feather fiasco

[jon boy]

My friend Jim cut and gound over 100 wild turkey feathers he had from all the turkeys he had shot over the years. He bought two new feather choppers and cut all of his feathers.  One big probem.  He cut them all backwards, leaving them worthless.  I think it was a senior moment.  The other guys in our archery league only laughed at him a little.  Measure twice, cut once.

[German Dog]

Wow if I did that I'd cry. If a buddy did that I'd laugh like crazy.....

[JamesV]

WOW...............

I really hate that for your friend, we all make mistakes from time to time

I once cut the nock groves backwards on a bow. All you can do is laught at yourself and keep your mouth shut.

James

[JRY309]

Thats what is great about a bannana chopper,it wouldn't matter.A bannana chopper chops both LW and RW and frontward or backward,you can still use them.All you have to do is flip them.

[stringstretcher]

When you say backwards, do you mean against the grain of the feathers?  Of that he used a right wing chopper to chop a left wing?  If the latter is the case, they would not be useless, just the leading edge of the feather would make more noise???

[Pat B]

Recut them with a banana cutter.

[jon boy]

He cut them against the grain.  I will tell him about the banana chopper.  Thanks

[drewsbow]

yup recut with banana

[DBGJR]

They can also be cut smaller and used for kids arrows. I did the same thing when i was making my first arrows, got mad at first but looking back now all i do is laugh.

[wingnut]

I had a buddy do that while on a pig hunting trip once.  He was making arrows (why while hunting I don't know)and he cut his feathers facing the wrong way with a parabolic chopper.  We turned them around and recut making a triangular shaped banana type cut.  They worked fine.

Mike

[Hoyt]

I know the feeling, if there's a wrong way to do something I seem to find it. Impatience for me.

While on the feather and chopper subject, how many chopped feathers can you get out of a 3 Rivers whole feather for a 4" LW Shield cut?

[Bladepeek]

The neat thing is; the older I get, the less frequently I make the same mistake twice. The down side is I keep inventing new mistakes   :(

[Pat B]

Hoyt, one quality fletching.

[trick00]

I am glad to hear i am not the only one, Ive done it and did not realize it till I shot an arrow!  Sounded like a covey of quail flying toward the target.  

[lpcjon2]

If the banana doesnt work you can trim the front a bit and use for 4 or 6 fletch flu flus. Or cut them to 2-3 " and you have plenty of feathers for kid arrows.