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    • aeronut
      Member
        February 3, 2011 at 11:36 pm
        Post count: 408
        #7296

        For those of you who process your own feathers for fletching here is an easy method of adding color to them.

        I Found a How-To on the net about dying feathers with Kool-Aid and decided to try it. Works pretty good.

        Here is the link

        http://www.ronnlucassr.com/docs/Dying%20Feathers%20101.pdf

        My daughter commented on the similarity of it and dying Easter eggs since you add vinegar to the solution. That helps set the colors a bit. After they dry there was no color transfer to my hands when I picked them up.

        So far I have made green and orange and the color transfer is very good. I have soaked them with water to see if the colors would run afterwards and they are colorfast.

        Dennis

      • wildschwein
          February 3, 2011 at 11:51 pm
          Post count: 581
          #60229

          That is to cool. Gonna have to give it a try.

        • William Warren
          Member
            February 5, 2011 at 2:19 am
            Post count: 1384
            #61571

            Yeah that is Kool! How do you process your feathers? Do you have grinder?

            Duncan

          • Robin Conrads
            Admin
              February 5, 2011 at 2:59 pm
              Post count: 916
              #62151

              Wow, Dennis. This is great. Mind if I use it for the Tip of the Week sometime? I’ll get permission from the other guy too. Thanks for sharing. 😀

            • aeronut
              Member
              Member
                February 6, 2011 at 7:00 am
                Post count: 408
                #62863

                Robin, I’d be happy for you to use it as a tip.

                Duncan, I have a feather grinder I made that is simnilar to the one Dean Torges has on his web page. I made mine a stand alone unit instead of one used on a drill press. I will post a ‘Grind-along’ someday.

                Orange looks good too.


                Dennis

              • bruc
                Member
                  February 6, 2011 at 2:20 pm
                  Post count: 476
                  #63155

                  How many feathers are actually used from the turkey wing?

                  Do they come from the tip of the wing or further back? Just Curious?
                  The dye job looks good !!!
                  Bruce

                • aeronut
                  Member
                  Member
                    February 6, 2011 at 4:00 pm
                    Post count: 408
                    #63227

                    I’m not picky, I use all the primary and secondary feathers that are long and wide enough to grind. Some of the secondaries are stiffer and I make sure to use them for the cock feather.

                    I use the whole feather. I was using 5″ feathers and could get two fletches from the longer wing feathers. I started using 4 1/2″ and get two from almost all of them now. I even use the tail feathers and can get three or four from them.

                    I use a feather burner so I can adjust the length and shape to anything I want.

                    Dennis

                  • Snakeeater
                      February 9, 2011 at 3:48 pm
                      Post count: 23
                      #10205

                      Dennis,

                      Does the color get lighter as the feathers dry?

                      Larry

                    • aeronut
                      Member
                      Member
                        February 9, 2011 at 11:36 pm
                        Post count: 408
                        #10555

                        Larry,

                        I haven’t noticed them getting much lighter after drying.

                        Dennis

                      • MOUNTAINSLICKER
                          February 10, 2011 at 7:03 pm
                          Post count: 45
                          #11383

                          aeronut wrote: I’m not picky, I use all the primary and secondary feathers that are long and wide enough to grind. Some of the secondaries are stiffer and I make sure to use them for the cock feather.

                          I use the whole feather. I was using 5″ feathers and could get two fletches from the longer wing feathers. I started using 4 1/2″ and get two from almost all of them now. I even use the tail feathers and can get three or four from them.

                          I use a feather burner so I can adjust the length and shape to anything I want.

                          Dennis

                          Dennis, I am even less picky. On good feathers I use one side as left wing and the other as right wing. Just remember to keep separate. Rest is ready made flu flu feathers.

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