Feather Grindin Kit .....Opinions????

[baretraks]

has anyone used the feather grinding kit from 3 rivers.....is it worth the money, or should I stick with the fletching clamp and dremel tool?

[Whip]

I kind of copied the idea they had and made one up for myself.  Gotta say it turned out pretty darn good, and it does do a nice job on grinding feathers.

That said, it was quite a bit of work and trial and error to get it right.  I have a pretty nice shop with all the tools to do it with.  Some parts had to be custom made, like the nylon wheel at the bottom of the sanding drum.  Scronging up stainless steel to make the plates to hold the feathers.  etc, etc.  Even then, although mine turned out pretty good, probably not quite as good as the one they sell.  Just hard to match the quality fit and exact tolerances needed with a one time deal.  My first couple tries didn't work well at all.

Even after making my own I would say if you grind enough feathers, theirs is still worth the price.

[Slappy]

I bought the kit and used it to grind some wild turkey feathers.  It did a good job and ground them all very consistently, a lot better than I can do by hand.   Made nice arrows.

Slappy

[baretraks]

That's what I kind of thought. I do a good job with the dremel and clamp method, but man it's a chore!! thanks for the input fella's

[Slappy]

Here are a coupla photos that might be helpful.  It's difficult to notice in the pics, but the quill ends up being a bit thicker than on commercially ground feathers.

 

 

Slappy