splicing

[chessieboy]

I've been checking out some splicing how tos and have a question for those in the know.  When you cut your piece to splice in do you leave a tiny bit of the stem on or do you cut the barbs clean off?

[Pat B]

I read 3 different feather splicing articles(at least 2 in old PA Magazines). Two sounded like brain surgery and the other one said measure, cut and put together. Guess which one I used.   The critical thing about splicing feathers is to match the barbs. Be sure they are the same size and they will naturally mate up. I usually did a 1" white splice on the back end of colored, barred feathers. I found that only about 3, 1" pieces will come from a full length feather and match well with the back of the other feather I was splicing to.     Pat