Wow thats actually remarkable, alot of patience, and hand/eye coordination, the way you tied off is also a great way to finish off serving. Really good informative video,

this was the long lost video I've been trying to find again, after seeing before... on the thread binding and tying to finish off the fletching

Watching this was sooooo satisfying

Best description I've seen yet of finishing off binding!

This actually blew my mind for some reason. Amazing! Thank you! I'll definitely be experimenting with this technique!

I caught that smirk with the "whipping and binding ... your shaft". lol

This is where I learned to make medieval type arrows. I also saw a video where a guy used a pointed stick to make separating the web of the feather easier.

Always good for a laugh mixed with good info, thanks Richard!

Thanks for the video !! I was turning mad trying to get the end of the thread under the loops in a convenient way !! :) Thank you dude !!

This was strangely therapeutic, and I even learned something!

Nice whipping, how close and tightly bound it is. This is somewhere I feel to many people give in to laziness at and ruin what would be otherwise perfect arrow. It's a major pet peeve of mine.

I just love watching this kind of craftmanship. I was surprised that the string was bright through the entire length of feather. Just to think, this level of work for one shot with a bow. I suppose fletching was handed down in the family, and they learned to work very fast while staying very precise.

Wow! From 7:20 to the end........ LOVEEEEE that trick to tie it off secure! I will sooooo employ this technique with MY fletchings! Thanks for posting! I just learned something new!

I've been looking for a video like this for a while, thank you very much, I will be using this technique for my own arrows. Great video! :)

A work of art!

Brilliant video and I have to agree with the silence thing, especially after a few minutes of your personal issues with your shaft. I want to say keep up the good work but it just don't sit well with me. So ill just say thank you for taking the time to make these video clips.

Beautiful. Fletching perfection!

Many thanks, but as I have mentioned above I didn't want to distract on this video, also I am trying out all types of video making to keep my interest up. I haver plenty of videos with music on that I have either played myself of got Richard to play on. I will take a look at the site you mention, thanks again.

Yes, they are grey, you can see them on our webshop, thanks for the question.

I've been gluing the ends down with super glue. Many thanks for the wonderful video because my old method SUCKED!!!

Great video !

Yes, this does help, thanks...

Thank you !! I've been trying to figure out on my own how to attach the end of string / thread without using knots .... very clever! ohh and BTW ... whip and bind your shaft the look on your face hehee

No sound is deliberate, its not needed and music over something so technical is cheesy and annoying, plus I have no intention of paying the greedy music industry any more money than they already get.

Great videos, I have a full wood shop and want to make my own medieval longbow arrows and crossbow bolts. What type of thread are you using for the fletching? Is it critical as to what kind? I have a lot of USGI large surplus spools of medium thread in nice colors, wonder if that will work?

Yes, that was fun to do.

Thank you.

Please could you tell me if this will be suitable on 4" shield feathers? Hoping to try this on my new arrows to make them a bit more special. Thanks

Pretty slick !! Is there a glue of some kind for smoothing out the front and back ends, once completed ??

With just the ambient sound while wrapping this could be proper meditative to watch. The rustle of the feathers might even induce ASMR...care to branch out? 😜😂😂😂😂😂😂 I love making arrows. It's very meditative for me, so maybe that's why i also get the feeling from simply watching a good fletcher do his art.

Excellent

Ive recently started making some arrows of my own but when you came to the end to tie down the whipping my question is strength fray wear? would you recommend a coat of epoxy resin like bug bond little dap under uv light for tying flies whip finish I tie flies also to seal it btw great video its very relaxing

Hi, its because the glue used in the period this type of arrow represents would not be suitable in the rain, so binding the feathers on makes them more secure in battle.

Thanks this is a great resource! I wish I could make mine that neat and tidy. I have a couple of questions. What weight linen thread to you use to bind? And must the binding be that tight? Yours appears to be about at 1/8 inch interval. Thanks! M.E. Hubbs, author of "The Archer's Son."

great!

