Craft feathers as fletching

[Armando Lopez]

Hi. I'm looking to get into fletching but I'm trying to do it as inexpensively as possible. I was wondering if craft feathers could be used as fletching. Specifically I was wondering if anyone had any experience with any of these.

   Turkey Quills by Pound

   Goose wings complete

   Duck Pointer Feathers

   SmileyMe Turkey Feather

   SmileyMe Black Duck feathers

[PEARL DRUMS]

Buy 100 ct AMG feathers. You cant get anything much cheaper, unless they are free.

[passion for knowledge]

I live near Lake Ontario - no shortage of free goose feathers for me.
Mid June - mid July the are flightless having shed their wing feathers.
I just ride my bike along the lakeside trails and pick them up.
I do use Trueflight as well.
Sometimes I'm just not up for all that quill grinding!

[Roy from Pa]

Check the big auction site, I seen them for $25.00 for 100.

[LittleBen]

I've used a lot of gateway feathers. People tend to bash gateway, but I found them to be pretty decent with a price to match. IMO all you get with tri flit is a thinner ground quill. Which I'm not convinced is better.

I would take the gateways and grab both ends of the quill and twist them each immediately before fletching them to ensure good contact and maximum helical.

[razorback]

Collecting goose feathers is a good way to do it but is actually illegal. Migratory Bird treaties make it illegal to collect or posses any part of a migratory Bird without the right tags or permits. Shoot the buggers in the fall and do everyone a favour

[Armando Lopez]

No one is answering my question though. Can I turn craft feathers into viable fletching

[LittleBen]

Yes you can. Any primary or secondary wing feather of sufficient size can be turned into fletchings.

I think the point we were all getting at is that you are not likely to save a ton of money. But certainly it's possible.

I bet chicken feather would work too ... Someone near you raises chickens almost undoubtedly. Although in CA it might be nothing but almonds so who knows.

[mikkekeswick]

You will get a whole load of rubbish in those bulk buys. Sure you are likely to get some primaries but I doubt it will be many. Forget it and get quality from the start. After all the quality of your feathers is of paramount importance.
i collect Canada geese feather from a local reservoir and they absolutely rock! Very stiff, superb waterproofing etc....the feathers you are looking at will come from domestic birds that have poor feather quality compared to wild birds.

[passion for knowledge]

Craft store feathers.

This was a lucky one off, never seen the likes since.

 http://s25.postimg.org/t59m6uevj/P5134370.jpg

[fujimo]

cool-
 heres some input- if you would like- otherwise just skip the post   :D  
1. the leading edge of the fletches needs to be ground a  bit thinner so that they dont rip up your fingers or your rests-
2. and being thinner they will be more flexible , and will conform to the correct helical- right now the rest of the fletch is bending correctly- but the leading edges are bending the wrong way.
 just some input- but i do think your arrows are great- and a stellar attempt- make those small changes, and they will fly a lot better-
 cheers
 goodonya mate

[fujimo]

youre obviously not using a fletching jig- and thats fine- one is not always needed after all primitive man never had one- and look at some of the awesome arrows that PatB  makes!
 i hope pat chimes in here with some input- hesdaman!

[passion for knowledge]

The next ones I ground really thin and wrapped the leading part and last bit of the quill, up to the nocks, with cotton thread. Coated it with varnish. (Self nocks)
A big improvement - I just couldn't find any photos of them.
The feathers were from a dollar store - I should have emptied the shelves!

[fujimo]

saturating the thread with CA glue- will make it last way longer- then varnish over that!