Bad Glue

I use the platinum on my cane and bamboo arrows. The feathers won't stick to the waxy bare shaft. I have to scrape the rind off and seal the arrow with poly or tung oil. Once I do that the platinum sticks great. Maybe try Woody's acetone suggestion and see if that helps.

I have not had a problem with it either; I do prep the surface first and I don't use wraps etc.

Last time I used FletchTite it was the Platinum, new then, and I tried it only because I was tired of the occasional bad tube of regular FletchTite I would get, and couldn't find any Saunders NPV that I had switched to.

I had fletched a half dozen fresh aluminums for a float trip that we had planned for Salt Creek on the HNF. I prepped them carefully with the vigorous wipe-down with alcohol and a fresh paper towel as always, and they seemed to be secure. When we arrived at our campsite and unloaded the gear, we wanted to ahoot a few shots in camp to warm up and check our gear to make sure nothing had been jostled out of place on the way. That's when the fletching began falling off, and it continued with each arrow molting in flight until I had no more ammo.

Went to the "super glue" instant types (cyanoacrylic), and haven't regretted it for a second. I have used it on aluminums with both feathers and vanes and carbons with both feathers and vanes, including some spiral wound flu-flus where the fletching takes a severe beating. The only "problem" I have encountered is that the fletches are stuck "too well" for easy refletching when needed.

For a good while after switching to SuperGlue for fletching, I continued to use epoxy for inserts, believing the advice I had read about the need for a "flexible" glue at that location. Finally began to doubt that avice and tried the SuperGlue for inserts, and liked it there as well. I have "broken" the bond between insert and shaft a few times when more solid, like a tree, jumps into my line of fire at the last moment. Seems to take a pretty serious hit for that to happen. The result of such a broken bond is that the insert pulls out of the shaft while I'm trying to free the arrow, and lose the insert and point and keep the expensive part to come home with me and be repaired...I like that better than breaking off a shaft wrestling with a tree.

I use the exact same prep that I had always used for gluing with the "usually effective" tube glues,,,,the alcohol wipe-down of the outside of the surface to be fletched and the inside of the other end of the shaft with a saturated cotton swab (Q-tip).

I can cut, fletch, insert, and have a new half dozen ready to shoot in half hour total, with NO worries about the glue bonds. I like that, too.

I've tried a few different brands and found no noticeable difference, except in the adhesion times. I had used some of the really instant types at work a few times, and pretty quickly got used to using them in fletching and on inserts. It doesn't require any extreme speed in handling, but is very unforgiving of stopping during the actual application of the glued surface to the shaft. I stuck a few inserts at "half mast" and learned to dry-fit the inserts into the shaft ends beforehand, to assure that there were no burrs or other hindrances to the smooth insertion that was planned.

I've found the shelf life to be completely adequate. I do cap the bottle between each vane to minimize the exposure to the air. I buy the little .35 oz. bottles and have used some of them for three or four years with no problems of the glue becoming ineffective from age.

The gels are also very good, and are considerably easier to get used to if you're not used to instant adhesion.