AAE Trad Vanes Initial thoughts- Updated

[Gerard Marcaurele]

Another update:

After gluing my bear weather rest directly to my riser and getting rid of the flimsy double sided foam tape, my vanes are holding up much better. I think with center shot being so far off they were contacting too much.

They steer fine and after hundreds of shots I have not seen any issues with adhesion except for where I slightly messed up a couple spots. So other than user error, they work. Overall I’d say I see no reason to run a feather.

 

[itsjustnewman]

mine have been working great on FMJ's and DaySix's. Tried 3 and 4 fletch 5" but no big difference in the two so stuck with 3 fletch

 

[R Davis]

So far, I can’t get these to fly for me off the shelf. They contact the shelf and I get a nock high tear from a square nock point all the way up to 1-1/4” high nock point. From about 1/4” high to 7/8” high nock point I get almost the same tear. Bareshafts and feathers are bullet holes at 5/8” high nock point. This is off the shelf of a Dryad Epic riser. There’s a couple more things I’ll try tonight before I write them off for this rig.

 

[R Davis]

Oops, sorry for the duplicates!

 

[itsjustnewman]

So far, I can’t get these to fly for me off the shelf. They contact the shelf and I get a nock high tear from a square nock point all the way up to 1-1/4” high nock point. From about 1/4” high to 7/8” high nock point I get almost the same tear. Bareshafts and feathers are bullet holes at 5/8” high nock point. This is off the shelf of a Dryad Epic riser. There’s a couple more things I’ll try tonight before I write them off for this rig.

Do you get this with your vanes oriented at all different angles. I find having the cock vane up vs. in vs. out can make a big difference in flight and tune

 

[R Davis]

I’ve tried rotating them and it’s the same. I’m going to try to build up my shelf a bit and see what happens. Have some buddies running them with good luck and either they won’t work on this rig or I’m missing something plain as day!

 

[itsjustnewman]

I’ve tried rotating them and it’s the same. I’m going to try to build up my shelf a bit and see what happens. Have some buddies running them with good luck and either they won’t work on this rig or I’m missing something plain as day!

yeah, thats interesting. I've shot them on a Bob Lee Ultimate and Big Jim Thunder Child, both off the shelf with very little padding. Could also try something like a bear weather rest but then you're getting away from what made trad vanes so nice vs. regular vanes. When i cant figure something out I take lots of slow-mo videos of my shooting and analyze the hell out of them to make sure it's not me collapsing or plucking the string, or something like that.

 

[R Davis]

Yea, I’m not to keen on running an elevated rest to make them work either. I’ll play with a couple things still to see though. Worse case is I’ll just keep using feathers and treat them for the rain, got rained on a couple times this year with treated feathers and had good luck. The shooting side of things is dialed pretty good so I’m not too much worrried that it’s me.

 

[Wrench]

Nock high ain't such a bad thing. In the quest for bullet holes a little nock high would best wet feathers.

 

[R Davis]

Update.
Added a matchstick under the shelf, set nock to 1/2”, rotated cockvane up, and getting bulletholes in paper now. They don’t like cockvane in or out still. I will get outside this weekend and shoot some yardage and see how they do. I’ll admit, I was kinda getting excited to come up with another cool color combo with spliced feathers.....

 

[Skuhzz]

Seeing a few people having trouble with adhesion, I also had the same problem using Bohning fletch tite platinum. I've had a bunch just seemingly lose adhesion and start peeling off. I switched to gorilla glue and that seems to work much better. I am running 3x5" vanes right now and am going to try 4x4" on my next dozen. Has anyone tried them in extreme cold yet? If not, I may try putting some in the freezer for a bit to see how they shoot when frozen since I hunt in the northeast and it gets quite cold in November and December.

 

[Wrench]

Seeing a few people having trouble with adhesion, I also had the same problem using Bohning fletch tite platinum. I've had a bunch just seemingly lose adhesion and start peeling off. I switched to gorilla glue and that seems to work much better. I am running 3x5" vanes right now and am going to try 4x4" on my next dozen. Has anyone tried them in extreme cold yet? If not, I may try putting some in the freezer for a bit to see how they shoot when frozen since I hunt in the northeast and it gets quite cold in November and December.

I have lost a bunch with gorilla glue. It's frustrating. I want to love them.

 

[Skuhzz]

I have lost a bunch with gorilla glue. It's frustrating. I want to love them.

I haven't lost any with gorilla glue yet (using the super glue, blue cap) but it's only been 2 weeks or so since I switched. Walked through some thick brush last weekend with them and didn't lose any.

 

[wodje96]

Yea, I’m not to keen on running an elevated rest to make them work either. I’ll play with a couple things still to see though. Worse case is I’ll just keep using feathers and treat them for the rain, got rained on a couple times this year with treated feathers and had good luck. The shooting side of things is dialed pretty good so I’m not too much worrried that it’s me.

yeah, if you need an elevated rest you might as well use regular vanes.

 

[Skuhzz]

yeah, if you need an elevated rest you might as well use regular vanes.

Agree with this as well

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[wodje96]

i just ordered some from 3 rivers. very curious to how they work on my set up. the sound of a feather scratching a jacket sleeve has given me trouble more than once. im guessing alot of the trouble people are having might be due to the extra weight of the vanes stiffing the dynamic spine of their arrows and they may be tuned a little on the stiff side to begin with. im just guessing but im think thay would cause contact and bounce the arrow around.

 

[TradLife406]

I shot my bull opening morning in a steady rain at 40 yards with 3x4 Trad Vanes. I can't see a reason to use feathers again aside from flu flus!
#TheSemiTradLife

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[wodje96]

I just fletched up an arrow with these the other day 5" x 3. I did need to pay attention to my nock rotation (needed to be the same as my feathers, so no issues there) but I can't tell a difference between the vanes and my feathers from the limited shooting I've done with them so far. so far so good. I think these will have a place in my quiver in the future.

 

[Whiskey Creek]

I am considering ordering some to try but not sure which route I want to go. Three 5” vanes? Or Four vanes in either 3” or 4”. To many choices these days. Might just stick to grinding turkey and goose feathers!

 

[Mudd Foot]

There’s a Push podcast with Trad Lab that discusses Cody’s fletching research. It’s excellent. It basically confirms Dr Ed Ashby’s findings that shorter is better. That said you need a well tuned arrow to start.

Kifarucast has an ashby episode, but the fletching discussion is near the end I think. Regardless, shorter is better.


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