Santa brought me a big fat gift card to 3 rivers and I need some advice on what to get. This is what I was thinking about.
B-50 string
Serving???
fletch tape
feathers - does left or right wing matter?
bohning fletching jig - I have the straight clamp, should I get a left wing or right wing?
Hunting the osage bow
Doing the twist.
Farriors rasp.
I am really not sure what kind of serving or feathers I should get. Any help would be great.
Sb-
for serving material I like the brownell diamondback, it is braided comes in three diameters, and wears very well. Especially using B50 string material.
Ideally your clamp should match the feather either left or right. It depends on which way you want it rolling off the shelf of your bow. (left wing feathers will turn away from the shelf on a rh bow. and a right wing feather with turn into the shelf for a right hander).
sounds like your going to have fun shopping at any rate.
Good Luck
Mike (this is my 2 cents I have sure others will have good suggestions also.)
I have 24 left hand jigs and 24 right hand jigs. Right is easier to fletch than left. A long time ago when I was just getting started, a rep told me that everyone was buying right and the feather companies were sitting on too many left wing. A possible artificial shortage of right wing was coming. So I got the left wing jigs. Think I was had (LOL). After selling thousands of arrows, no one has ever complained. I fletch 5" left wing and 4" right wing.
The only item on your list that you can get for free or at a minimal cost is the farriers rasp. If you know a farrier or a horse person they can get it for you. A farrier only uses these rasps for a while then discards them. I got a used one from a farrier friend over 10 years ago and am still using it.
As for right or left wing, I heard once that the turkey farmers clip the right wing of the birds when they are raising them. That is one reason there are more left wing feathers than right for us to use. I see that most fletched arrows from suppliers seem to be left wing. Maybe that's why left is more popular. I have used the fletch tape and it holds very well but prefer to glue them most of the time. I keep the tape in my field box for quick repairs.
Thanks for the advice. I placed my order this morning. How long does the standard shipping usually take? I know it says 7-10 days, but I am only a couple of hours away so I am hoping it comes earlier.
If your only a couple hours away you'll prolly get it this week I'd assume...
I live in Chicago, and 3R is not too far away over in Indiana and most of my stuff arrives within about 3 days to 4 days. If I place an order on the weekend, it'll process on Monday and ship out and usually arrive by Thursday.