From The Lab
(Just outside Historic Sedro-Woolley)
I have been fletching my own arrows for thirty five years. After moving from store bought cedar shaft arrows, the first arrows I personally fletched were alloy shafts with turkey feathers. I still have arrows done with feathers from twenty years ago that are stuck on so tight you will need determination, a razor knife and a large measure of harsh language to get them off. As an example of the quality of that adhesive I will relate a brief story. My adult granddaughter visited us and lost one of those arrows in the grass. Two years later, I found that arrow with the feathers rotted off but the split quill base was still firmly attached to the alloy shaft. They were all applied using the then “industry standard” Fletchtite glue.
More recently I have fooled around with carbon shafts but then eventually returned to alloy shafts for reasons best left to another column. I also gave up the feathers and went to the ubiquitous and now “industry standard” and might I say “excellent” two inch Blazer vane in ’08. At that time, I was still able to obtain my reliable Fletchtite glue and had no problems bonding the Blazers to the aluminum. But then the same thing my wife has complained about for years with her eye liner happened to me: The formula changed to the “new and improved” Fletchtite Platinum.
I have been around and around with Bohnig about not being able to get the Blazers to stick reliably to my alloy shafts. With all due credit to Bohning; they really have accommodated me with outstanding technical support, customer service, new Blazers, a new tube of Platinum and even supplying me with a bottle of their Quantum XT Instant Gel. They have sent me new Blazers on two separate occasions but still I had them falling off once in a while. This past spring I bought two dozen new Easton XX78 Super Slam 2413s (with their patented Permagraphic camouflage) and used both of Bohning’s adhesives and a new package of Black 2 inch Blazers. I prepped the shafts using very hot water, powdered scrubbing cleanser (Comet) as outlined in the Blazer instructions and air dried the shafts before beginning the gluing process (one half of the shafts done with Fletchtite Platinum and one group with Bohnig’s Quantum XT Instant Gel).
I thought I had success…until the weather changed. Now that it’s cooled off (I practice throughout the year no matter how cold…OK, I won’t practice if it is below Zero or pouring rain) and I have my newest Blazers shedding from both groups. It looks like someone has been plucking a black plastic chicken in front of my target.
As much as I enjoy building new arrows, I detest repairing new arrows even more.
In another life outside of archery, I had extensive experience in bonding elastomers to various metallic substrates and felt this problem was well within my ability to solve. I decided to share my problem with my friends on the various archery related forums and was interested to find that I was not alone in using alloy shafts and somewhat gratified to learn that quite a few others were having the same bonding issues and not only with alloys. Suggestions came in from far and wide regarding shaft prepping strategies, adhesive types and alternate vane suggestions. I determined to keep the variables to a minimum and elected to stay with the Blazers (Hey, they work great…when they stay put).
All of my bond failures had been at the metal substrate. In other words, the vast majority of the adhesive was stuck to the base of the vane and very little, if any, was left behind on the shaft. That fact alone pointed to inadequate/improper prepping of the shaft. In every instance where one vane has been lost, when testing that shaft’s remaining vanes there was an audible “pop” when another bond failed.
Denatured alcohol (non-potable ethanol or ethyl alcohol) and isopropyl alcohol (pure rubbing type) had both been suggested as solvent preps. I had been warned against using the normal 50% by volume isopropyl solution readily available over the counter. I obtained 99% Isopropyl (Swan brand) from a medical supplier. High quality denatured alcohol; lacquer thinner, acetone (all Klean Strip brand), Ajax and Comet along with a 150 sanding block and a handful of various “super glue” adhesives also went into my Walmart shopping buggy. Bob Smith’s Maxi-Cure adhesive and Arizona Archery Enterprises Max Clean came from a popular national archery supply house as this was the combination they said they were using on their alloy shafts.
The list of suggested adhesives from those who had read my initial forum post was less than ten. As there were multiple recommendations for the same glue, I elected to obtain a sample of each of the most popular. I weighted those with multiple recommendations as “must test adhesives” while others that I stumbled upon were added as incidentals for the satisfaction of my own curiosity and decided to re-test the few adhesives I already had on hand. The balance of the suggested adhesives was purchased from E-Bay internet stores.
