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There's Nothing Big-Box About It
Seems you can always spot the guys who order their
arrows from a big-box store - the hazy machine-sprayed
glue, the hacksaw-trimmed shaft ends, the sloppy vane
spacing, practice tips that don't match the shaft
diameter, etc. Why do they do it?
You don't really save money when you buy
mass-produced prefletch arrows. In fact, you're
usually getting a lot less for your money - less
quality, less performance, less consistency, & less
success in the field. The fact is, when it comes
to making arrows, a machine just can't do what a skilled human
being can do.
NEVER AGAIN:
We
learned this lesson the hard way. We build a lot
of arrows - a LOT! And quite frankly we were
looking for an easier and faster way. So in early
2007, we decided to try our hand at automated fletching.
At some great expense, we purchased a state-of-the-art
fletching machine. It was fabulous. With all
of its servo motors and little tubes and wires and
moving armatures - it was sure to revolutionize our
business. All we had to do was stick the arrow
shaft into the fixture - load the vanes into the clamps
- and push a button. A nozzle sprayed
the shaft with glue and the clamps slammed shut.
Bam! Two seconds later a fully fletched arrow popped right
out.
Of course, the machine could only fletch straight and offset vanes -
helical turns and feathers were out. And even switching
between straight and offset clamp angles required major machine
surgery. But no problem. We were just going to play the
averages. So we set the machine for a nice right offset,
locked everything down and got right to work!
We were thrilled. The machine was very cool to
watch. Even the noise was captivating ... psssst, BAM, click,
psssst, BAM, click, psssst, BAM, click. This machine was going to do the
work of ten men! And just as our managers started
dreaming of all the time and labor hours we would save -
and all the extra money we would make - we took the
first batch of arrows to our quality inspector.
They flatly failed. The vane spacing wasn't
uniform. Some were too high, some too low, some too close
together, some too far apart. And every arrow was a little
different. To make matters worse, sometimes the glue was neat and tidy,
sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes the vanes would
adhere well, sometimes they wouldn't. And as we
kept trying day after day, we noticed that
the machine worked better after lunch, but sometimes it worked
well in the morning - but only on Tuesdays and Fridays.
We spent weeks adjusting and tweaking on the machine - the glue
formula, the environmental conditions, the clamp
adjustments, the pressures, the angles, the clearances,
etc. The machine's engineers even assisted us as
we tirelessly tried to debug what was wrong. We were
relentless. But we still couldn't get the machine to reliably
make arrows as good as the arrows we were making by hand.
Finally, one of
the engineers flatly told us that we were being too
picky. They explained that the machine was
functioning exactly as it should, and a certain
percentage of quality related rejects was to be
expected.
That was all we needed to hear. We packed that
machine back into its crate, made a deal to sell it, and
that was the last machine fletched arrow to ever come
from Hunter's Friend. To put it simply, the
quality just wasn't good enough. It might cost a
whole lot more to have real live arrow fletchers, but
the product quality of a single conscientious technician
well exceeds a machine. We'll never make that
mistake again!
THE BUSINESS END:
If that wasn't bad enough, buying big-box prefletch
arrows offers another technical challenge. The
arrows are not trimmed to fit your bow. Most
arrows come from the factory in full 31-33" uncut stock
lengths. If you order arrows from a big-box store,
that's exactly what you'll get, and it will be up to you
to trim the arrows to length and install the inserts.
And trimming high-density carbon arrows
is one job that does require a machine.
To properly trim a carbon arrow, you must use a
high-speed 90° abrasive cut-off wheel, which most
consumers do not personally own. So you must
either find a local archery shop willing to trim your
arrows or use the arrows at full length.
Unfortunately, shooting an excessively long arrow is
detrimental on several levels. First, the extra
length means extra arrow mass. But more
importantly, the longer an arrow is, the less dynamic
spine stiffness it has. So even if you follow the
arrow spine selection charts to the letter, if you don't
trim the shafts to the proper length, you'll effectively
be shooting an underspined arrow - which will certainly
fly and perform terribly (plus you'll look like a Goober
with all that extra arrow shaft hanging over the shelf).
