Fletching

This article is about the fletching skill. For information on training fletching, see fletching training.

Fletching

Release date	25 March 2002 (Update)
Members only	Yes
Minimum level for Hiscores	15 as of 17 November 2012 - update
Players with 99	124,700 as of 17 November 2012 - update
Players with 200M XP	116 as of 17 November 2012 - update

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Fletching level-up tune (link)

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Fletching involves the making of bows and arrows. The products of this skill are primarily used in the Ranged skill. It also provides material with relatively high alchemy prices, so its products are often used to train Magic as well.

At higher Fletching levels, the skill can be trained without losing any coins, although a decent amount of working capital is very useful.

A player uses the Fletching skill to carve a log.

A general rule of thumb for fletchers is to wait until you hear 3 "plucks" of the log being stringed to know when you are done. This is an especially helpful tip for those who tend to be multitasking on other things when fletching. The plucking noise only applies to unstrung bows being strung though. Generally, however, each 5 logs that are fletched result in one plucking sound. Since 14 is the number most commonly used for fletching (14 of one type of log, 14 bowstrings), around 3 plucks are needed. Of course, if you are just cutting the logs with your knife then all you need to do is wait until you do not hear any more animation of the cutting to check back on your character. You can make 5000 unstrung bows in 3.13 hours.

The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 902,402) on the hiscores for Fletching is level 15. As of 17 November 2012, there are 124,700 current members that have achieved level 99 in Fletching.

Materials used

Fletching requires various items, depending on what a player wishes to create. These items are relatively universal, with slight differences based on exactly what is made. All sorts of fletching require logs, a knife, and other various supplies, which can be found below.

General

Picture	Item	Notes	Grand Exchange Price
	Knife	Knives are used to whittle wood into unstrung bows/crossbows or arrow shafts. You can find one in the Lumbridge Castle basement or find one on a table in the Musa Point general store. Knives can be also be bought in the Catherby general store for a fixed price of 25 coins. They are used to cut logs. Also used in many different aspects throughout quests. Examination: "A dangerous looking knife." A must-have for any player.
	Beaver	The beaver acts as a knife (for fletching only). To fletch with a beaver you use your log on your beaver. You will need 33 summoning to summon this familiar.
	Chisel	Used to cut gems the second time, and wolf bones, into bolt tips.
	Logs	Logs are obtained from trees via the Woodcutting skill or bought from fellow players or the Grand Exchange.
	Sacred clay fletching knife	The Sacred Clay Fletching Knife is obtained from Stealing Creation with 20 Stealing Creation Points, They are used to cut logs. They give +100% experience bonus, or double XP.	Not sold
	Volatile clay fletching knife	The Volatile Clay Fletching Knife is obtained from Stealing Creation with 20 Stealing Creation Points, They are used to cut logs. They give +120% experience bonus, or 2.2x XP. It transforms back to seed after a certain amount of Fletching experience is gained using it. When Transforming, it transforms into a random volatile tool and uses 10% of its charges.	Not sold

Making weapons

Bows

Picture	Item	Notes
	Bow strings	Bowstrings are one of the materials used to make bows. They can be spun from flax.
	Flax	Flax can be picked in Seers' Village, in the Taverley courtyard right next to the fountain, on the Lunar Isle, directly south-east of The Grand Tree, and in Lletya. Also if you have completed Throne of Miscellania you can have your subjects pick flax for you, Also upon completion of the quest you can pick Flax yourself on Miscellania. It can be spun into a bowstring on a spinning wheel. There is a spinning wheel on the first floor of the house north of the churchyard. Spinning flax gains 15 Crafting experience. There is also one on Neitiznot, which is the closest one to a bank. Another spinning wheel can also be found on the first floor of Lumbridge Castle, which is just downstairs from a bank Flax plants give multiple flax per plant but do not last forever. They require time to "grow" or spawn again. Flax is a common way of making money. Flax can be picked and sold ( coins each), or they can be spun into bowstrings to sell for more.

Crossbows

A player strings a crossbow with a crossbow string.

Picture	Item	Notes
	Crossbow strings	Crossbow strings are one of materials used to make crossbows. They can be spun from sinew and tree roots below magic trees.
	Crossbow stocks	Fletched from logs and are used in the production of crossbows. Most can also be purchased at the crossbow stall in Keldagrim. These are also available in the dungeon under White Wolf Mountain. Note: This requires the 'Fishing Contest' quest.
	Metal Limbs	Smithed from metal bars, metal limbs are used in the production of crossbows. Most can also be purchased at the crossbow stall in Keldagrim. These are also available in the dungeon under White Wolf Mountain. Note: This requires the 'Fishing Contest' quest.
	Sinew	Sinew can be made by using a piece of raw beef with a range and choosing to make sinew.

