Which way should my arrows spin?

[broken arrow]

                                                                 
                                           Which way should my arrows spin?

  Webster's  dictionary defines the word helix as  ' to turn round '  or  ' something spiral in form '   like an ordinary screw thread .   Screw threads turned to the right in a clockwise direction  are a right helix. (0059.jpg )   If the screw threads were a left helix we would have to turn the screw to the left in a counter clockwise direction to install it into a material .

When building arrows ,  we can install our feathers with right or left helix or with no helix at all,  as in      ''straight fletch ''.   This helical fletching helps spins out any imbalances  in the arrowhead or in the arrow shaft and stabilizes the tail of the arrow,   while the arrow follows through on it's trajectory .   If you mistakenly mix them on the same arrow you could possibly be the first archer in your neighborhood , to shoot around a corner or around a tree.

 
A left spiral or helical fletch will spin or torque the arrow counter clockwise and away from the bow , if the bow is held in the left hand . (0088.jpg )     A right wing fletch will torque or spiral the tail of the arrow towards the bow when the bow is held in the left hand. ( 0082.jpg ) Consider the opposite if you hold your bow  in your right hand .   Releasing an arrow with feathers that spins to the left when the bow is held in the left hand , will have less contact with the bow ,than an arrow with feathers that spin to the right........ This is physics .   My archery supply store here in western Canada sells only right wing feathers and right wing fletching jigs although the left ones can be ordered in.   A large arrow manufacturer recently appeared  as an article in P.A. advising us they manufacture mostly left wing spiral fletching on their arrows .   This is probably due to extensive testing by such archery greats as Fred Bear , Ben Pearson ,  their own testing labs , and others.   If you hold your bow in your left hand when shooting there is probably good reason to have your arrows spin to the left .  If you hold your bow in your right hand when shooting , there is probably good reason to have your arrows spin to the right............again it's physics.   This would certainly apply if you are shooting other than a center shot bow.    If you are shooting a center shot bow , the spin is not so critical , but is still a factor.  (0093.jpg )
 Primitive Archer Online is a large global community.   As archers, what are your opinions on this left and right helix ?                                                                                 
                                                                                       Broken Arrow                   

                                                                 Photo Captions
                                           0059.jpg...............Right helix screw thread
                                           0088.jpg...............Left wing helix fluflu
                                           0082.jpg...............Right wing helix fluflu
                                           0093.jpg...............Right and left helix fluflu's
                                           


 


   


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[Hillbilly]

My opinion is that I have tried both many times, and I can't tell a durn bit of practical difference myself. As long as all the feathers on an arrow are from the same wing, I don't care which way it spins. If I'm making a set, I usually do them all with right-wing or all left-wing, but I just can't see that it makes much difference-lefts and rights group tohgether as well for me as all of one or the other. Plus I use more collected feathers from game birds than I buy, so using both wings gives me twice as many feathers. I think that I would have to become a much, much, more accurate shooter before I would notice any difference at all.

[sonny]

no spin is imparted until the arrow has left the bow.............
AND a properly spined arrow only touches the bow for a very short period of time once the string is released, the fletching (when of a reasonable height) missing the bow entirely.
 
 

[Pat B]

Art Butner sent these arrows to me without fletching. I found a set of turkey wings in my man frig; one left wing and one right. I took the 9 best flight feathers from each wing and made 3 right wing sets of fletching and 3 sets of left. I shot them this past weekend from two entirely different bows at the NC Trad Bow Champs and they all shot very well. I use a JoJan straight fletch jig(not helical) and offset it to the right or left as the feathers dictated .....and here they are.

[Pat B]

The color wrap at the forward end of the fletch indicates it's rotation.