This naturally leads some customers to improvise with
tubing cutters, jigsaws, Dremel rotary tools, and even
hacksaws. Sometimes this turns out well, but most of the time
it's a disaster. When you attempt to cut a carbon arrow with
the wrong tool, you momentarily crush the shaft, splintering the
carbon fibers at the point of contact - dramatically weakening the
arrow shaft. And even if you do manage a clean (looking) cut,
you're likely not to have a clean 90° angle. So when you
install your inserts, the flange doesn't properly seat against the
cut end of the shaft and/or the insert goes in slightly off-angle
(depending on how tight the insert fit is). As you might
imagine, this dramatically degrades the accuracy of the arrow set
because the tips/broadheads are quite literally all
pointing in a slightly different direction.
When you buy your arrows from Hunter's Friend, we include
professional shaft trimming and insert installation free of charge.
So when your arrows arrive, they're the correct length AND they're
100% ready-to-shoot.
NO PRACTICE AMMO:
Every arrow we sell comes with practice tips (field
points) installed. You choose the grain weight you
prefer and we match the diameters to your shafts.
So when you receive your arrows from Hunter's Friend, there's nothing else for you to
buy or install. This is NOT true of big-box arrows.
Big-box arrows just come with a little bag of inserts (loose)
and no tips. So if you buy a dozen big-box arrows,
expect to pay another $4-8 for practice tips too.
When you start comparing prices, don't forget to account
for the practice ammo.
NOT MORE EXPENSIVE:
We realize that great quality field-ready arrows must
still be competitively priced. In spite of all the
things you DON'T get with your big-box arrows, we know it's
hard to see the comparison as apples-to-oranges.
If you see Gold Tip XT's in one store for five or ten
dollars cheaper than in another store, it's quite easy
to assume that one is automatically the better deal.
But not so fast. The truly savvy shopper considers
what he or she is REALLY getting for the money and the
final "to the door" cost of the equipment.
So let's take a look at some popular arrow shafts, and
compare Hunter's Friend pricing vs. the big-box stores.
For the purposes of comparison, including shipping
charges, we'll use a zip code right in the center of the
country ... say Lebanon, Kansas. Zip code 66952.
For this comparison, let's say you want to buy one dozen
arrows, with tips, and have them delivered to your home.
Let's take a look at see what big-box stores are really
saving you ...
BREAK IT
DOWN: We invite you to compare.
We might not always be the cheapest out there. But as you can see, we're
very competitive - even against the big-box machine-fletched mass
production arrows. In most cases, we beat the pants off the big-box
stores, and we offer things they simply cannot - like quality and choice.
Remember, big-box sporting goods stores do not focus on archery. The bulk
of their profits come from imported hunting clothing (the reason the first 50
pages of their catalogs are exclusively clothing items). Archery is just a
seasonal side-dish for the big-box stores. But here at Hunter's Friend,
archery is ALL we do. No wonder we do it better than the big-boxes.
THE CUSTOMER DECIDES:
Finally, you should consider choice. Arrows should be a personalized
product, matched to your bow, your taste, and your hunting style. With
big-box arrows, a machine chooses your fletching type, fletching colors, and
fletching turn (straight, offset, helical, right/left, etc.). At Hunter's
Friend we let the customer decide. If you want a 3" left-offset vane in
bright-yellow and black, or 2" straight Blazer vanes in white and flo-green, or
even 4" right-helical feathers with a blue cock-fletch and 2 purple hen-fletches
... YOU GOT IT. If you want your arrows trimmed at exactly 28.75", or you
prefer your nocks oriented a particular way ... YOU GOT IT. But at the box
stores, you get ... well ... what's in the box. But to be fair, they do
give you a free catalog ...
WE CAN HELP: If deciphering through
all the arrow jargon is giving you a headache, please just call our sales desk
at 877-410-7811 and we'll help you pick an appropriate arrow for your bow.
If you're the do-it-yourselfer type, then we invite you to visit our online
Carbon Arrow University
for even more excitement. OK .. it's probably not exciting, but it will
teach you everything you need to know about picking a good arrow for your bow. |
Beman Arrows |
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Carbon Express Arrows |
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$37.99 |
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Carbon Force Arrows |
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Easton Arrows |
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Victory Arrows |
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