"The benefits to arrow wraps" By Darrin Christenberry
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Darrin’s top product picks from Last Chance Archery…
One thing I hear people say all the time is, “I hate fletching arrows.” I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why people hate that task. With the variety of products in the archery world now, that gives us archers the ability to customize our projectiles, how could you not like to build/fletch your arrows?! One small thing that I like to do, for a couple of different reasons, is fletch my arrows on arrow wraps.
If you started your archery career back in the 90s, like I did, your only arrow option was aluminum. When carbon arrows came on the scene, they were far from perfect. If you went to re-fletch an aluminum arrow, you grabbed any knife or razor blade and began hacking away. Just don’t dig too deep, or you would scar the anodizing on the shaft. Re-fletching a carbon arrow shaft requires a bit more attention to detail.
The number one goal in fletching any arrow is to get the vane or feather to stick securely to the arrow shaft. One of the first steps in fletching success is to make sure that your fletching jig (LCA Vane Master Pro) is set up correctly. There are several glues on the market (like the LCA fletching glue and activator) that will accomplish this! One of the issues that I have when fletching directly to the arrow shaft and not on a wrap comes when it's time to re-fletch that shaft because of a damaged vane.
Cyanoacrylate glues do an amazing job of sticking a vane/feather to the arrow shaft. Almost too good when the time comes to scrape off that old/damaged vane. I find it much easier to get the old glue and vane off the arrow with a sharp razor blade, BUT you can easily damage the carbon if you are not careful. This is one of the 2 main reasons I like to fletch on a wrap when using carbon arrows.
Fletching on a wrap not only protects the carbon from damage with a knife or razor blade, but it also helps with the adhesion of the vanes to the shaft. This will also give you more options when it comes to selecting glue for your vanes. Just about every glue will stick to a wrap. If you have damaged a vane on one of your wrapped arrows, you can simply pick at the leading edge (corner) of the wrap and slowly start to peel it off of the arrow. This will remove all of the fletching and glue in seconds and give you a perfect arrow shaft that hasn’t received any splinters or damage from a knife or a blade. Now you can simply re-wrap, re-fletch, and you will never jeopardize the integrity of an arrow with razor cuts and splinters.
Take pride in building your arrows! You can learn to do it all yourself if you don’t already. LCA offers all of the tools for your own “at-home shop.” Arrows aren’t cheap! I try to take the time to protect that investment by wrapping and fletching mine. With all of the colors, shapes, and sizes of vanes/feathers and wraps available to us, you can add some personality to your quiver!
You can see the wraps that I use at custommadewraps.com.