I've been trying to master this for ages but I always manage to bugger up the feathers !!!

what string do you use for fletching,serving?

What was the length of the bind? And what type of material did you use to bind the feathers on?

Very nicely demonstrated. Btw it looks like the feathers are left wing. Would you use the same direction when binding if the feathers are right wing feathers?

I love that there is no music. Many good videos have ruined with music. This is great. What is the thread you are using?

How did you keep the arrows so still while binding them? For me I cannot seem to keep them in the same place while wrapping them.

and what do you use afterwards to not shoot of the thread?

Hi. Making my first attempts at re whipping some arrows and I'm having a problem with the fletches getting laid down and curling. Material too thick or technique?

How do you get rid of the " gaps " in the feathers after you have finished I've tried the steam thing but I always get gaps !

What material is used for the whipping?

If anyone is still a bit confused, this is basically the same way you do serving on a string, so you can also find instructions on how to do that

HI Why is it no longer possible to get the ash 3/8" shafts ? Thanks Chris

Fantastic, thanks for this guys. Whipped up my first one very successfully. What thread are you using in this video, if you get a chance to see this? i.e. diameter, material? Does it matter? Thanks!

Where did the arrow shaft come from? Home improvement store?

Can you please do a video about the technique involved in doing this ? There is obviously a Knack to this. And I'm sure we all want to know what it is !! It really would be helpfull !

Very nice,but surely war arrows were not all done with as much whipping as this,taking into account the mass amounts that were used.Just curious. Thanks.

Is the "cock" feather on this arrow a dark-grey colour, or is it more of a dusty blue? It is difficult to tell (because things like that don't always show true in videos); but I am curious because I do really like the look you have for the fletchings

Thanks for the detail in this video - really helpful. My first attempt at binding fletching was truly truly woeful. I'm ready to have another go after watching this. What thread do you use? Last time I used a polyester sewing thread. (Yuck) Was a bit fine. This time I've gotten some Guttermann brand linen sewing thread, it's a bit thicker, nice colour and linen. What do you think of it's suitability? Thanks again.

👌🏻

I'm new at this, why do the arrows have a black line in the nock?

I don't understand, what is the point of wrapping them if they are already attached to the shaft?

Ah, so it is like the serving on a string. Thanks.

Hi Richard . can you give me a ball park figure to make an English longbow to order . do you need to see the person first etc . (its for me and im disabled so might been an idea ) LOL .

From personal experience, I find that my binding starts very neat and consistent, but as you move up the feather it becomes deeper and harder to judge, subsequently my bindings get further apart and lose consistency, anyone else have this problem or am i just impatient?

Just like finishing off a string serving.

The last time I was caught binding and whipping my own shaft ended with me up in court.

This is amazing, but i think i'll use only glue instead

Nice wiping teh erow. Teh flatching 6 or 7 long

:)

So this is how you whip your shaft, hmmmmmm ;-)

Practice is the only way, keep trying mate.

Watching vids like this makes me more likely to believe that bows weren't used in battle as they're often shown in movies (very ironic how movie depictions seem to dictate what our popular beliefs of history become). What I mean is that this is clearly a tedious process and I doubt that just anyone could do this so the idea that Medieval commanders would use archers at maximum range, essentially throwing away arrows just hoping to score a minimally low percentage of casualties doesn't make sense to me. In this fashion you'd very quickly exhaust your supply of arrows, the enemy would close the distance and the archers without more arrows would either have to run or essentially become foot soldiers. I doubt that just any Englishman or other combat archers of different regions could just pick up 80lb or much heavier bows so I would have to assume that combat capable archers weren't in infinite supply.

Lol

NO SOUND BRO

7 minutes of silence? Toss some medieval music in there brother

No sound is deliberate, its not needed and music over something so technical is cheesy and annoying, plus I have no intention of paying the greedy music industry any more money than they already get.