Pealing turkey feathers

[the rifleman]

i am grinding challenged--- I have a hard time getting the quill even and true.  I have pealed the membrane on a couple feathers just to try it, but it seemed to produce a flimsy feather.  Has anyone here pealed and fletched w them?  How do they perform and hold up?

[Pine]

I know a guy that does it that way and the glue will hold them in place . But honestly I've not done it myself .

[snag]

As you've found by doing this you now have a very thin base to glue to the shaft. They are a pain to work with. But it can be done and they hold up just fine. I have made flu-flus this way.

[kbetts]

Maybe try a straight fletching clamp and 220 sand paper.  If you take your time with the razor knife, there shouldn't be a ton of grinding or in this case sanding......but start slow until you get the feel.   It's not hard.

[Don Stokes]

I've done it successfully, but the thinness makes them hard to control in the jig.

[Rob DiStefano]

fwiw, here's how i make fletchings ...

 Topic: From Raw Feather to Completed Arrow Fletch

[Caughtandhobble]

I have never considered peeling them. Thin bases equal hard to work with, along with a very short life span.

When I got an almost never ending supplier of turkey feathers I made a homemade jig. After that jig I improved the jig until I finally paid for the Great Northern grinding jig. The GH jig is the ticket if you're going to grind a bunch of feathers.

Good luck, and let us know what you end up doing.  

[the rifleman]

Thank you all for the help.  I've been putting them in straight clamp and use a drum sander followed by a belt sander.  They are getting better, but no where near as nice as Rob's.  Will keep at it and save the pealing for the potatoes.

[Recurve7]

I split them with "Craftsman Handi Cut " cutters. Put them in a bitz straight clamp and sand them with a palm sander. It takes a 3 min to get a feather ready to glue. I have several turkey hunting friends who help supply my feathers.