Would you pass these fletchings?

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Would you pass these fletchings?

Postby Kyrian » Thu May 01, 2008 4:49 pm

I happened to find this tutorial on making fletchings for crossbow bolts:

http://hightowercrossbows.com/fletching/fletching.html

Weapon checkers, would you pass these as legal fletchings for regular arrows? I don't know what kind of impact they have on flight performance but I believe they would satisfy the requirement for two full fletchings. One thing that I think is a plus is the fact that it won't act as a cutting surface when whizzing by close to someone's face.
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Postby Cyric » Thu May 01, 2008 5:19 pm

I don't know how well they'd hold up to being fired out of a bow, or how much they would affect stability, but they look safe to me.
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Postby savetuba » Thu May 01, 2008 5:50 pm

I do that same thing with ducktape
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Postby Davit » Fri May 02, 2008 7:21 am

I'm going to have to agree with cyric on this one, no reason to fail them as they go through weapon's check, but I'd think they would fail rather quickly.
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Postby Oznog » Mon May 05, 2008 12:54 pm

savetuba wrote:I do that same thing with ducktape


I don't know if there was a joke there (not familiar with Belegarth sarcasm) but duct tape is surprisingly dangerous. If the adhesive is exposed, it can actually slice like a papercut on a near miss where only the fletchings graze.

The fletchings pictured there on the Felwalkers are made from the crosslinked PE "foamies". My slight concern there is that there could be adhesive between the layers that could cut someone since the bond line points in the direction of travel and an "always-sticky" adhesive like DAP is used as opposed to something that dries and is no longer sticky like Elmers or epoxy (both of which are not really appropriate for this foam type).

That webpage is for SCA. They don't have much exposed skin there that would be vulnerable to such an effect. Still, this problem I describe is largely hypothetical at this point, I've never dealt with this type of construction.
Last edited by Oznog on Mon May 05, 2008 1:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Mekoot Rowan » Mon May 05, 2008 12:59 pm

Oznog, I've seen cuts caused by plastic and feather fletchings in that exact same way. I don't think duct tape would be any better or worse.

As for those fletchings I'd say Cyric has the right idea. Pass? yes. Break down fast? Most definately.
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Postby Oznog » Mon May 05, 2008 1:07 pm

Rowan wrote:Oznog, I've seen cuts caused by plastic and feather fletchings in that exact same way. I don't think duct tape would be any better or worse.

As for those fletchings I'd say Cyric has the right idea. Pass? yes. Break down fast? Most definately.


The old vinyl fletchings are kinda bad about that. Vinyl is not found much anymore, the industry's used urethane (like Plastifletch Elite vanes) for a very long while. Urethane's got a different sort of edge to it and I've never seen an incident with urethane vanes.

I should have mentioned the remarkable size of the vanes is a potential problem, presenting a significant edge that could zip across the face and even go across an eye. I don't want to be alarmist based on theory however.

I agree this foamy stuff is subject to quick breakdown. And as a hypothetical problem which should probably be minor/unlikely I believe passing it with a wait-and-see approach is still appropriate. As another way to look at it however, I doubt this construction has practical value in the long run so it may bring additional risk with no benefits to anyone.
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Re: Would you pass these fletchings?

Postby Satanaka » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:36 pm

Interesting idea. I wonder how rigid they are? I have had a few that were sorta 'featherly' that were soft- BUT broke down fast.

Have you got some made?
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