Start by pinching the barbs of the trailing edge of the feather with one hand and the quill with the other hand

Pull apart to separate sheath from quill, then pull down and away in a “tearing paper motion”

Continue pulling as one side separates from the other side

All the way to the end in one fluid motion

Eventually the feather will separate into two pieces. Discard the one that is still attached to the stiff quill

Using scissors, clean up the sheath and cut some of the front part of the feather off

Finish trimming to length by trimming some of the back of the feather off

Stripped and cut to length full height feather ready to be applied to your arrow

A finished arrow from stripped turkey wing feathers. Indian style fletch shape was also cut with the scissors.

Without a doubt one of the most attractive and traditional arrow fletches found on the arrows of traditional and primitive hunters are the naturally barred wing feathers of America’s wild turkey. The grand old bird is not only a supreme challenge to hunt, but he provides excellent table fare as well as superior fletching for the arrows we hunt with. No wonder the large bird is so highly sought after.
Obviously each turkey has two wings, one on each side of his body. Just like your arms, these are designated right and left depending on which side of the body the wing is on. The feathers off each wing are also designated by the wing from which they come. The feathers from opposing wings may look alike but actually they curve in opposite directions. The natural curve of the feather in conjunction with the correct and matching fletching clamp is what determines the direction of our arrow’s spin. This spin produces a stabilizing effect similar to that of a gyroscope helping your arrow fly straight. As air flows over the feathers’ surfaces, an arrow adorned with left wing feathers mounted with a left wing helical fletching clamp will force the arrow to spin in a counter clockwise direction when viewed from the nock end. Of course an arrow fletched with right wing feathers mounted with a right wing helical fletch clamp will be forced to spin in a clockwise rotation. Feathers from opposite wings should never be mounted on the same arrow, and left wing feathers should always be mounted with a left helical fletch clamp and vice versa.

It should be noted, too, that all turkey wing feathers are not created equal. The first ten long feathers on the turkey’s wings are called the primary wing feathers and have more contrast in color, with very distinct bands of black and white.  They also have a higher oil line which makes them less susceptible to laying down when wet.  These feathers are naturally stiff so that they hold up while being drug in the dirt when the toms are strutting during the breeding season.  The remaining long feathers are called secondary wing feathers. These are softer, wider, with less distinct bands of brown and white, and not as high an oil line. The secondaries make fine feather fletching as well, but most arrow makers save these for small game/stumping/flu flu fletch and use the superior primaries on their big game arrows. It is very easy to remove all the usable feathers from a wing with a big pair of clippers. Although the pointed end of the feather’s quill will be held tightly by tough skin, we do not need the point so just take a clipper and snip them off above the skin line. Be sure to keep your sides separate and put them in plastic bags marked L/W or R/W for storage and later use.

The most common method of turning full length feathers into arrow fletch is to select one feather from the desired wing, split the hard quill with a razor knife separating the feather into two pieces. The trailing (wider) edge of the feather is the piece we will use for our fletching. Most of us throw the narrower side away. Our desired piece is then put in a spring clamp which holds the feather rigid while the base is ground down on a belt sander until it is even and flat. The feather is then cut to length, shaped with a feather chopper, or mounted on the arrow shaft and shaped with a feather burner. This grinding of the quill causes a lot of quill dust, which some people find caustic to breathe. If you use this method, do your lungs a favor and wear a dust mask. It’s also a good idea to wear goggles to protect your eyes from flying debris. That is the method my father used when he taught me to process feathers for fletching.

I however discovered a different, simpler method called stripping. Simply stated, I take a feather, pinch the barbs with one hand, then pinch the quill with my other hand and peel or strip the good side of the feather from the quill. This motion is the exact same motion as holding up a sheet of paper and tearing it in two lengthwise. It is quick, simple, and efficient. I shoot left wing feathers on my arrows and, being right handed, I hold a left wing feather with the inside surface towards my body. I pinch the quill with my left hand, pinch the barbs from the trailing side of the feather (which will be on the right in this position) with my right hand, hold my left hand still, and pull out, down and away with my right hand. Pinch, pull out and down, and separate. To do a feather like this takes all of two seconds. I discard the quill with leading edge feather attached. I then take the stripped feather in my hand and make sure the sheath separated cleanly from the quill. The sheath is a fine opaque membrane that bonds the barbs to the quill, and if it doesn’t come off cleanly, I clean it up with a pair of scissors. I then cut the feather to length, normally five and one-quarter inches for my hunting arrows, by snipping off the first inch or so and the last couple of inches and then mount them to the arrow shaft as normal, using either glue or fletch tape. I can then either burn to shape with a feather burner or in my case I just cut them Indian style with my scissors. Don’t cut any height off the feather and use them for traditional flu-flus or you can leave them full height and extra long in length and use them for spirally wrapped flu-flus. This is a piece of cake with the soft sheath as a base for the feather. I not only find this process of stripping feathers infinitely quicker than splitting and grinding, but there is no quill dust to breath and, other than a pair of scissors, no tools are required. You can strip a dozen feathers while sitting in your favorite chair in the living room watching football on Sunday. In addition, I find the soft sheath forms to my arrows much better than a traditionally ground quill; it easily forms over a cane node or the branch stub of a hardwood shoot arrow. Another plus is that there is no stiff quill to cut your hand when shooting off the knuckle. Detractors of this method point out that without the quill base the feathers tend not to stand up as straight as a traditionally ground feather. This may be so, but that has not been my experience. I have been processing feathers like this and hunting with them for years and have never had a problem with my feathers lying down.

I have found that stripping feathers is easier when they are fresh. The older they are, the more dried out they tend to become; however, I have cleanly stripped feathers that are two years old. The drier they are, the more likely they are to tear apart part way through the stripping motion. If this happens, it usually tears off the last inch or so. If so, simply discard the short piece, re-pinch the barbs at that point, and continue stripping. Remember we only need a piece about five inches long for our fletching. I must admit some feathers just refuse to strip cleanly and I end up ruining several every year, but it is rare that I am not able to get a usable section from a feather.  Since I have become friends with several excellent turkey hunters over the years, I normally get a fresh supply of turkey wings every spring because most turkey hunters have no use for the wings. They usually keep the beard, tail, and spurs and gladly give me their wings. If you don’t know any turkey hunters, wander down to the local “check in” station opening day of the turkey gun season in your state. Hang around a couple of hours and you’ll probably go home with several sets of turkey wings. Try feather stripping sometime and I think you’ll find it’s by far the easiest, fastest, and simplest way to turn a turkey feather into usable fletching.


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