Goose Feather Fletching

[IsaacW]

Anyone know if goose (Canada) feathers strip like turkey?  I can simple test and try, but I would rather just know before I bugger up some good feathers.  If not, I can cut and grind the "hard" way.     I am working on a couple Dark Ages arrows for hunting season and want to use goose rather than my normal turkey. 

Thanks,

IW

[JoJoDapyro]

How exactly do turkey feathers strip? I always have to cut and grind them.

[IsaacW]

How exactly do turkey feathers strip? I always have to cut and grind them.

I do not know how to explain other than you can just peel/carefully pull the vane from the quill, bringing with it only a thin outside bit of the quill

[koan]

I've done it with green primaries and it worked well but had very bad luck tryin to strip goose feathers after they had "cured" abit.... Brian

[Pat B]

If the feathers are old(dry) you can rehydrate them by placing them in a zip loc bag with a damp paper towel inside for a day or two.
 I've never stripped goose feathers but they should strip just like turkey feathers.

[NeolithicMan]

I have a board with a clip mounted at one end. clip the feathers quill (I cut most of it up to about a 1/4" from the feathers vanes) and straighten it down.Then I used a thin scrap board clamped at the tip of the feather to hold it down while I used a razor blade to cut down the middle. I know its not super primitive an it leaves a lot of room for improvement, but I dont usually have any goose feathers, just turkey that split really well! Canadian geese feathers are more oily I think and IMO are very good at dealing with wetter weather.

[Sockrablur]

I stripped enough goose feathers to do a dozen 2 fletch arrows for my brother Dan last year. I do recall them not coming off the quill as nice as the turkey feathers I have done but I would describe it doable. If I went slow and kept attentive I didn't loose a feather.

[JW_Halverson]

Yes, they strip like turkey.  And like Pat mentioned, they can be plumped up with a little moisture (turkey, goose, whatever) to make them strip easier. 

I set a teakettle on the stove and get a good hot stream of steam blowing out the spout and I drag the feathers back and forth thru that before stripping.  Feathers that look ruined often plump and straighten out nicely. 

[IsaacW]

Thanks guys!  I also have some sexy bronze nocks for these that are repro'd from some originals dug from a Norse village in northern Germany... Haithabu

IW

[IsaacW]

Stripped quick and nicely!



Now to do the heads... Glue, sinew, and birchbark wrapping

[IsaacW]

Here is an image of the original bronze nocks from Haithabu (Hedeby)