The neighbors shot a goose this morning. They gave me the wings. This is the first time I've tried to remove feathers from the wing of a bird, so bear with me and don't be too harsh with the noob.
I couldn't pull them off without damaging the feathers. So, I went to plan b. I got out my cleaning patch scissors and cut them off as close to the wing as I could. I've got about a good inch of bare quill on the long ones (at the wing tips) and 1/2" on the shorter ones (past the joint). I just read the thread about contracting pneumonia from Turkey feathers, so I'll be giving these a Dawn bath.
I've been researching this for a bit. Some people think it best to "strip" the feathers from the quill. Others say to cut the quill and leave a bit attached as a base. While the latter is harder and more time-consuming, it seems to me that it would provide a better gluing surface. I'm interested to hear other members' thoughts on this, as well as any helpful tips, tricks, dos, and don'ts.
Helical or straight? Does it really matter?
The only arrows I've fletched were made from home-depot dowels, self-nocked, fitted with broadheads made from an old truck fender, and fletched with gorilla tape. They worked surprisingly well BTW. Anyway, working with feathers is new to me.