After I have applied the strip of tape to the clamped feather and cut it to length, I take an exacto knife and using the backside unsharpened edge of the blade about 1/8" from the end of the feather and put slight downward pressure onto the taped quill with the back of the blade and slide it down towards the other end of the feather and the tape backing will stand up and lifts right off. It doesn't have to be a knife blade, I have also used the back of a scissor blade, any square but unsharpened edge. It only takes a second to remove it with no picking or poking at it.