Maybe a dumb question but...

[deelyte]

I just started trying to learn to shoot, and I'm not going to be making any arrows for myself anytime soon, but I have been reading a lot about them on this site. I've been reading just about everything on this site and regarding arrow making, I have a nagging question. Why does everyone use turkey feathers? Is that the only kind you should make fletching out of? Can any bird feather be used, or is it something unusual about turkey's feathers.  Don't mean to clutter up the site with needless questions, I was just wondering about that, it seemed odd.

peace
dee

[OconeeDan]

Dee, don't know all the answers.  But turkey feathers work well, and they are plentiful.  All those turkeys that go into sandwiches had feathers at one time.
Raptors or birds of prey would surely work, but illegal and unethical to shoot hawks or eagles.
I used crow feathers once, but they were a little wimpy compared to the turkeys.  I think most other bird feathers are too thin, small, or wimpy.

Dan

[Dan Worden]

Originally posted by OconeeDan:
 I think most other bird feathers are too thin, small, or wimpy.

Dan

Bingo! Goose feathers aren't bad if you have a source. Of the good feathers turkey is the most readily available in quantity.

[Flatstick]

Many types of feathers can be used as fletching such as duck and goose etc...but my guess is that here in America that turkey is one of the most available and best "size to use". With the domestic poultry business here in the U.S. I'm sure that has something to do with turkey feathers being at the top for arrow making.

[deelyte]

I was just wondering why I only saw turkeys mentioned. They are quite plentiful, so maybe that's why. My dad raises chickens and homing pigeons. As kids we made headresses and Indian headbands and thought we were real Indians.   :D  


I was just thinking that a blue bar or red check homing pigeon feather might look nice on the end of an arrow. Thanks for the answer.

dee

[jmack]

I'm no expert, and this is by no way an educated guess, but I would suppose that turkey feathers work best because the quill (the round "stem" that the actual feather is attached to) is so much thicker and stronger. I would guess that if you were to use chicken or carrion feathers, that they would not be near a durable as the turkey's due to the weaker base. This would also explain the use of goose feathers, as their feathers consist of larger quills also.

[Bowmania]

In Cheezehead land, we have an arrowsmith, Big Mike, that uses goose for some of his fletching.  The feathers are naturally waterproof, because of the oils in a goose feather.  Don't know if they'll take a real downpour, but a goose can.

Bowmania

[deelyte]

Interesting stuff. Thanks everyone for the input. I guess it would take a pretty big feather, now that I look close at the ends.

I was really just hoping if I got someone to put homing pigeon feathers on my arrows, I wouldn't spend another two hours crawling around in the back yard looking for that one dang arrow!    

peace
dee

[Orion]

Yep.  Chicken and pigeon feathers will be quite small.  Difficult to get enough height out of them.  I've used Canada Goose feathers for quite some time.  (Todd, they do shed water much longer than turkey feathers, even without treatment.)  I expect domestic goose feathers would work as well.  Only drawback to the Canada goose feathers is the color -- black.  For practice, I like bright colors, usually white, so the flight of the arrow is imprinted in my mind.  Black doesn't show up as well, and it's difficult to find any arrows that might end up in the brush or grass.  Good camo for hunting though.

[Ric Anderson]

Turkey feathers obviously make for good fletching but by far the best are feathers from wild turkeys.  Take a close look at the oil line on a primary from a wild turkey and compare it to the oil line from a domestic birds primary.  The difference is night and day.  The oil line on a #1 quality wild bird feather will sometimes be high enough that when the feather is burned the complete fletching will have natural oil.  Geese feathers also have a high, dense oil line but the feathers themselves done seem to hold up like a turkey feather will after numerous shots.  The old dye barred feathers that were available many years ago really outshine todays turkey feathers from the white domestic birds.