Vellum fletching

[DC]

How thick does the vellum have to be? My son has some in his stash of stuff. He says it's a little thicker than writing paper. Will that work? I just want to try an arrow or two and the minimum I can buy is 25 sheets, enough to make fletching for a small army.

[Aaron H]

I've never looked at any up close, but from the pictures I have have seen, they seem pretty thick.

[Aaron H]

You may have seen these before...

[JNystrom]

Of course you want it to be as thin as possible, but rigid at the same time.

Some rawhide's are somehow harder and make thinner fletchings, so i would prefer those. My friend tanned his own deer hide and ended up with superior fletchings.
I just measured my arrows and those had 0,5mm thick (1/50 of an inch) goat hide fletching. With good, stiff hide you might be able to lose as much as half of the thickness... i think.

[PatM]

Does he have real vellum or the fake stuff?

[Badger]

  A couple of years ago i took some water buffalo horn to a water jet cutter and he sliced it up in .008 thin strips for fletching. Very stiff like razor blades and still primitive. I have never tried them yet.

[DC]

Does he have real vellum or the fake stuff?

That I'm not sure of, but if it's just a little thicker than paper it's probably too thin isn't it?

[PatM]

  It would depend on how stiff it is per  thickness.   But if it's not real vellum then there's probably dozens of other materials that would match it.

 Not sure if you're trying to be authentic or just experimenting with solid fletching material.

[DC]

I'm just experimenting but I would prefer natural stuff. I've been eyeing those PET plastic cookie/cake trays. Same kind of stuff that pop/soda bottles are made from. It's recyclable, does that count toward natural

[Scyth]

DC -

I believe they “sized” it with shellac . . . but I can’t find the reference.

regard,

Scyth

[willie]

Don,

drafting paper comes in various finishes, one is called "vellum"

[DC]

My son does calligraphy and illumination. I just don't think he would cheap out on the writing surface but I'm still waiting to hear from him.
A couple of questions. If you're using stiff fletchings, is it advisable to wear a glove? I shoot off my hand and the fletch rarely hits me but the idea of something rigid  going by my hand gives me the willies(sorry Willie )
Also with the rigid fletching almost on the nock, how do you get your fingers around the string?

[Scyth]

DC -

Note : the alignment fletching vs. the alignment nock . . . and a
thumb-ring  resolve the problem of how to fit the fletching to the fingers.

regards,

Scyth

[DC]

Another question. I thought that the fletch would be in a groove but your shafts are wrapped in sinew first. Do you just butt the fletch up to the sinew and hide glue it?

[Scyth]

Another question. I thought that the fletch would be in a groove but your shafts are wrapped in sinew first. Do you just butt the fletch up to the sinew and hide glue it?

Yup.

Scyth