So I got some feathers , What now????

[Clinglish]

A gentlemanly farmer recently bestowed upon me the wings from the turkeys he had just put in the freezer. I plucked out all the flight feathers keeping the left and right seperate. I want to use them natural but I need to know how to split them to chop and then put on the shaft.
Any advice would be great thanks in advance.
Clint

[TD2]

cut em right down the middle in the crease. Then grind em down. I just use my grinding wheel on my table grinder and a straight clamp to hold them.

[magnus]

Clint  
There is a great tutorial on the how to section for turkey and goose feathers. You do them about the same way. It's really quit easy once you do a few. Good luck.
Magnus

[Clinglish]

Thank you both

[acolobowhunter]

Same as the others:  I use an exacto knife to split the quill down the middle.  Grind the base ( I use a drum sander in my drill press).  You can also grind the sides of the quill( fat ends) to get it the same width the whole length.  Cut to length desired and apply tape, the attach to shaft.  A dot of glue on the leading end.  I also dye my cock feather with dye from 3 Rivers.  A small packet of the powder makes a gallon of dye.  Pour into a enamel pan heat water and toss in 6-8 full length feathers at a time.  Remove after 1 min. and let dry.  Then split, grind and cut to length.

[lpcjon2]

On the main page in the How to section they have a grind along how to.

[4est trekker]

Here's a grinder I made for less than $3.  Works great.  The sanding drum has a wooden washer (metal would work) that extends beyond the drum the thickness I want the feather base to be.  After a few passes on the drill press it's ground perfectly flat.  I have another jig trimming them to width, but no pictures.  Could get one if you need it.

 

 

 

 

[joekeith]

I think there used to be a tutorial by Ferrret on how to just grab the feather, pinch it, and tear it on off.  Doesn't leave hardly anything to grind.  Butch Speer showed me how in person.  Works great.  See if ya can find the tutorial, you'll like it.