Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: BowJunkie on September 02, 2014, 09:07:56 pm
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One years ago, a friend of mine bestowed upon me a gift of left and right wing feathers from a turkey he harvested.
I was super stoked at the opportunity, to finally make another set of primitive arrows.
I used the left feathers and placed the right feathers in a bag for future use.
About a week after I made the arrows, I became sick, with severe chest pains.
The pain became so severe, that I had to seek medical attention.
I rarely ever get sick and, I am not the type to go to a doctor willingly, as my doctor put it,
"you have a freakishly high tolerance for pain"
I was laid up for about a week after being diagnosed with what the doctor called "A severe case of Pneumonia".
Obviously I made a rebound, and went on about life as normal.
About two weeks ago, I decided it was time to make a new set of arrows.
So I went back to my "feather stash" and proceeded to make another set of arrows.
Last Thursday night I noticed I was not feeling well. Friday came, I tossed and turned all night from severe pain.
By Saturday I knew "it was time" to drag myself to the doctor. :'(
I spent the better part of the labor day weekend with the local county's Finest blood suckers, Technicians and Physicians.
They subjected me to sonograms, Cat scans and oh you guessed it "Needles"
Doctor walks in My room and says " I see you had a severe case of pneumonia about this time last year"
I responded, "Yep, I guess you are right"
While spending some time talking to the doctor and going over the "things that might cause Pneumonia"
bird feathers and birds came into question. After further testing of the feathers, the same strain was detected. :o
I was unaware that turkeys could and do carry strains of Pneumonia.
Right now, I am not so "stoked" about making arrows now. :(
I was just curious if anyone else has had this problem before?
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Never heard that before, but thanks for sharing!! Hope your feeling better by opening day.
Tattoo Dave
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Wear a dust mask, ask Stringstretcher.
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Hmmm....that's good info. The place I used to work, we sold stuff for the Native crafts market. We sold turkey feathers and never heard of anyone getting sick from them. But what that makes me wonder is if commercial feathers are treated with some type of antibacterial or something. They must be in order to be selling them. Perhaps that's the solution.
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I wonder if there is something "over the counter" one could purchased and maybe soak/dust and then bag them up,
long enough to kill off mites or any viruses they feathers may have.
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I bought some Turkey feathers that had carpet beetles. When I got them home, never actually took them into the house, I dismantled the wings on the back patio and put all of the feathers that were usable into a 2 gallon plastic ziploc bag along with half a dozen moth balls. Left the bags of feathers sealed in a plastic tub in the garage for two months this Summer. When I opened the bags there were no live bugs of any kind left.
Now I keep all my feathers stored in plastic zip locs with a few moth balls until use.
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I use mothballs and they work good for bugs but my shop smells like my grandmothers closet :-\. Mothballs probably wouldn't have any effect on viruses. Would it hurt feathers to boil them for a few minutes?
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Being they are made up of the same stuff as horn I would think too long would ruin them, being they are thin how long too long would be I have no clue. Lysol kills influenza virus. :-\
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So my arrows will smell like my grandmothers bathroom ;D ;D ;D
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Its probably only in the processing of the feathers, where you create dust, that you run into problems although I have a friend that is allergic to feathers and can't mess with them at all.
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Thanks, Johnny, for posting your experience.
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Try the hand sanitizers, and leave them out in the sun, or just let them sit for an hour or so, and rinse them off. Of course, that will remove any natural oils from the feathers. Even just setting the feathers in direct sunlight, will help to kill viruses on the feathers. Just rotate them periodically. and wear a dust mask, and eye protection, if you are grinding, or sanding them. Yep, birds do carry some nasty stuff, like parrot fever. :o
Wayne
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Put them in a bag and spray with Permanome, or throw some moth balls in with them.