Preparing shop bought feathers?

[cestria]

My wife and I are fairly new to Trad archery.
We both have a set of "shop" bought arrows which we need to do some repairs on. We also have the makings of a couple of arrow sets which we are going to make up.
The question I have, being used to plastic vanes, is do you need to prepare a shop bought feather before you fletch it?
I have done one, but I'm not all that happy with the way it looks compared to the others in the set.

[jaselpool]

Hi there

I take it you mean you have bought ready-cut feathers? If so then the only thing you may need to do depending on the make of feather is possibly grind the base down a bit with sandpaper (Gateway brand of feathers tend to have a heavy quill base on them). Put the feather in a fletching jig clamp and sand down the quill a little to make it sit on the arrow easier. I make a point of also trimming the lead end on a slight angle (the end pointing to the point) a little and then dropping a small splodge of glue on when fletched to the lead tips just to stop the grass from pulling the feathers off when they hit the grass or cutting your bow hand on release.

Let me know if you need a hand and I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can

[cestria]

Hi Jaeslpool. Thanks for that, yes, I mean ready cut feathers. It was the thickness of the quill which looked wrong. Thanks for the offer of help, I'll stick you on my new best friend list, if I may, for future reference.

[jaselpool]

Originally Posted by cestria

Hi Jaeslpool. Thanks for that, yes, I mean ready cut feathers. It was the thickness of the quill which looked wrong. Thanks for the offer of help, I'll stick you on my new best friend list, if I may, for future reference.

You certainly can matey - PM me anytime you want

Jason

[Mad Archer]

Originally Posted by jaselpool

Hi there

I take it you mean you have bought ready-cut feathers? If so then the only thing you may need to do depending on the make of feather is possibly grind the base down a bit with sandpaper (Gateway brand of feathers tend to have a heavy quill base on them). Put the feather in a fletching jig clamp and sand down the quill a little to make it sit on the arrow easier. I make a point of also trimming the lead end on a slight angle (the end pointing to the point) a little and then dropping a small splodge of glue on when fletched to the lead tips just to stop the grass from pulling the feathers off when they hit the grass or cutting your bow hand on release.

Let me know if you need a hand and I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can

Useful. I've not sanded down the quill in the past, but I'll have a go on my next set. Does it reduce drag significantly? The other dodge I've heard of (but not tried) is to use a blunt tool to press a groove into the wood (press, not cut) to accommodate the quill. I haven't heard of many archers doing this so I suspect it's either difficult or doesn't give much advantage, or both.

As well as a bit of glue on the front of the feathers to prevent the grass from taking them off, I put a bit on the back to stop the fletchings on other arrows from slicing them off. Mind you, I use super glue gel and that sticks feathers on incredibly well (in my experience).