I Use the feathers from the birds we harvest to make arrow fletchings.
I like to use whole uncut white feathers for the two hen feathers and one homemade c0ck feather. I found 7 good looking specimens (one is a spare)
Next I split them to get rid of the side that I won’t need.
Then I found the best section in the middle of the length and cut off the ends. These are longer than I need but I will trim them later
Because the split base is way to thick I need to thin them down.
I use a belt sander with a fine grit belt because the bases are pretty soft. I finish them with a sanding block
The thined feather is a lot less beefy.
Next I cut them to their finished length.
The next step is to cut down the height a little so they fit in the fletching jig.
After fletching, I use a feather burner to give them their shape.
