Good tutorial Jim. I couldn’t agree more, I’ve been using one for ages and it’s brilliant. There’s definitely something quite satisfying about fletching your own arrows. To anybody thinking about giving it a go, you really should, it’s very easy, just a little practice needed to know how much glue to apply to the fletchings.
Really useful video, thanks for putting this together. I've got multiple jigs and find the Cartel Jigs the best for the price, thy are pretty robust and I've used mine when teaching scouts and newbies how to make arrows. One tip I would add is, rather than removing the ball bearing, spring etc for the 4 fletch set up. I have marked the rotation dial in 3 places so I know exactly which are for the 3 fletching. Like you I also mark the fletching clamp to ensure each fletching is at the right position.
Hello there Grizzly Jim. It’s just me, your new stalke… um, I mean, buddy, Plagiarising Jim. I bought one of these jigs as it was all I could afford. It does the job well, if not squeakily, like you mentioned. I would add (not to be a smarty - I’m really not) that there is also a small grub screw on the actual dial that rotates the arrow. This is to fine tune the cock feather placement. I only knew this because mine wasn’t set up perfectly ‘out of the box’ and I had to fiddle about to get it perfectly aligned. Straight shooting all. Thanks for the vid Jim! 👍🏻
Thank you. I have a set to refletch and will try. The missing detail was putting the top of the clamp as far back as you can get it. I've been guiding off the bottom and have not achieved the look I was after
I have two jigs, one from cartel and the other is decut nexus..I prefer decut nexus jig, easy and smooth setting..just click to select recurve or compound ..
I've got the helical right wing version & it's definitely my least favourite jig. I love my Decut Nexus jig which does 3 & 4 fletch. It's possible to stick a couple of pieces of hockey tape to the clamp which you can use to tension the clamp down against the spine of the jig for a really tight glue joint, even on bamboos. I don't know if Merlin stock it, but they should consider it. To be fair the cartel is perfectly serviceable for perfectly regular shafts.
Ive got the Cartel Midas vertical fletching jig... Again, no instructions in the box but its simple to setup... Ive altered mine so I can do 3 fletch, 4 fletch and 90 degree 4 fletch.
I have the Big one...great , just take your time , (as with anything for best results) but easily does 7" feathers for my Longbow arrows. And Extremely good value for money!
I'm having a problem with mine - the rotation is really stiff - hurts the thumb. Can't quite find the stops either for some reason. It is an old jig and worked great before. Any tips?
I make my own arrows as well, 3fletch, but somehow, my bottom feather (the one touching the shelf) wears out quite quickly. I've been playing with my arrow nockheight, but It doesnt seem to make a difference. Any ideas? Or is this normal. (I'm having this effect on 2 different bows as well)
Good question... if its not the nock height, could be the arrow spine? if I start to have that problem, I tend to rotate my nock around... Hope that helps?
