Do you burn or chop?
Other than initial cost and smell of burning feathers of the burner, what are the pros and cons of each method?
If your gong to use only a couple types of feathers, a chopper may be the way to go.
But, if you like to try different things, fletch for others..different shapes..rw/lw a burner is the way to go. Pay for a few choppers and you've paid for a burner. Ribbons are cheap and reshapeable, just about anything is possible on a burner.
Only draw back is the smell, and that aint all bad.
Eric
I have used both, use a chopper mostly now, not doing enough arrows now to justify the smell :) keeps my better half happy too. If you're doing alot of arrows a burn is the way to go.
The smell grows on you! I love to make different shapes, I prefer the burner, like Eric said, if u want a std shape go chopper.
Just do the burning in the garage...
My :campfire: burner gets all the work(I've got 2 now) and only use the choppers at kid demos :archer2:
I have thrown away all of my choppers years ago. I love the burner, It allows for uniform feathers, and permits me to customize my feathers. Most of my feathers are 5 3/4 to 6 inches long as well as being Hi-profile. I just cut my feathers to fit the complete length of my fletching clamp. Place them on, and burn the finished product. Shear perfection, everytime.
I"ve been burning feathers for 30+ years and love it. It's fun to play around with different feather shapes and lengths. I tried a chopper for a short time and didnt feel like my feathers were as consistent as they were with burning.
I burn in the garage. No one cares how it smells.
Trap
Will the heat from the ribbon damage wraps on carbon shafts?
You can get perfect and uniform cuts on the chopper every time. That's all I use. Burner wouldn't be feasible for me.