Making projectiles

Arrows

Picture	Item	Notes
	Arrow heads	Arrow heads can be bought in a ranging shop or smithed. 15 arrowheads can be made from each bar.
	Arrow shafts	Arrow shafts can be made by using a knife on a some logs. 15 shafts can be made from each pile of logs.
	Grenwall spikes	Grenwall Spikes can be used as an alternative for arrow shafts. These can be obtained by hunting Grenwalls
	Feathers	Feathers can be acquired by killing chickens. Chickens drop an average of about five feathers each. Feathers can also be bought in various places such as Shantay Pass, Fishing Guild, Lumbridge Fishing Shop, Port Sarim, Shilo Village, Ava's Arrow Shop, and various other places. Each shop has a player stock of 1000 feathers, and feathers can be bought for each. You can use coloured feathers for this too, but they are more expensive most of the time. You can get coloured feathers from hunting.
	Nails	Smithed from metal bars, nails are used in the production of Brutal arrows. (and construction)
	Wolfbone Tips	These can be made by using wolf bones with a chisel. They are used to create Ogre arrows.

Bolts

Picture	Item	Notes
	Barbed bolt tips	Barbed tips are rewards from the Ranging Guild activity.
	Feathers	Feathers may be acquired by killing chickens. Chickens drop an average of about five feathers each. Feathers may also be bought in Port Sarim, Lumbridge, the Fishing Guild, Ava's Arrow Shop, Shantay Pass, and various other places. Shantay no longer has unlimited stock, though feathers can still be bought for as low as one gold each.
	Gem bolt tips	Gem bolt tips are attached to finished bolts (use feathers with unfinished bolts) to make gem tipped bolts. They can be made by using the gem with a chisel. Every standard gem in RuneScape, including the Shilo Gems, (Opal, Jade, Red Topaz, Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, Diamond, Dragonstone and Onyx) can be made into gem tips, needing higher fletching levels progressing upwards. Finished bolts can be enchanted using Magic.
	Pearl bolt tips	Pearl bolt tips can be made by using an oyster pearl with a chisel.
File:Runite bolts (unf).png	Unfinished Bolts	Unfinished bolts can be smithed from metal bars. Each bar can smith 10 of these.

Darts

Picture	Item	Notes
	Dart tips	Dart tips can be smithed from metal bars (you need to complete Tourist Trap to be able to make the dart tips). Players get 10 dart tips every bar.
	Feathers	Feathers may be acquired by killing chickens. Chickens drop an average of about five feathers each. Feathers may also be bought in the Fishing Guild, Shantay Pass, Shilo Village shop, Port Sarim, the Lumbridge fishing shop, and various other places.

Making the items

Bows

A player stringing a Yew Longbow (u).

To fletch bows, players must use a knife on a log to whittle a shortbow or longbow of that wood. Then, a bow string must be attached to the unstrung bow. Bows, especially yew longbows and magic longbows, are frequently high alched as a means of income or Magic XP. Yew longbows are often made by many fletchers because of their high profit and XP.

Picture	Bow	Level	Experience (unstrung)	Experience (to string)	Total Experience
	Shortbow	1	5	5	10
	Longbow	10	10	10	20
	Oak shortbow	20	16.5	16.5	33
	Oak longbow	25	25	25	50
	Comp ogre bow	30	45	45	90
	Willow shortbow	35	33.25	33.25	66.5
	Willow longbow	40	41.5	41.5	83
	Maple shortbow	50	50	50	100
	Maple longbow	55	58.3	58.2	116.5
	Yew shortbow	65	67.5	67.5	135
	Yew longbow	70	75	75	150
	Magic shortbow	80	83.3	83.2	166.5
	Magic longbow	85	91.5	91.5	183

Players may gain twice the normal experience per log that is made into a bow (u) with the sacred clay fletching knife that is awarded through the activity, Stealing Creation, it costs 20 points to obtain. However, the knife will disintegrate after a set amount of xp is gained (which means it will last longer for lower level bows). For more information, see Fletching training.

Crossbows

To make a crossbow, players must first use a knife with a log to make a crossbow stock. Then, players need to add some crossbow limbs (Made via Smithing). Finally, players must string it with a crossbow string.

Picture	Crossbow	Stock Material	Level Needed	Exp for Stock/Stringing	Exp For Limbs	Total Exp
	Bronze Crossbow	Normal	9	6	12	24
	Blurite Crossbow	Oak	24	16	32	64
	Iron Crossbow	Willow	39	22	44	88
	Steel Crossbow	Teak	46	27	54	108
	Mithril Crossbow	Maple	54	32	64	128
	Adamant Crossbow	Mahogany	61	41	82	164
	Rune Crossbow	Yew	69	50	100	200

Projectiles

Arrows

To fletch regular arrows, use a knife on logs to create arrow shafts. Each log yields 15 arrow shafts. Add feathers and arrow heads.

Achey logs can be whittled into ogre arrow shafts. Each achey log yields between 2 and 6 arrow shafts. Four feathers are needed for each shaft. The shafts may be tipped with wolf bone arrow heads or with nails. Ogre shafts tipped with nails are called "brutals" and are especially useful for killing Zogres. Any type of metal may be used for the nails.

The following table shows experience per item made, although 15 items are made at a time.

