1st turkey feather fletching

[IAOUTDOORSMAN]

I made my first attempt at stripping and chopping natural turkey feathers.  I think they came out well for my first attempt.  Pictured below are the feathers that I cut off from the right wing, which I did not use.
 

I stripped the feathers using Ferret's method that I found on another thread.  The first few I did curled real bad.  I placed them in a bowl of hot water with dish soap to clean some blood off, and the curls came out.
   

I washed all the primary and secondary feathers.  I set them out to where they were straight, and quills together.  Once dry I started chopping.
 

Some of the them came out nice and flat.  Others came out with their own left helical built in.
     

I came out with enough to do a dozen arrows from one left wing.
   
The peeling and chopping worked great for me.  I felt I would share my experience with all of you.  I hope you enjoyed.

[vermonster13]

Cool!

[Fletcher]

Nothing looks better on a arrow than natural bar fletching.  Nothing feels better than shooting your own work.  You must be looking and feeling GREAT!    

[tomh]

cool! thanks for posting this, I am going to give it a try for my next batch of arrows.

[jacobsladder]

stripping is easy once you get the hang of it.... it is amazing how the stripped feathers stiffen right up once they are fletched...the arrow shaft acts like the quill that would typically be there... fletch tape works great on the stripped feathers also.... good job!

[Leo L.]

This is my next To-Do.  Been collecting thee feathers, just need a chopper.

[mountaindog]

very cool... those came out great...  

[Slasher]

KEWL.. Just was doing this last night and had problems with the curling too!!! Guess I'll have to wash em!!!

Thanks

Gary

[LEOPARD]

Cool, thanks for sharing!