3-Rivers feather grinder

[Morning Star]

Anyone have one of these?   I'm wondering how nicely made or better the 3 Rivers product works than a homemade clamp?  They are pretty pricey, so I'm wondering if they are unique in some way?

[snag]

I just made my own. Get some sheet metal for the inside. Screw it to a couple pieces of 2X2, put a hinge and clasp on them and you are good to go!

[Paul Mattson]

I have one, it has been some time since I have used it.  But, it does work great.  It does take some pratice to get everything down.  You can do a lot of feathers in a short time.

[mudSwine]

I sure like mine. Much faster ,very easy to use.  It's a little cheaper @ kustom King.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Originally posted by snag:
I just made my own. Get some sheet metal for the inside. Screw it to a couple pieces of 2X2, put a hinge and clasp on them and you are good to go!

That's pretty much the same thing I did too. I think it cost me about $10 to make. Aside from that, Dean Torges has plans for an excellent jig on his site.

[Morning Star]

Thanks fellas!

[Morning Star]

I can't get Dean's link to open, looks like all the links on that page are dead ends.

What grit sanding drum are you guys using.  I'm guessing it doesn't need to be very course.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I think I'm running 80 or 120 grit, but I'm not positive.

[Overspined]

If you use fletch tape and a feather burner with a bitz jig, you can just strip the feathers and there is no quill. Add fletch tape and fletch and then burn. Turn out fantastic! I had bad luck w/ the jo-jan as the clamp system didn't align quite right and the feathers were just not right. This led to erratic arrow flight. Now, no problems. The feathers never come off and if you glue a dab on the for and aft of the feather, they are amazingly durable. There should be less probability of the quill forcing some deflection on the shot as well.

[Aeronut]

I have never been able to strip a feather.        I've tried old ones and some off of a fresh killed turkey.

I made my own grinder using a Torges style clamp.

  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=050150#000003  

If you are adventurous, do a search for littlefeather Curtis Keller's feather burning exploits.

Dennis

[SOS]

Here's my homemade rig.  Doable if you have a drill press.

 http://***********.bowsite.com/TF/lw/thread2.cfm?forum=23&threadid=155477&messages=15&CATEGORY=2