch Tite glue. Theses days I would use a water based sealer and Fletch using Saunders NPV glue.
I get caught in the rain all the time..so I always make sure I tune a vane setup .I'm shooting vanetec swifts 3.125 long and they fly like lasers
I got a new recurve ( warfed compound riser ) with a set of foam core Hoyt limbs and put a screw-in flipper rest on it. After a little messing around a .400 spine full length carbon with 250gr point with the little Blazer vanes fly like darts. They will shoot any broadhead I have and even the TreeSharks fly like a fieldpoint. Is my first time for a rest on a recurve so time will tell how I like it but so far so good ( have a spare in my pack ). The bow dead quiet and is a sweet shooter...
,,,,Sam,,,
nothing but vanes these days,bear weahterest on dalaas
Four fletch vanes work great for me on an elevated rest but when shooting off the shelf Ill stick with feathers.