1st primitive arrow build 2 fletch Eastern Woodland...a few questions

[shackleton]

 Actually my 1st arrow build period.As far as mounting the fletching I'll be using back sinew,securing the turkey feather in the front and rear of the feather.All the videos I've seen so far the sinew only secured these points and only used sinew ,no additional gluing agent.Will that be enough to hold or should I coat the sinew with something to help secure it.
 Another question ..I'm going to seal the arrow with a beeswax/animal fat product obtained from Pinehollow longbows....will that coating hinder the sinews ability to adhere to the shaft?
  Anything needed on sinew to "weatherproof " it?
As far as hafting the point ..the first few will be field points...but will be purchasing some obsidian points from Ryan Gill.What your favorite metho in addition to sinew to secure the heads.I'm tempted to purchase a pitch stick to use.How secure will pitch/sinew combo be or is it skill dependent operation?
 Lots of questions...lokk forward to any and all advice.
Scott

[Trapper Rob]

You can use pitch varnish on the sinew.

[Pat B]

You can hand rub the bees wax/fat into the shaft until it heats up then lay it flat to cool. After that, wipe off the excess treatment and you should be fine.
I chew the sinew to soften it and by doing so my saliva and the sinew makes it's own glue. Once that dries well I seal it with pitch varnish. For pitch varnish I use hard brittle pitch and dissolve it it denatured alcohol. Strain out the debris and keep it in a sealed jar and it last a long time.  I seal all sinew wraps, fletching, self nocks and hafted head with this pitch varnish. Once the alcohol flashes off the pitch will set, hard and not sticky.
 I use pitch glue for stone and trade points with a sinew wrap.

[shackleton]

You can hand rub the bees wax/fat into the shaft until it heats up then lay it flat to cool. After that, wipe off the excess treatment and you should be fine.
I chew the sinew to soften it and by doing so my saliva and the sinew makes it's own glue. Once that dries well I seal it with pitch varnish. For pitch varnish I use hard brittle pitch and dissolve it it denatured alcohol. Strain out the debris and keep it in a sealed jar and it last a long time.  I seal all sinew wraps, fletching, self nocks and hafted head with this pitch varnish. Once the alcohol flashes off the pitch will set, hard and not sticky.
 I use pitch glue for stone and trade points with a sinew wrap.

This may be a dumb question but I purchased pitch resin...can I make something similar ?

[mullet]

Yes. get some Pine sap, beeswax, charcoal, and a filler like rabbit, deer poo, crumble it into the mixture to give it some body. You Pine sap, charcoal and poo is your main ingredients. Add the Bee's wax to thin it.

[Pat B]

I think the pitch resin you bought doesn't get hard. It is for something else. Find some pine trees and look for damaged areas that are oozing sap. The old, hard, brittle stuff works best. If you get sticky sap you will have to cook out the volatile oils so the pitch gets hard and is not sticky until you heat it.

[Buck67]

I make my pitch glue for adhering arrowheads with Pine sap scavenged from pine trees, beeswax and crushed charcoal.  Equal parts of each.  That makes for an amazing waterproof adhesive that really works well holding flint tips.  Be careful reducing the dried pine pitch, do it out of doors, it is flammable so be careful.  A handful of dried pine sap will produce enough refined pine sap to fill an Altoids can.

Check out some of the Cherokee and Great Lakes fletching methods, the feathers are only attached at the front and the nock.  I have done that design on some of my practice arrows and have gotten hundreds of shots with them before a feather breaks.