The arrow shaft just below the nock was often bound with twine (sinew or hemp) to help stop the arrow shaft from splitting.
===Flights===
Taken from the pinion feathers of large birds such as geese, swans or eagles. Eagles (sea eagles more popular in Denmark) - Finish story?. Arrows from the Viking Age seen to use the traditional three feather style. They were probably cut long and low (Dublin arrow had fletching’s 12cm long). <br>
Most were attached to the arrow shaft in ‘European’ style with a cock feather mounted at 90o to the cut of the nock and two other flights attached equidistantly around the arrow shaft. <br>
Flights were attached straight, with no spiralling, and each of the 3 flights coming from the same wing side of the bird. So either all left-wing feathers or all right-wing feathers. <br>
Flights were usually attached to the arrow shaft by twine although sometimes they were simply glued to the arrow shaft using a glue such as birch tar (Hedeby & Snohetta, Norway). The most common twine used seems to have been of sinew.
*Sinew (Oppdal, Norway; Nydam?, Denmark)
*Horse hair
*Linen
The above image from Oppdal, Norway shows the typically tight bindings and the swollen nock typical of arrows from the Viking Age. The number of binds tends to vary between 16 and 64 spirals (Nydam).<br>
The very limited evidence we have for flight shapes implies that flights were usually cut straight and not parabolic although it is impossible to state this with any certainty.<br>
==== Self-nocks ====
'''Archeology'''<br>
* Snohetta, Norway, birch shaft with tanged leaf shaped head. Traces of resin from holding the flights [ROESDAHL & WILSON 1992: p.249 cat.88]
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== Arrow heads ==
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