shaft and feather orientation

[okware]

its been a while since i've been involved in any of this but here goes. I was under the impression that  the narrow end of a naturally tapered shaft was used to accept the projectile point, is that now changed? my father and his buddies were doing this stuff back in the in the 60's and now that im retired I want to get back into it, seems things have changed. i've seen the hamm, waldorf and wallentine books that all used the narrow end of the shaft for the point?  my second question is about the 2 fletch. on a right curved turkey tail feather which side of the feather is stripped short the longer vanes on right side or the shorter vanes on the left. if anyone could shed some light on this.

[Pat B]

Weight forward helps an arrow fly better and the big(butt) end of a shoot shaft naturally allows for weight forward arrows. I have seen a few Native arrows with the butt end the nock but they are not common from my viewpoint.

[okware]

so in your opinion what would the diameter of the knock end need to be for reasonable grip.(5/16")I hope or i've cut about 30 useless shafts. I recently got a copy of native American bows arrows and quivers, which is why im questioning what I thought to be the most common setup a large portion of these woodland shafts were split from hardwood and not shoots at all as I originally believed to be true.

[Hawkdancer]

I'm not real experienced as an arrow smith,  but you could probably build up the nock area with sinew, or rawhide wraps to get enough diameter.  Do what works!  Welcome back to the fold!  These folks have a wealth of knowledge to tap.
Hawkdancer

[Pat B]

5/16" is what my sourwood shoot arrow nocks are and about 3/8" or slightly less for the point end on a 30" arrow.
 If you are trying to make arrows with a pinch type nock, (bulbous) then the butt end will be the nock end but you'll have to reduce the shaft  coming up to the nock.

[okware]

thanks hawkdancer, at one time I thought the butt end was the knock end yntil reading over some literature that made me question my approach. I have some poplar ash shafts cut and shaped as well as some osier I guess its time to experiment. thanks for your thoughts. 

[Tom Leemans]

Weight (fat end) forward has been the more recent philosophy, but I had some cane arrows from a friend that were done the other way and they flew just fine. They had self nock inserts. I exclusively shoot Tonkin cane anymore. I plug the fat (point) end with an 1/8" dowel and taper with a taper tool. The nock end is usually plugged with a bamboo skewer and tapered for a flo pink plastic nock. With all of the time invested, I like to find my arrows when the wood spirits make them stray from their intended path.

[Pat B]

Tom, I've found over the years that it isn't necessary to plug the ends, nock or point. Sinew wraps for self nocks, stone and trade points keeps them together. If you taper the ends for plastic nocks and commercial glue on points the tapered socket does the work to hold them together. I know it's difficult to change horses in the middle of the stream but I thought I'd add my experiences anyway.