feather length

[osage outlaw]

I am  working on making a feather burner today and had a question about feather length.  I will be using turkey primaries.  I have been shooting 4" parabolic feathers, but was wondering if 5" would help with arrow flight.  I have 3 ribbons so I wanted to make a traditional and a shield shape also.  I shoot selfbows that are not center shot.   Thanks for any advice.

[Pat B]

In an ideal situation you want as little fletching as you can work with...but with selfbows and primitive arrows I find more to be better. I generally cut my feathers to about 7", peel off the front 3/4" of the feather and cut of the back 3/4"of the feather leaving the quill, front and back for tying. This gives me about 5 1/2" long feather. I like a high backed shield cut but also experiment with different burn patterns for better flight and aesthetically pleasing fletching.
  I generally straight fletch with a slight offset.

[osage outlaw]

Thanks Pat. 

[osage outlaw]

This is what I came up with today.  It doesn't look like much.  I used some scrap wood and other junk I had laying around.  If it works, I plan on buying the stuff making a more finished version.  Or, I might leave it alone and start on a cresting setup.

[JW_Halverson]

Since I bareshaft tune all my arrows prior to fletching my usual fletch is 5" long, 1/4 inch high at the front and 3/8 high at the back.  I've made arrows for other people's bows and tuned the fletching when they came to pick 'em up.  I get as close as I can with the spine weight of the shafts and then leave the fletch about 3/4 high.  Then I set up the feather burner outside close to the targets and start trimming them down and watching them come off the bow.  There just comes a point where we agree to leave well enough alone. 

And then there is the young vegetarian girl that loves the bow I built her....left the back of the fletching almost an inch high so they would make that wunnerful Robin Hood ripping silk sound.  And if you really want that sound to be pronounced, make sure the last 1/2 inch of the feather is not glued down.  As it rattles against the shaft it really ratchets!!  Love it!

[CherokeeKC]

Osage what are you using to heat up the ribbon?  I really want to make one of these too.

[Pat B]

Cherokee, a soldering gun works well and is a safe way to make your own feather burner. I think El Destructo made one this way.

[osage outlaw]

I am going to try using a battery charger set at 6 volts.  I have heard that works.  I might try it out in a few hours.  Hopefully it works. 

I didn't spend much time on this.  I wanted to test it out and make sure it will work before I spend a lot of time on it.  That is why it looks junky. 

[JW_Halverson]

Go ahead and use the charger, but I'm warning you....don't try to start anything!



 

[osage outlaw]

It works!!! And, it stinks.  I took all of 30 seconds to stick a feather on a dowel rod so I could test it out.  The end of the feather came up because I didn't have enough glue, but it stayed on enough to work.

I love this thing.  I can't wait to fletch some arrows with it.

[aznboi3644]

If I'm using duck feathers to fletch they are around 3" - 3.5" and fly just fine. 

[swamp monkey]

Cherokee, a soldering gun works well and is a safe way to make your own feather burner. I think El Destructo made one this way.

I am a little thick and a picture sure goes a long way with me on something like this.  Do you wrap the wire around the iron's tip to transfer the heat?  Also what are you using for the wire?  I love the set up and would like to make one myself.

[osage outlaw]

I got the ribbons from 3rivers.com.  They were $1.99 each.  They are replacements for the feather burner that they sell.  I don't know about the soldering iron.  I used a car battery charger set on 6 volts.  I put the red clamp on one post and the black clamp on the other one.  Turned it on, and the wire got instantly hot.

[Fred Arnold]

I like the idea. Used to have a Young but sold it and opted for choppers. I'd like to try this just for different feather shapes. I've got an old AC/DC convereter somewhere. It's small and would be convenient. You think it might work?

[iowabow]

do you think that a metal ribbon from a ruler would work?