Helical

Helical fletching will set the vane at a slight offset at the back and then curve the vane back in the opposite direction toward the front. Adding this “twist” to the vane will give your arrow the maximum amount of rotation in flight, thus resulting in the best broadhead stability and greatest accuracy. Right helical is standard in today’s industry, Left helical is a more traditional style. Both work equally well.

Straight

Straight fletching will set all three vanes in a straight line down the arrow shaft. This style is popular for crossbows with narrow rails and archers using traditional equipment. Straight fletching offers the least amount of drag in flight, giving a very slight increase in arrow speed, at the loss of some accuracy and broadhead stabilization.

Offset

Offset fletching sets the vanes in a straight line, but at a 4-degree angle down the arrow. This style is popular again for crossbows due to their rail systems. Offset fletching offers moderate accuracy and broadhead stabilization.

All E-Z Fletch tools work with plastic vanes or feathers. To select the tool that will work best for you, see the table below and find the Xs that line up with what you’re using. For example, if I’m fletching Easton Axis shafts, which are 17/64″ diameter with Blazer vanes, the Carbon Mini, Carbon Right Helical and Carbon Straight would all work. I like a lot of helical, so the Mini is the tool that would work best for me.

Most vane or feather manufacturers recommend a glue for their specific product. The commonly used Blazer vanes (and most other plastic vanes) work best with Bohning’s Fletch-Tite Platinum. Any vane from AAE, such as Max Hunters or Stealth, should be used with AAE’s Max Bond glue because the vanes have an activator on the base that bonds with that specific glue.

Do NOT clean the base of your vanes. This will remove any activator the manufacturer put on and will weaken your glue bond. Only clean your arrow shaft. You can use either denatured alcohol or acetone to clean your arrow shafts and ensure a good fletching bond.

For vinyl-based glues such as Fletch-Tite, leave vanes in the fletching tool for 3-5 minutes, and 10-15 minutes for feathers. For cyanoacrylate glues (super glue), leave the vane or feather in the tool for 2-3 minutes. Beware leaving cyanoacrylate glues in the tool for too long, since the glue can seep out and bond the vane to the tool itself.

A small wire brush can be used to clean old glue out of the tool. For excessive glue buildup, the E-Z Fletch can be soaked in acetone.