Goose feathers for Fletching?

[Deadbolt]

Heya all I have a few questions.  I have not yet fletched a feather but I want to make my first batch out of some goose feathers.

I was just curious what I need to do in order to prep the feathers and also store them?

Also what feathers work best is it only certain wing feathers or any of them on the wing?

And I pressume you match up which wing with which flecher you have (LW gets left wing feathers and vise versa)?

[dino]

Deadbolt,
On goose I use both primaries and secondaries that are long enough to make a 5" to 6" quill base.  I strip the side I don't want and grind the quill base like a turkey feather (Great Northern Feather Grinder would work).  I store all of my feathers in plastic tubs with moth ball to keep the bugs away.  Your right, match the wing with your fletcher. dino

[quackersnacker]

I've been told that goose feathers will repel water much better than turkey.  If so, I'd like to make up some arrows with goose feathers, for the "occasional" rain we get out here   :rolleyes:  . My question would be is there some sort of instructional video or book that shows the entire process from "wing" to "arrow".
Thanks
Shane

[Luke Vander Vennen]

I've sometimes found that the secondaries are actually tougher than the primaries. They are shorter, but on a good sized goose you can still get a 5 or 5 1/2 inch fletch out of a secondary feather. Goose feathers are great for repelling water, like Shane said. They're not as durable as turkey, but they have a lot of oils in them that don't allow the water to penetrate the feather nearly as much turkey feathers.

Good luck

[Jerry Jeffer]

I have used Primary and secondary Goose feathers.

[Jack Guard]

Here is the way I do it.  Just happens to be what works for me.

     The picture has most of what I use.  These items can be found around the house.  The only thing is the sanding jig which I made myself. Funny thing is that I made about 8 prototypes till I settled for the very first one.  It is nothing more than 2 each pieces of wood, any size will do, and two pieces of thin aluminum sheeting.  A hinge holds the wooden pieces together at the bottom.  The key to the sanding block is to make the pieces of aluminum meet together with a little force.  This holds the feather with the proper amount of pressure. Notice there is a gap at the bottom of the wood blocks.  This seems to force the aluminum sheeting into position.    

     Remove the feathers from the wing.  I save both primary and secondary.  I have found a sturdy pair of scissors works best.  Then I wash the feathers in the bathtub.  This is mostly to remove the dirt and blood.  Any mild dish washing liquid will do.  After I give them a thorough rinse, I shake them dry and then let stand for a day.  Then sort the feathers by left and right wing.

     Snip the quill at the base to remove the unnecessary portion.  Now tear the leading edge (short side) of the quills off.  Save these for your fly tying friends.  They make great tails, legs and antenna.  Now place the feather in the sanding jig and then mount the jig in a bench vise.  I take a sharp knife and trim the quill base lengthwise.  Then I use a file and with gentle, soft, angular strokes work the quill down to a flat and consistent thickness.  This will all take a little practice and most likely you will destroy a few feathers.  When you reach a point where it starts to look like a full-length fletching switch to sand paper and a sanding block (that’s the long piece of plywood under the sandpaper).

     You can store them whole or cut them however you desire.  

     The last pic is staged just for the forum.  I would normally trim the feather prior to putting it in the jig.  It makes the feather easier to work with.  

     The feathers in the picture are from a recent hunting trip I took to Scotland for Pink Foot geese.  

     I hope this helps.  Jack
 
 

 

 

[Brian Krebs]

Jack- does washing the feathers remove the oils that we want there for wet weather?   :confused:

[Ralph Renfro]

I think goose feathers are definitely quieter than turkey feathers.

[Jack Denbow]

Thomas I use quite a few goose feathers and always have one arrow with goose feathers in my quiver when hunting. I used to sand them by hand like Jack Guard does then I started sending them to Raven Arrows 208-256-4341 to be ground, they do an excellent job and at a reasonable price. I now use one of the Great Northern Feather Processing units, but you will need a drill press to use it. Washing them with a mild soap and water will not remove any of the waterproofing oils. For storage I put 3-4 moth balls in a small ziplock bag and put it in the container the feathers are in. I hope this helps.
Jack

[snag]

I just purchased my first batch of goose feather fletchings from Raven Arrows. Here in Oregon the waterproof thing comes into play a lot! Curious to see how they perform. They seem a little more fragile than turkey...?

[tippit]

I've used the goose feathers from Raven Arrows and they work great.  My only problem is the feathers are so dark, I don't get good visual flight & impact reference.  Does anyone do white domestic goose?  Doc

[Deadbolt]

WOW everyone thanks for the awsome replies you guys are GREAT!

I can't wait to get a few birds so i can start tooling around with them.  

Tippit Im hoping to get some snow goose feathers as well if I do manage to get my hands on some I'll ship ya some if interested.

[Jack Denbow]

Snow goose primaries are black.

[bbassi]

Tippit, I found the same thing with visablity, but I fixed it with adding white tracers behind the fletch. They look silly until you shoot them, then you see the benefit.

BTW - I used Goose and turkey in my quiver this fall. The difference was obvious after getting caught in a couple of downpours.

[Jack Guard]

Hey Brian, i havent noticed any loss of oils in the feathers at all.  

I use to do a lot of goose hunting and have tried canada,snow and now pink foot.  i would say that the snows primaries and pinkfoots primaries are not as robust as the canadas feathers.  

One more thought for everyone.  this has been mentioned before..but...I get a lot of feathers in the summer when the resident geese loose their feathers around the local lakes.  One of my favorite places use to be at the local golf course.  I waled around and found hundreds one afternoon.  I think my all time best was 145 rights and 95 lefts.  

Good luck !   The other Jack

[bvalentine002]

I've been working through a few dozen goose feathers and have some questions...

What does everyone use for the cock fletching? I don't want 3 grey feathers...hard to see as they fly and hard to nock the arrow right.

My thought is that a turkey feather is too stiff compared to the 2 goose feathers.

Thoughts?
Brett

[dino]

Brett,
This is what I have been doing for several years.  My hunting arrows are white capped, white nock, four fletched 2 grey goose 2 white turkey.  I have a few arrows that a four fletched goose for bad rainy days.  Visiblity is not an issue with the cap and the nock.  Bohning index nocks if your concerned about nocking, also four fletch takes care of this too.  Never thought or seen an issue with mixing turkey feathers with goose feathers on the same arrow.  dino

[tippit]

Brent,  Thanks for the white tracer idea.  I've never used them so I've never thought about them    I'll give that a try...Doc