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best glue for fletching feathers?

17K views 22 replies 21 participants last post by  Schpankme  
#1 ·
Just as the title says, want to start fletching my own arrows, bought a bohning right helical jig and need to know what glue to use, Thanks
 
#8 ·
Fletchtite Platinum
Saunders NPV (highly underrated- this is excellent glue)
Flex-Bond

I've used the instants and they work, but I find them too brittle-many times the feather quill will crack at the base if you happen to ding them with another arrow, or at a 3D shoot. The slow sets have more give and don't soak into the feather quill and harden the same way.
 
#15 ·
I tried Bohning Fletching tape about 5 or 6 years ago, and haven't used glue since. The tape holds as well as any glue and you get a cleaner and neater job. There's no waiting for glue to dry, and repairs in the field are easier. A roll of tape lasts way longer than a tube of glue. When it's time to re-fletch, there's not a lot of scraping to do. Using the tape is faster and I can't see ever going back to using glue again.
 
#19 ·
I have a barely-used tube of Flex Fletch Flex Bond glue, dated March, 2010 - so it's just over a year old. I really like the idea of no expiration date! I needed to refletch an arrow about a month ago, and decided to use this glue. As luck would have it, the first time I shot the just-fletched arrow, two of the three fletches were cut by other arrows. Since two of the fletchings needed replacement, I decided to just redo all three. I used my fingernail to pick at the front of the fletchings, and they were very easy to pull off the arrow, despite the bead of glue I'd put at the ends of the fletchings. Due to how easily the fletchings came off the arrow, I decided not to use this glue - and probably reached the same conclusion a year ago, thus the barely-used tube of glue! I know many people like this glue, but I've not found it to be as good as most of the other glues, with regard to how well it holds.