This is probably old news but I've read about the problem.
The lil choppers want to roll over the tip of the feather when it cuts the base. This gives the cut feather an ugly hump in the front.
I have just got done chopping my first feathers for my first attempt at assembling some arrows.
I cut a few and had the bump. So I made a little holder to press down on the feather while it was being cut. I made it out of a popsicle stick and glued on a handle...didn't help much.
Sooooo I thought to myself.." you dummy, the reason it's rolling over is because you're cutting the base..quit cutting the base"
I found that if you take your full length feather and cut the very front of the base at a 60˚ angle or so ( just to make it pointed and look nice ) you can then slide the feather base right up to the inside of the blade. This way you don't cut the front of the base and NO ROLL = NO HUMP.
The chopper still cuts the back through the base but since it is taller it stays put pretty well.
Might be old news to you all but I thought I'd pass it on just in case.
Good hunting
:thumbsup:
works for me. I kept getting a bump sometimes but hadn't tried to fix it yet. I'll do it.
I hate the bump, I have a 4" that does it every time - thanks for the info!
John, can you take a picture and post it?
Here's about the best I can do.
My camera doesn't like close ups...sorry.
(http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx121/Zradix/Lil%20Chopper/stockbase.jpg)
(http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx121/Zradix/Lil%20Chopper/precuttingtip.jpg)
(http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx121/Zradix/Lil%20Chopper/afterprecut.jpg)
Next time, before chopping, I'm going to hit the tip on a sander to really taper it off NICE.
(http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx121/Zradix/Lil%20Chopper/baseatblade.jpg)
(http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx121/Zradix/Lil%20Chopper/chopped.jpg)
COOL GOOD INFO,,,THANKS
OH yeah baby...
Just tried trimming off about 1/8" of feather right at the base from the tip of the full length.
Took that feather to the sander and tapered that "naked" tipped base down so nice.
Chopped it as above.
Leaves the feather with a really smooth transition from shaft to feather.
Looks pro.
Thanks for lettin me experiment out loud. :thumbsup:
:thumbsup:
Perfect! Thanks. Lots of things are easier for me to understand with pictures.
Zradix. If you take the feather, put it in the chopper and just lay the blade down on the feather. Now take that exact knife and reach in and lay the blade right beside the cutting blade of the chopper and cut the quill, I will give you the same angle cut as your feathers. All you are doing is cutting the quill down to the feathers. Looks like you way works also.
If you would have done a search you could have saved yourself a lot of headaches. Full instructions have been posted before on how to do this. Listen to Stringstreacher he is the master and it saves a lot of time and steps. He invented the popsicle stick trick and cutting the quill prior to chopping and you get great transition from feather to shaft. If you want to see a pro feather look at one of Stringstreachers.
BigZ, Thanks for the Michigan brainpower! Looks great. KHALVERSON is going to help me make a custom chopper and that trick may make a huge difference for me.
i might try that. i usually just trim the bump with scissors for my bananas, but it never really happens with the swifts.
After the arrow is fletched there are times I have a nasty and sharp end of the feather quill sticking up ready to spear my bow hand if it slides up the grip a little too much. What I got was a coarse emery board (the foam ones work well) and take down the quill a little - only takes a few swipes and it's nice and smooth.
Those things can be sharp!
Turned myself into the feathered man once...lol
Thanks for the idea.
My friend came up with the idea of cutting a left wing feather, flipped over on a right wing cutter to get rid of the bump and sure enough I have cut hundreds of feathers with no bump. Try it and you will see it works perfectly!
cool!
I think I figured this out the first time I used a chopper 20yrs ago.
I wonder if I'll be saying the same thing 20 yrs from now...lol
Thanks for the tip (fix).......I was just thinking about this the other day!