whats the best method you have found for waterproofing feathers? i used some really light white stuff last year,it worked great until it started raining. :biglaugh: anybody have a secret spray on that works? scotchguard?
I've used Bohning Dri-Tite for years. It's put on with a small brush. Works good for me.
I don't like very much the waterproofing staffs on my hunting feathers because they remain too stiff and i had bad arrow flight.I try to protect them with small plastic bags,like the ones that contain the bow strings.I keep them on place using a small rubber band,when I need it I just slip the bag towards the nock.Then I put all together in a shopping bag,covered by a fleeced camo fleching bag!!This is for heavy extended rains,otherwise the plastic bags alone work good.
I have found nothing that works, but what God did. I am a goose hunter so I have started saving feathers.
I use a plastic bag over my feathers in my bow quiver and hang the quiver feathers up on the tree when I can. I use a arrow master with a hood also. For the one on the bow I just try to keep it under cover with my coat, hands, plastic wrap and change out for a dry one if needed.
I use hair spray and let it dry for a day.. dont worry about the smell in the woods if they can smell that then they can smell you!
Goose feather fletching...works for them, why not me?! :thumbsup: I've also noticed that by making fletchings out of turkey feathers people have given me there seems to be natural oils that "processed" fletchings don't.
I have had great luck with goose feathers. Rather amazing actually. Wild turkey feathers are better then the processed ones. I have had little to no luck with the commercial water proofing stuff. I started using one of those tree umbrellas during heavy rains, and that has helped keep my fletch and me dry quite a bit.
good tuning helps. i once shot a buffalo with soaking wet feathers.
Commercial fletching has been heavily processed...I guess they are pretty ratty when they get them in. I would venture to guess that what oils were originally in them are long gone by the time they are turned into fletching.
The best stuff I've ever used is the liquid waterproofing that is made for pre-treating flies (fishing). I do a lot of tying in the winter and I treat all the trout flies that I tie with the stuff. Once dried, they go in boxes and rarely, if ever, have to be re-treated when they are fished. It really seems to last.
There are different brands available.....they all seem to work. The only problem is they are usually only available in smaller plastic bottles. I keep plenty around, so some is always dedicated to fletching.
thanks hayslope.great idea,i fly fished for a long long time you'd think i would have thought of that.
Great idea Hayslope...thks a bunch
100% food grade silicone.I have it on all my feathers and it works great.I have an arrow for an antenna on my truck and I use it on those feathers and they have been @70mph in a nor-easter and they still look great and repel water like a duck.And it has no smell.It has to be food grade.
Hey Larry did you ever get that good luck charm I sent you?
Where do you get food grade silicone?
QuoteOriginally posted by Longspur77:
Where do you get food grade silicone?
:campfire:
I'd ask someone that has lived and hunted in SE Alaska a lot to see what they use!
I lightly spray mine with Helmsman Spar urethane in a can. Not too much or you will have plastic vanes!
Scotchguard :thumbsup:
Food grade silicone can be bought in most scuba shops. It's what we spray on our silicone dive products to help preserve them. That said, goose fletching is by far and away the best thing I've ever run across.
Quotegood tuning helps. i once shot a buffalo with soaking wet feathers.
:thumbsup:
I've tried all sorts of stuff but found nothing that works for extended periods so just don't worry about it anymore.
Tuned properly,the arrow will still fly ok wet for close range shooting.
Hair spray worked ok short term.
I used a Quick Spray of Scotch-Guard Waterproofing Spray on Mine for the Cloverdale Rain Forest!! :goldtooth: :biglaugh: :archer2:
Steve, I'll try that. You know how wet it can get here in the late blacktail season here in Oregon!
I have been using unscented hair spray for almost 30 years If your in a down pour then nothing works but then in a down pour there is no real blood trail cause it gets washed away so you should not be there any way .
NOTHING works for long and a steady rain . But on a mistly drizzly day hair spray works fine . Will collapse on the shot but then you will probably use another arrow for another shot any way.
"You know how wet it can get here in the late blacktail season here in Oregon!"
NOTHING like SE Alaska! My suggestion will probably go un-noticed and get mixed in with many of the other inferior methods above. I came up with the Spar in a can because most of the other methods mentioned above failed.
I use Black Magic tire spray. It does smell, but let them air out and they are fine. Steve if I ever get to come hunt SE Alaska, I will just put bags over my fletch :)
yea i got it bro,my legs went numb and my eye startin twitchin like hell when i put it on.hahahahaha...jokin....where do i find this silicone?
I got mine from Tru value hardware store.I can check the brand name when I get home.
"Water Shed" It is made for fly fishing , if it works for something made to be thrown in the water it realy works!! Can find at any fishing store.
Not totally unnoticed Steve. If it works in SE Alaska it will work anywhere!