To wrap or not to wrap???
Equipment
I started wrapping my arrows about 10 years ago mainly to help the vanes hang on as well as for visibility. I have a dozen arrows ready to fletch and since they're white the visibility angle isn't important any more and I'm thinking that since I switched to gorilla glue maybe adhesion won't be an issue either?
can't argue with that statement.
Why not wrap and be safe if you know it works. And it would keep the weight the same.
Bou, his statement had a ? at the end.;) I've never used gorilla glue but I have never had trouble getting vanes to stick to shafts. Vanes are fairly inexpensive so try it without wraps and if you don't like it, put wraps on.
I use wraps to put a personal touch on each of my arrows... they look cool, and they say something about the person holding the bow, IMO.
Also, one of the biggest advantages to using wraps, is they easily peel off the carbon with a little heat from a hair dryer or steam pot. I've scratched up and gouged the carbon before I used wraps, when removing the vanes. Besides, I usually like to play around with different vanes and color combos, so it just makes fletching them a little more hassle free.
If you're looking for the best quality wraps money can buy, look up a guy named MuzzyHunter on Webstore.com. He will custom make any design you have in mind, and they are top notch!
Biggest advantage for wraps for me is visibility as mentioned, and making them reflective wraps so I can find lost arrows. I've had better luck finding a couple arrows with the reflective wraps then when I shot lighted nocks a few times. I think I had two different pass throughs with lighted nocks where the nock gets covered in blood (good problem to have) but then emits zero light. Reflective wraps are crazy reflective.
I wrap for visibility and for when I refletch, so I'm not scraping into the sidewall of the arrow removing the old fletches!
I've always wondered what the reflective wraps look like to animals. I like the thought of them but it seams they would be really noticeable to an animal.
I originally switched to wraps for adhesion issues. I switched back to not using them for adhesion issues. I can get much better vane adhesion to a bare shaft and don't have to fool with the annoyance of removing the wrap when refletching.
I've never wrapped, but I've removed wraps and NO THANK YOU! And not to pound FOC into the dirt, but a wrap is the exact opposite of what you want.
OH, to each is own, but my 'wraps' have not affected FOC...It actually makes vane removal easier, just have to know how to do it...Soaked in hot water and they come right off, no mess no fuss!
As said above, personalized and visibility can't be beat!
If you have trouble removing wraps, you haven't warmed them up enough. Hold in boiling water or use hair dryer and they peel right off. Although I like to use something to wipe off any glue residue before re-wrapping.
Another option is to buy reflective pin striping tape for auto or motor cycles and just put a band between the fletching and the knock. Doesn't add much weight and really stands out at night with a flashlight.
I wrap for visibility. I HATE losing arrows. Plus I think they look cool. And they make refletching easy with no damage scraping the shaft. Hot water or a heat gun, peel, wipe off adhesive with acetone or lacquer thinner and a rag. Ready to go.
I don't think adhesion is a reason to or not to use them, if done right adhesion is a non-issue either way. Neither is FOC. I think I'm running 10-15%, I forget, been years since I figured it all out. Plenty anyway.
Gorilla glue? The stuff that foams up? I'd use super glue ultra gel if you wanted faster setting or a good fletching cement otherwise. The vinyl based glues work pretty well with wraps.... but so does the super glue and it's much faster.
I was gonna add my .02, but TD beat me to the punch. What he said are my thoughts exactly, including the ultra gel.
Love me some wraps for better visibility! Removal is no problem, either.
I've stuck em in boiling water, but for me removing them off of FMJ's has been a PIA. Maybe it is easier from straight carbons?
I like wraps but mine always seem to get all bloody! :)
"I wrap for visibility. I Hate losing arrows."
I thought that too, but still seem to lose a few every year....Lol
Brots, that's a good problem to have! ;-)
I wrap mine I don't like scraping glue off arrows.
I have found wraps positive for two reasons:
1: white wraps help me to confirm what I thought I saw regarding my shot placement....ie...bright red bubbles (lung!), dark red (muscle) or green matte (gut)....and thus determine the all important blood trailing steps.
2: wraps have helped me "weld" my vanes to my wraps/arrows.
Hope this helps,
Mark
I have been using wraps for all my arrows, particularly the reflective ones for visibility. Keep in mind though, reflective wraps weigh a lot more than standard wraps. I am building a new set of Black Eagle Spartans with lighted nocks. To keep the back end weight down I am fetching with no wrap and only adding a small reflective wrap behind the nocks. I don't want the added weight of both the full reflective wrap and the lighted nock. This will keep my FOC very similar to the arrows I have been shooting. With a 31 inch draw achieving a decent FOC can be a struggle.
I have never had a problem refletching with no wrap. If you are damaging shafts while removing glue residue you are doing something wrong. Wrong tools, wrong method, or just being too aggressive.
Sorry, fat fingers. With flash.
Wraps are great for helping to find arrows after the shot, providing evidence of the hit (both visually at the point of impact and after the fact by making sign on the arrow more visible), and for the ease of refletching. Other than cost, I see not practical downside.
FOC is becoming the most overblown concept in the history of modern bowhunting - as though adding 7 grains to the tail end of an arrow is going to be the marginal difference regarding success.
Reflective wraps weigh around 24 grains & a lighted nock 20 grains. So in my case it's not adding 7 grains, more like 44 minus 10 for a regular nock. I don't want to add 34 grains to tbe back of my arrow. I like to have a decent FOC, not necessarily a EFOC.
I used to, but don't anymore. Arrows that come with a factory wrap are removed before fletching. As mentioned to each their own and it's purely a personal thing. Most wraps do add a little bit of weight to the back, but no more than 6 - 10 grains or so.
Ghost birds arrows look SWEET!
The gorilla glue I have been using is the gel, works great!
I wrapped a dozen and when it came time to reflech I didn't know about the hot water trick. I cut wraps off and refleched with out. Iv thought about cresting arrow again, with the new paints out there would be fun.
I've used wraps for many years. Life is too short to shoot ugly arrows !
"...hunting is not fashion show ..." ;-)
To each their own, but from my perspective life is too short to spend a bunch of time dolling up an arrow that I will eventually lose or break.
Unless of course you're dollin' em up so as to make it HARDER to lose.... =D
WRT fashion show, I've been told I'm just a walking talking fashion statement.... OK, maybe not so much as a statement as a string of swear words.....
