Long term vane storage

[Button]

I’ve amassed quite a pile of vanes, that will take me many years to go through them all. Some are very cheap, others more expensive vanes. I like to be well stocked up on all fishing and hunting equipment that way I never have to worry about going out to buy anything spur of the moment. Like anything you buy and hold onto the way you store it determines if it will still be useable after months/years. I came across a few posts of people saying after x amount of years vanes become brittle, crack, crumble.
I have them stored in bags away from sunlight in the AC.

People use ‘worm oil’ on their soft plastic fishing lures to keep them ‘fresh’. I’m going to buy a bottle of it and test it on a few vanes of each brand and color I have. No idea if the materials vanes are made of are compatible with worm oil, but I will find out what the short term and long terms effects are. I’ll report back what happens after x amount of time and if they adhere to shafts. I’ve read some vanes have adhesion promoters and/or primer on the base.

Another thought I had was to keep them in jars with an O2 adsorber. That way they are enclosed in an inert atmosphere.


Has anyone tried this or something like it to prevent time from taking its toll? Might be overkill but I like to be prepared and enabled to continue hunting and fishing regardless of supply chain and material shortages.

 

[MattB]

I leave them in the bag on my work bench. Seems to work just fine.

 

[Rob5589]

Separated by size/color/design in zip locks in a container with my fletching gear. Vanes last a long time. Don't overthink it.

 

[Button]

I figured they last a long time. But I’m questioning if they will still be good after 5 to 10 years. Overthinking it maybe, but if something simple ensures they don’t go brittle if do it.

 

[Billy Goat]

It depends on the materials.

I have a friend who had been holding onto a bunch of nap quickspins for a while. He fletched some a couple of months ago for an indoor arrow, the cold made them brittle and they just crumbled apart. They had been stored sealed and out of light.

I'm currently fletching old inventory Flex Fletch vanes that are as old if not older without problems.

I'd say that unless it's just a crazy deal, I'd just buy them as you need them. Not load up on them.

 

[zwbonner]

i definitely keep mine in some sort of climate controlled environment