From Raw Feather to Completed Arrow Fletch

[RobD]

From Raw Feather to Completed Arrow Fletch

or, how to grind yer raw feathers for cheap 'n' easy.

a left wing turk feather with the ends cut off
   

use a sharp blade to strip the feather
   

stripped and ready to grind the base
   

resize the stripped feather to best fit yer jig
   

a pair of .038" thick sheet metal strips that are about 1.5" wide and 8" long
   

sandwich the stripped feather 'tween the sheet metal strips
   

leave the feather base exposed and clamp
   

i use a stationary sanding wheel w/120 grit abrasive to grind down the feather's base,
BUT, a belt sander or some 80-100 grit glued to a flat surface works just as well
   

[RobD]

press into the abrasive, leave a thin white base line remaining
 

now all that's left to grind off is the excess base on the SIDE of the feather
 

press lightly against the abrasive  
 

a beautious feather fletch with a perfect base, ready for chopper or burner
 

insert into chopper
 

and one good whack later
 

ready to fletch!
 

fletched!
 

[rickevans]

Nice.

[Spotted Bull]

Cool!!

[greyhunter]

Nice tutorial, and pictures ta boot!  

[Eric Krewson]

I collect wings from a bunch of my turkey hunting friends every year. On a normal year I collect about 40, on my best year I rounded up 72 wings and 1 dozen or so fans. I used to split and grind them myself but with the amount of wings I collect it would be a major undertaking and I would be exposed to a bunch of really nasty dust.

A guy in Missouri will trade primaries for secondaries and fans by weight, keep the rights and send me back the lefts ground and ready to chop, he trades on the halves, David Mitchell at Custom Feathers .com.

I end up with way more feathers than I can use but have found they make great trade goods and trade like gold to archers who want them but don't have access to them.

I never buy arrow shafts, trade feathers for them. Lately I have traded for a commercial vacuum sealer, a commercial chain saw sharpener and a Lyman .535 round ball mold.

[RobD]

hey eric, how ya doin'?  

[dmills]

Thank you for this tutorial.  I have just started making primitive arrows from cane and have been struggling with the fletching part.  This helps a lot.

[bear-kodiak]

nice

[RobD]

on the east coast, june 'tis the bird moulting season, so gather up them goose feathers ...
     

strip 'em ...
     

     

grind 'em ...
     

chop or burn 'em ...
     

fletch 'em up ...
     

canada goose feathers make for great fletchings, and they're extremely water resistant.

how water resistant?

which would you rather have on yer bowstring when the rain comes down, turkey (on the left) or goose (on the right)?  both were held under running water for 5 full minutes ...



those dark fletchings can be hard to see both in the air and in the bush, so add a strip of faux rabbit fur to the nock end ...

[Kermit]

White feathers, domestic turkey and goose, are great for visibility. My first choice.

[bear-kodiak]

Thanks for this information....Jim

[hawkthrower]

very good tutorial! I think it's time to get a few geese - to keep the pointer and Co. in line and for feathers..... Hummmmm... perhaps a fine mid winters dinner or three as well!!