Feathers

[iowabow]

I have started stripping wrapping rather than cutting, grinding, and hide gluing. Is it me or is this just much faster?

[richardzane]

I'll be interested in what people have to share.
I've been stripping them as well, but experimenting using only sinew at the ends and hide glue and NOT the wrap.
the hide glue works fine using the leather washer with the three slits as a clamp to glue a little at a time
BUT  my problem is because they are getting pinched by the washer ...the fletchings tend to warp from side to side, don't lay straight.

side note:
Noticed you are interested in primitive pottery? We might consider starting a thread on that again.
ive been making coiled pots for almost 30 years - being our only income, and have learned a few things.lead some workshops with tribal members.
I use "Okie" clays dug and process myself, you can check out my website if you care to.

[iowabow]

very cool on the clay pots I have been trying to get this clay to work that we have in iowa. I have had a little sucess but still having some problems. I am sure it is the clay and not the other parts of the process because I can do it with other clay bodies. I will send you a PM and maybe we can talk on the phone.

I  switched to this method hoping it would be in equal quality but take less time. It seems to work better in the fog than the hide glue.  I could see that it would be possible to add the hide glue as well to edge but not sure of the benifit.

[Scowler]

Stripping feathers is alot faster than cutting and grinding.  I'm just not very good at stripping

[richardzane]

hunting in the fog? now that sounds like a challenge   :-)

sure, be glad to talk about clays.
sediment clays near rivers and creeks do have problems...usually too much fine ground stone(causes slumping.)
but they're ok for making bricks or for "gravity work"  ex.- paddling a vessel down over a rounded form- another primitive pot (or even a bowling ball)
some clays hold up nicely with some cattail fuzz added to the body.

[David_Daugherty]

I strip my feathers when I fletch 3 feathers.  Here lately I have been fletching 2 feathers opposite of one another.  I decided to shoot both types of fletchings this past weekend to compare the flight.  We had a left over pumpkin from halloween so that was a fun target for my experiment.  I was surprised that the two feather fletching shot just as well as the 3 feather fletching.  But to answer your question I strip the feathers, hide glue, wrap the shaft end with sinew - barber pole sinew up the feathers and finish wrapping at the notch.  And yes I agree would love to have a thread on primitive pottery  .

[iowabow]

So who do we talk to about the thread?

[David_Daugherty]

I noticed Pappy is a golbal moderator or Pat B is an administrator.  I would think one of those two could or would know who to talk to about it.

[Dictionary]

so wait, are you guys saying you don't grind/scrape/sand the quill?

[richardzane]

Dictionary,
yeah , to strip you start at the tip with both hands pinching on either side of the vane, you start pulling straight down towards the quill tip.
you normally got to be gentle at first ...its the thinnest place and can rip off.

I suppose i could start the pottery topic in the general primitive category?  i've got a lot of pics already of process and workshops.

[Dictionary]

whenever i do three fletch i strip the feathers.....i thought everyone did that. But then i also scrape the bottom of the quill with a knife which is time consuming. You guys dont do that?

[iowabow]

Nope it just takes 3 seconds to prepare a feather!

[David_Daugherty]

No, I just strip it and apply it.  Has always worked fine with me.  Now if I just fletch the 2 feathers only have to strip the tips of each end where I bind it to the arrow.  I use turkey tail feathers when doing it that way.

[Dictionary]

Does this work for goose feathers too? Their quills are usually thicker than turkey i think?

[BowEd]

Turkey feathers strip like a breeze once you get used to it and then still every once in a while I goof one up.Goose feather stripping was'nt as slick as turkeys but still doable for me.Most were as soft as secondary turkey feathers.Still I like em put on bare shaft tuned arrow shafts so that even though they get wet the arrow still flys good.The soft ones leave less obstruction or kick off the bow when leaving the string too.That's for a three fletch arrow.Plus goose are really waterproof too.Good luck.