bent feathers

[richpierce]

Hi, have some great secondary feathers but they are bent and when I split the quill they still want to stay bent when I put them on the shaft.  I have been free-hand cleaning up the feather quill using a very sharp knife and it's hard also to keep the shaft so that the feather wants to stand up perpendicular all along the length.  I am trying to do 3-fletch.

So a couple of questions:
1) Should I be stripping the feather off the quill instead of trying to keep some quill?
2) Should I clamp the feather "vanes" in a vise or something with the quill up so I can file or sand it more evenly?
3) For the curve, should I make cuts or something on the inside to allow the father to straighten if I keep the quill?
4) I don't see much evidence this was done "native" but maybe spiral wrapping the feathers onto the shaft is best for securing stubborn ones?

[wvfknapper]

Rich

A method I use to get a good clean quill after I split it,  is to get two square edge boards and put the feather between them with the quill sticking out the edge, and place a clamp on the boards to hold it tight,  then you can sand the quill to shape.........It shouldn't hurt if the feather has some bend, a lot of feathers do...........If the bend is un natural I would think you could clamp it and hold it over steam and that Might make it straight.

wvflintknapper

[JackCrafty]

By "bent", you mean "curved"...right?

The natural curve in the feather is hard to straighten. Peeling solves this problem but most NA fletching retains part of the quill. Sanding the quill will definitely make it look neater.

I've tried soaking in water, and pulling the feather tight while tying down the ends.  This works OK.
I've also tried "crimping" the feathers with my fingernail at several places along the edge of the quill.  This works OK as well.

The best way to fletch with a curved feather is to just go with the flow.  Many NA arrows had spiral fletching.
 

[bootboy]

I'm having all the exactly trouble myself right now. This site RULES!
How do you make this sanding jig thing. Its basicly a wooden sandwich that you squeese the feather in then make your cut, or sand etc. ?

[bootboy]

would that not dammage the feather?

[richpierce]

clamp the feather, sand the split quill.