Need some ideas for my arrow cresting....

[Cottonwood]

I got a good trade for some arrows, his Easton 2117's for my CX carbons.

Anyway, the 2117's are a mix of several colored shafts.  Some black, gold and green, but all are 2117's and they are now cut to what I need at 30 1/4" long.  I just got finished removing the flow orange on some, and sunshine yellow on the others.  So I need some ideas for the pain color that will run 7" or 8" and then crested.

This ought to be fun 

[FeetDownHonkers]

I used to do a lot of Cresting and still do my own when I get time , getting back into the traditional thing , although I shoot a custom Oneida , fingers and instinctive . Anyway ! I prefer white crown dip and then I will tape off the lower part of the shaft and then get out the air brush and feather in from dark to light working towards the nock end . I like red , then I will crest the lower portion with black and gold or something to that sort , then I add some feather splicing to the cock feather to match . A one of a kind arrow that no one else has . I may have a few I can post a picture off, but they might not be crested . Just white with the red shading , two grey barred and a grey barred with red splice on the cock feather . they look awesome . Just some ideas !

[FeetDownHonkers]

Here's a picture of a couple , I always take the time to do very precise splices . Problem is that its time consuming , but the finished shaft says a lot in my opinion .

[All Hawks Kill]

I'm a fan of white as it makes finding arrows easier.  I although have come to perfer crest wraps as the fletching will hold better and the wraps will take more abuse than the paint.  Also if one of the wraps are damaged, it is fairly easy to replace it and refletch the arrow.  Here is a picture of some carbons I did a few months ago.

[Cottonwood]

All Hawks Kill, I like those.

Now those look fletched straight to me, could I be wrong?  I have thought about trying my Arizona Easy Fletch, but have resisted because its a straight instead of a right. 

Your thoughts please.

[All Hawks Kill]

Cotton, they are right heli, but not as extreme as some.  I use a Bitzenburger jig that is adjustable so you can play with the amount of twist you get.  I've found lighter needs less and heavier you need more twist, kind of like a rifle's rifling. 

I've also found you can get away with straight on compounds but I've never been able to stablize an arrow to my liking out of a longbow or recurve with straight fletching.  Now that's me, I know a lot of guys & gals that do shoot straight with traditional setups.

[Cottonwood]

All Hawks Kill, that would be the Dial-O-Fletch Bitzenburger that you have right?  The Arizona Easy Fletch that I have did work well for the modern bow, but I don't want to do that after what you said, as I shoot a heavy arrow from the 55# BamaBow.  These 2117's can wait, but I will work on the back of them with getting them painted and ready.  Looks like I will need the Dia-O-Fletch, Bitz Clamp and Bitz Indexer to get properly started on the fletching project.

Next question:  Glue or Tape for fletching with.

Next question: Painting shafts.  All of these 2117's are differant in color.  Some gold, some black and some green.  Will painting them lightly add that much more weight to the shaft.  I was thinking about shooting them all light brown, with a white 7" to 8" then I will figure on my cresting stripes.  I'm going to get my own varable speed motor, and my brother in law is going to build my Crester for me in his wood shop.

Thanks
Jon

[All Hawks Kill]

All Hawks Kill, that would be the Dial-O-Fletch Bitzenburger that you have right?  The Arizona Easy Fletch that I have did work well for the modern bow, but I don't want to do that after what you said, as I shoot a heavy arrow from the 55# BamaBow.  These 2117's can wait, but I will work on the back of them with getting them painted and ready.  Looks like I will need the Dia-O-Fletch, Bitz Clamp and Bitz Indexer to get properly started on the fletching project.  Yep it is the Dial-O-Fletch.  What I did was fletched a couple of arrows on each setting until I found what flew best.

Next question:  Glue or Tape for fletching with.  I've always used Duco Cement, it has always worked best with feather fletching.  Heck it works good on other project as well, so I always have a few tubes around.

Next question: Painting shafts.  All of these 2117's are differant in color.  Some gold, some black and some green.  Will painting them lightly add that much more weight to the shaft.  I was thinking about shooting them all light brown, with a white 7" to 8" then I will figure on my cresting stripes.  I'm going to get my own varable speed motor, and my brother in law is going to build my Crester for me in his wood shop.

Thanks
Jon

As far as how much weight is added, I can't tell you off hand.  I do know that you want them to be as front heavy as possble.  You might want to try out some of the weighted brass inserts in the front.  I've used them in carbons and they work great for adding some extra weight in the front.

Sounds like a good deal on the crester, you got a good BIL!

[Cottonwood]

Here are two arrows, both are the same Easton 400 2117's, and I decided to just play around so to speak.  I shot 90% of the shaft brown, then after the brown was dry, taped off and shot the back end white.  I added some cresting decals that I had, just for an example of what I may be going for later.



I got a long way to get to get this perfected, but I figure that I have 2 dozen aluminum shafts to get some OJT with.

[All Hawks Kill]

Looking good so far!  Are you going to put a clear coat over the paint after you finish?

If you are then I will suggest using Gasket Lacquer.  It's tough and with 3 Rivers' Speed Coat system it is easy and fast to apply.

http://www.3riversarchery.com/Arrow+Building+Paint+Sealer+Stain+Gasket+Lacquer+Finish_c52_s223_p245_i6000X_product.html

http://www.3riversarchery.com/Speed+Coat++Arrow+Dipping+System_i6200_baseitem.html

[Cottonwood]

All Hawks Kill that is the plan after I get some pocket money ahead, so I can get all my cresting and dipping needs taken care of.  I bought by 60# Longbow just before a buddy of mine sold me his BamaBow Hunter model 55# @ 28"', and I sure like the BamaBow better.  So the other LB is going up for sale.

I got to fill the need now to do my own arrows, the traditional way 

[All Hawks Kill]

Cotton, I fully understand.  I'm still the same way with my own arrows.  I've collected all my tools and such not for myself per say, but from building arrows for other folks.  I was a hobby, that turned into a job, that I'd really like to be a hobby again.  It was fun when it was just a hobby, and I'd make some arrows every once in a while for friends or friends of friends.  I've got a project I'm getting ready to start for myself though.  I'm going to build myself a dozen 4 feather medieval style arrows.  The Doc has cleared me to start shooting so I'm pumped, and I want to make that set of arrows and then do the video that Scout asked for using them.

Good luck to you on your projects, and I'll try to answer any question I can to help out.  BTW if I'm slow to respond it's because I'm up in Colorado all week for work and will only get on the net in the evenings for a short time......

[Frank V]

I'm a bit late, but fletching tape (3-Rivers Archery) will stick to almost any cresting paint.
Frank