fletchings

wudy

New member
i am about to have a go at making some arrows, and just thought does anyone ,or is it possible,to make your own fletchings from scratch, maybe from swan or goose feathers?
 

DavidH

New member
some of the primitive sites will show you how. You have to strip of the skin and then cut or burn them to shape. If you can manage it you'll save a lot of money, feather fletchings are relatively expensive. Turkey is meant to best, Christmas would seem to be a good time to source them:) I've not tried. Dont forget you'll need to colour them too
 

wudy

New member
thanks davidH i will have a look and see if i can find some info, i dont care if it takes a while to make them after all cheap is good but free is better
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
some of the primitive sites will show you how. You have to strip of the skin and then cut or burn them to shape. If you can manage it you'll save a lot of money, feather fletchings are relatively expensive. Turkey is meant to best, Christmas would seem to be a good time to source them:) I've not tried. Dont forget you'll need to colour them too
I'm not sure its ment to be best, but the most readily available. Centuries ago they'd use goose rather than turkey, probably because you could hunt them easily. Swan would probably be good too, but good luck in finding those, its possible that any large bird of prey would work well as a fletching...hmmm.....ponders where to get raven feathers.
 

bobnewboy

Member
Just a quick note to point out that owning or dealing in any feathers or any other part of a bird of prey is (very) illegal in the UK and certainly in many other countries, especially the 'States where fines are severe. So stick to hand and dry plucked turkey, goose, duck etc where you can. Smaller feathers are usually too soft and / or have a poor oil line in them, so don't last long at all as fletches.
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
Just a quick note to point out that owning or dealing in any feathers or any other part of a bird of prey is (very) illegal in the UK and certainly in many other countries, especially the 'States where fines are severe. So stick to hand and dry plucked turkey, goose, duck etc where you can. Smaller feathers are usually too soft and / or have a poor oil line in them, so don't last long at all as fletches.
Really? I had not heard that. I suppose its to keep them "safe" from hunting, though hardly fair if you gather them from being dropped.
 

fbirder

Member
Just a quick note to point out that owning or dealing in any feathers or any other part of a bird of prey is (very) illegal in the UK
Not totally. According to the Wildlife and Countryside Act -
(2)Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person has in his possession or control?

(a)any live or dead wild bird or any part of, or anything derived from, such a bird; or
(b)an egg of a wild bird or any part of such an egg,
he shall be guilty of an offence
I guess that a feather counts as either a part of, or something derived from, a bird. (Actually I reckon bird poo could count as 'something derived from a bird').

However -
3)A person shall not be guilty of an offence under subsection (2) if he shows that? (a)the bird or egg had not been killed or taken, or had been lawfully killed or taken.
So if you have a witness who will testify that the feather was lying on the ground then you may be OK.
 

Nickk

New member
I had a go at cutting my own feather fletchings. I managed to get full goose feathers at a craft fair. It was not too easy to strip the quills down, cutting them with scissors wasn't the easiest thing to do either ... If you do cut the feather using scissoers then cut from the back of the feather to the front, even if you do use tape it produces a neater cut.
 

DavidH

New member
I had a go at cutting my own feather fletchings. I managed to get full goose feathers at a craft fair. It was not too easy to strip the quills down, cutting them with scissors wasn't the easiest thing to do either ... If you do cut the feather using scissoers then cut from the back of the feather to the front, even if you do use tape it produces a neater cut.
None of that surprises me, having looked at some of the videos I think it could be a skill that develops very gradually. You're a brave man to try:)
 

WillS

New member
I always cut my own fletchings from full length feathers. Not sure how far you've got, but for what it's worth, I'll run through how I go about it.

1. I work out exactly what shape and measurements I want my fletchings (I usually use 6.5" by 3/4" medieval style triangles, with a trailing edge)

2. If I'm using complete feathers instead of pre-ground, I insert a razor blade in the thick end of the quill, and start a small cut. I then either tug the two sides apart so it splits down the length, or run the blade all the way through the quill to the tip.

3. The bad side is discarded or used for something else, and the quill of the good part is now ground. To do this, I place the feather in my fletching jig (which I made using bits of offcut wood and two brass sheets I got from B&Q glued to 2 bulldog clips) so that the quill part is exposed. I use sandpaper to bring the quill down as small as I possibly can.

4. I then take a long piece of wide masking tape (you can get this at most places) and carefully stick the feather to it lengthwise, making sure the quill is as straight as possible, otherwise any design that is cut out will change as the quill straightens against the arrow shaft.

5. I turn the feather and tape over, so the adhesive side is facing down, and stick it to my desk/table. The feather is now sandwiched between desktop and masking tape. I use a ruler and pencil to draw my design on the non-adhesive side of the tape, then pull up the feather and tape.

6. Using sharp scissors I cut along the lines of the drawing and finally pull the tape off the feather making sure I pull it from thick end of the quill to thin end to avoid ruining the feather.

This is a lot of work obviously (I love doing it, and will happily sit and ignore my girlfriend for hours while I plough through 30 odd fletchings at a time. She loves it) and the easier option is to buy pre-ground left-wing fletches from somewhere like the longbowshop.com or longbowandarrow.com as it saves a lot of time, and you're guaranteed all left-wing, all nicely ground feathers that you can just get straight on with cutting out.
 

Nickk

New member
I had to try it once just to see how it turned out. I had a go at making a feather burner from a train set transformer I bought of ebay for a ?1. I used copper wire from a scrap piece of 2.5mm mains cable conected to the terminals and clamped between two lengths of wood. Foor the actual burner part I used fuse wire 15amp I think. It worked well enough though the fumes nearly choked me to death ... Now I buy them!!! ... I had to have a go at it though .... Next objective is tackling strings !!!!
 

WillS

New member
Heh, I love making strings! If I've got nothing to do I'll sit down and make 2 or 3 strings of different lengths just to throw in a box so I have a variety of lengths and thicknesses in case I ever need one!
 

Robski

New member
Centuries ago they'd use goose rather than turkey, probably because you could hunt them easily.
"Centuries ago" (before 1492) it would have been somewhat adventurous to have sourced turkey feathers as they were all in North America at the time!
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
Why? You could always cheat and rather getting plucked feathers just buy full feathers and a cutter and cut your own that way.
 

Craftsman

New member
Just discovered a small turkey farm nearby,,,,how many of which feathers do you need,,,,and should I ask the owners permission?

(Spare balaclava anyone?)
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
definetly ask the owners permission, usually they will be happy just to hand them over to you, esp around xmas where most plucking takes place. You are wanting the large wing feathers for fletchings.

Though you will have to wash them before using them.
 
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