After seeing the repeated suggestions for using various Loctite products, I went to the Henkel Corporation web-site and used their adhesive selector feature and plugged in the details for my application. Interestingly, none of the cyno-acrylate glue products were recommended by Loctite. The application guide suggested Loctite Stik’n Seal Extreme Conditions adhesive. Please note: There Loctite lists specific types of plastics not to be used with this adhesive. When queried, Bohning confirmed the compound they are using in their Blazer vanes (while secret) would not be affected negatively by the Stik-N-Seal.
The testing parameters were as follows:
1. The fletching jig is a Bitzenberger Dial-A-Fletch, using a left helical clamp.
2. I used a Phillips, Heat Ray, 230 watt, infrared heat lamp hung over the work area at a distance of 18 inches above the actual fletching jig. After stabilization, the work area maintained an ambient temperature of 79 degrees Fahrenheit as measured by my digital probe thermometer. An air circulating fan was pointed at the ceiling to avoid temperature stratification in the work area and promote drying.
3. Each of the shafts was lightly sanded in the intended bonding area using a 150 grit sanding block or in the case of the Max Clean I used the provided Scotch Brite scouring pad prior to the solvent treatment.
4. After removing the remnant glue using a razor knife and abrasive treatment, each of the arrows was scrubbed using a new paper towel soaked in the specified solvent until the shafts actually “squeaked”. Note: This was the first time I had ever heard the sound coming from a shaft like that heard when someone rubs his wetted finger around the rim of his Chablis glass.
5. Each individual shaft was held vertically by the point in a large foam block until its time in the fletching jig to minimize contamination.
If a shaft remained unfletched for more than two hours, it received an additional solvent bath until again squeaky clean and was air dried.
6. Each shaft received a minimum 10 minutes air dry time prior to fletching. In the case of the lacquer thinner, a period of 4 hours air drying time was allowed (as was suggested from internet input). In the case of the hot water rinse, 30 minutes was allowed.
7. Each vane received a minimum of 30 minutes in the clamp fixture regardless of adhesive type.
8. The humidity hovered between 55 and 60 percent.
9. Each shaft received 48 hours minimum cure time at room temperature prior to destructive bond testing.
Yes, you heard that right. I went to all of this trouble only to actively attempt removal of the vanes by twisting, peeling and prying (sometimes including the use of harsh language) to see how well they were adhered to the shafts. I purchased a pair of Vice-Grip sheet metal working pliers with large, flat “lips” for solidly grasping the vanes. After clamping the vane firmly, I first tried rotating the vane perpendicular to the shaft axis (shear). Secondly, I then folded the vane to both sides of the shaft, repeatedly (tensile). Then, if I was unable to break the bond mechanically, I used my trusty razor knife (cut/tear) to damage the bond at the leading edge and attempted to tear the vane off from front to rear.
Ideally, a perfect bond will not separate from the metal substrate or the elastomer substrate but actually break down the center of the bonding agent leaving equal amounts on the metal and elastomer (or thermoplastic in this case). In the case of the Blazers, when perfect bond was achieved, the vane actually extruded between the lips of my Vice Grips and then tore at the base juncture (much like my rotted feather example) leaving the base attached to the shaft. That is what I refer to that as a 100% bond success and that is the result I was after!
Not all of adhesives I tested are listed in this report.
The adhesives included in this report are:
Bohnig Fletch-Tite Platinum
Gorilla Super Glue Impact Tough (baby blue cap)…repeated suggestions
Loctite Super Glue Ultra Gel Control…repeated suggestions
Goat Tuff Products Quality Archery Glue (local Pro shop advice and internet suggestions)
Loctite Super Glue Professional Liquid
Hobbyking.com Maxi-Cure Extra Thick Cyno acrylate (national archery supply suggestion)
Loctite Stik-N-Seal Extreme Conditions
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