Preparing turkey feathers for fletching

[tamure]

My sister and her husband raised and butchered two turkeys for thanksgiving this year. I asked them to save the wing and tail feathers for me. They gave me a bag of feathers that were soaked in water and blood and frozen.

I laid them out in my garage to defrost and dry. They are still dirty and the shape is distorted. What is the best way of washing them and restoring them to their normal shape?

[snakewood3]

Rinse in cold water then steam them to shape.

[macbow]

If they are messy you can add some dish detergent to the water. Taxidermist do this with the bird mounts, rinse and dry like above steam and a good shake will help restore shape.
Ron

[Rick Perry]

I dunno bout the dish detergent idea   ................ I think it would remove most of the natural oils that help a lot in waterproofing your fletching ?  ....... maybe ....?????

[Jack Guard]

Feathers are way more durable than you think.  I wash my feathers in the bath tub, a 5 gallon bucket or the sink.  use a mild detergent like dawn.  i fill the tub with about 4 inches of water, adding the detergent to make a nice foamy bath.  put the feathers in the mixture and agitate by hand.  if there is a stubborn stain i add liquid detergent directly to the spot and rub it in with my fingers.  This is a technique directly taken from taxidermists.  I rinse the feathers in warm water to ensure all detergent has been removed.   then shake the feathers out one by one and spread out in the bottom of the tub to dry.  By the way, we have a spare bath that my wife never uses.  If this doesn't restore their shape, then you can steam them.  i do about 300 goose wing feathers a year with this technique and have never had to steam any.

[dino]

I listed to Jerry Brum's feather grinding seminar at kzoo a couple of years back and I think he said he puts them in a cloth sack into the cloths washer on a delicate cycle.  I remember his saying "don't put them in the dryer!!"  He washes all of his feathers before grinding.  Jack's description works really well too. dino

[d. ward]

When wild bird,otters and seals get into oil spills like off the coast of Washington.The only soap ever used the clean them is dawn dishwashing detergent as mentioned above safe on fur & feathers works great too.Make sure to rinse good.It's gentel enough so as not remove the natural oils from the birds feathers.thought this may help......bd

[tamure]

Thanks guys for the advice. I washed them with a little bit of dish soap, and they are drying. Some of them are looking pretty good, others the shape is still not right.

If I end up having to steam them, how do you suggest doing so?

[Hot Hap]

I use a whistling tea kettle. Hap

[Charlie Lamb]

I do the same as Hap. Steam under pressure is the way to go and will usually make a misshapen dry feather snap right out of it.

A pan of boiling water will work, but is danged slow.