I collect a lot of turkey wings every year and it usually takes me several hours to sort, package them and get them ready to ship to David Mitchell at Custom Feathers. The haul this year is 69 secondary wing sections, 17 fans and probably over 600 primaries(didn't count them). I hate to think of all the wings thrown away just in my area.
Bagging the primaries.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bows%20for%20sale/08feathers1.jpg)
Part of the secondaries and fans boraxed and drying in the attic of my shop.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bows%20for%20sale/08feathers2.jpg)
Cool stuff Eric, did you harvest all them birds? :p
Some like jewelry, cars, boats....I get itchy to build arrows when I see feathers! Looks great Eric! You and your friends have been busy!
What does he charge for processing? What do you do with your tail fans? Thanks, David
Four friends collect these from all their friends for me.
The neat thing about trading with David is he trades me primaries for all those secondary wing sections and fans. You get a lot more feathers back than trading primaries on the halves with anyone else. Check out his site in the sponsor section for more info.
I will get back a bunch of full length left wing primaries, bases ground by Raven Arrows and ready to chop or burn to shape. No money involved because I trade the rights for lefts.
You don't have to pay for Raven Arrows to grind them? I always send mine to them and have been really happy with their work. But if I can get them done for free that would be the way to go.
David gives you credit for all the secondaries to pay for the grinding. He picks up the tab in exchange for secondaries and fans.
He wants the secondaries with the quill intact and attached to the skin, not with the feathers clipped off. He has instructions on his site.