Picture	Arrow	Level Needed	Experience	Experience for 151
	Arrow shafts	1	0.33	5
Headless arrows	Headless arrows	1	1	15
	Bronze arrows	1	2.6	39.5
	Ogre arrows	5	3.8	57
	Iron arrows	15	3.8	57.5
	Steel arrows	30	6.3	95
	Mithril arrows	45	8.8	132.5
	Broad arrows2	52	15	225
	Adamant arrows	60	10	150
	Rune arrows	75	13.8	207.4
	Abyssalbane arrows	76	10	150
	Basiliskbane arrows	76	10	150
	Dragonbane arrows	76	10	150
	Wallasalkibane arrows	76	10	150
	Dragon arrows	90	16.3	244.5

¹For arrows with tips, experience includes an additional 20 xp, 5 xp for the shaft and 15 xp for attaching flights (feathers).
²Broad arrows can be made after buying the knowledge with Slayer reward points.

Bolts

Bolts are made by using a metal bar at an anvil while you have a hammer in your inventory. This grants Smithing experience. The bolts created in this process are unfinished and still require fletching (they need feathers). This part provides the Fletching experience. Bolts are also the fastest way to acquire experience, and you will not lose much money. It is also great combined with Smithing

The following table shows experience per item made and per 10 items made (the amount made per metal bar).

Picture	Bolt Type	Required Fletching Level	Experience (per bolt)	Experience (per 10 bolts)	Profit (per bolt)
	Bronze bolts	9	0.5	5	−2
	Opal bolts	11	1.6	16	−30
	Blurite bolts	24	1	10	N/A
	Jade bolts	26	2.4	24	N/A
	Kebbit bolts	32	0.97	5.8 (per 6 bolts)	−8.17
	Iron bolts	39	1.5	15	2
	Pearl bolts	41	3.2	32	−6
	Long kebbit bolts	42	1.33	7.89 (per 6 bolts)	47
	Silver bolts	43	2.5	25	−13
	Steel bolts	46	3.5	35	−2
	Red topaz bolts	48	3.9	39	−12
	Barbed bolts	51	9.5	95	−15
	Mithril bolts	54	5	50	−15
	Broad-tipped bolts*	55	3	30	22
	Sapphire bolts	56	4.7	47	−56
	Emerald bolts	58	5.5	55	2
	Mith grapple	59	59	590
	Adamant bolts	61	7	70	−55
	Ruby bolts	63	6.3	63	23
	Diamond bolts	65	7	70	−5
	Runite bolts	69	10	100	−568
	Dragon bolts	71	8.2	82	−54
	Onyx bolts	73	9.4	94	40
	Abyssalbane bolts	80	10	100
	Basiliskbane bolts	80	10	100
	Dragonbane bolts	80	10	100
	Wallasalkibane bolts	80	10	100

^*Broad bolts may be made after buying the knowledge with Slayer reward points.

Darts

You can fletch darts by adding feathers to a smithed dart, noted that finishing Tourist Trap Quest is needed for making these.

Picture	Dart	Level needed	Experience Given
	Bronze dart	1	1.8
	Iron dart	22	3.8
	Steel dart	37	7.5
	Mithril dart	52	11.2
	Adamant dart	67	15
	Rune dart	81	18.8
	Dragon dart	95	25

Temporary boosts

• You can eat Orange spicy stew for a fletching boost from -6 to 6.
• A Fletching potion will raise your fletching by 3.
• A Fletching skillcape will raise your fletching by 1 when worn.

99 Fletching

File:Fletching milestone.png

A player getting 99 fletching

A player wearing a Fletching cape and performing the Skillcape emote.

Once players have reached level 99 Fletching, Hickton in Catherby will sell the Fletching cape for 99,000 coins. In addition, when players achieve level 99 in the Fletching skill, they receive the ability to make a new item while Dungeoneering, Tier 10 arrows.

Glitches

• On 23 February 2010, a glitch allowed players to 'duplicate' dragon bolts (e). The exploit involved a glitch that produced 12 dragon bolts(e) when the enchant spell was cast, but only one unenchanted dragon bolt was used up per cast. Each cast then made over 70k profit and some people performed the duplication over 1000 times per hour for 70m+ profit per hour. The exploit was linked in connection to the Recent Update on 22 February, and was patched in under 24hrs time only existing for one day (Feb 23rd). The bug was so widely abused that the price of dragon bolts(e) had fallen from 7000 to about 4900 coins after the glitch. The glitch could also be performed on other bolts, but apparently dragon bolts(e) were the most commonly duplicated. Many threads have been hidden on the Fletching marketplace Forum on the RSOF indicating players that have abused this bug. Many abusers were banned, and Jagex released an official statement about the glitch on 2 March 2010.

File:Fletch + walk glitch.gif

A player demonstrating the Fletching glitch.

See also

• Fletching training, a guide to training Fletching
• Quest experience rewards - Fletching
• Grand Exchange Market Watch/Fletching
• Fletching/Level up table
• Fletching Calculators