Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: nclonghunter on March 15, 2014, 12:09:20 am

Title: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: nclonghunter on March 15, 2014, 12:09:20 am

Does anyone have one the 3 Riber feather choppers. I got a bunch of turkey feathers and need to cut them into shield cuts. Are the choppers good, they are not too expensive. What's your opinions?
Thanks

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: Mohawk13 on March 15, 2014, 01:39:40 am

I use scissors or a piece of sharp obsidian. Had a feather burner, but it stunk up the house. Have never used a chopper, but a friend does and gets great looking feathers...

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: chamookman on March 15, 2014, 05:11:32 am

Been using choppers for years, love them ! Bob

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: Grasshopper Mouse on March 15, 2014, 08:22:07 am

I use choppers for all the fletching I do. They do take some practice to get consistently good results. I feel that the base grind on the feather makes a huge difference in how well the chopper works. I get the worst results with Trueflight feathers and the best with Gateway and the feathers that Sagittarius Archery sells.

Guy

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: PEARL DRUMS on March 15, 2014, 09:12:40 am

They work great, Just keep an eye on the cutter band. Be sure its not coming down and hitting the back-up bar the quill rides on, you'll see what I mean when you get one. I have four of them in various lengths and shapes, love them.

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: nclonghunter on March 15, 2014, 09:16:14 am

Thanks everyone, looks like a chopper is in the future.

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: nclonghunter on March 15, 2014, 06:08:53 pm

Chopper ordered....feathers will fly

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: PAHunter on April 02, 2014, 12:42:25 am

Does the chopper work well on turkey feathers?  Any pics?

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: nclonghunter on April 02, 2014, 03:01:48 pm

Chopper has worked great on turkey feathers. What I quickly realized was the better feather cuts were based on how well the feather was prepared for the chop. I have a lot of scrap stuff laying around, so I took two pieces of thin metal and some wood and made a feather clamp to grind the base and sides. 3 Rivers sells one similar to what I made. I also use a table drill with a round grinder attached. Like I said the chopper works well, but getting the feather ground was the most trouble to get correct and I am still working it out. Just takes a few seconds to grind a feather.

Something that I noticed is when I chop the right wing feather I lay the underside of the feather up. If I want to chop a left wing feather I put the underside down, but both facing in the same direction. Seems to work okay, but I only have a right wing fletcher.

Good Luck

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: adb on April 02, 2014, 04:22:15 pm

I think it works OK. I use it with wild turkey feathers, after splitting and grinding. You have to be careful to line up the cutter every time, otherwise the profile turns out just slightly different. You really have to give it a good hard whack, too... hard enough that the cut feather pops out forward. Put the chopper on top of a hard surface. I think for the money, they're great.

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: nclonghunter on April 04, 2014, 09:22:51 am

Here are a few that I chopped. Still learning the base grinding.

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: Grasshopper Mouse on April 06, 2014, 09:51:08 pm

I get the best chopping results when the bases are ground narrow. Thick doesn't seem to matter much but a wide base can and will fold over as the blade comes down and that will change the way the feather itself cuts. Narrow bases don't fold. That's why I've always liked Gateway feathers and those that Sagitarrius Archery sells, they both have narrow bases and I get consistently good chops on them.

Guy

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: Jim Davis on April 09, 2014, 11:56:22 pm

here is what I made to trim feathers. One jaw is padded to grip the feather. I trim around the jaw with a pair of scissors. I trim the quills first.

Title: Re: 3 River feather chopper?
Post by: Marc St Louis on April 10, 2014, 07:15:36 pm

I do like Mohawk