I've got quite a few old arrows that have damaged fletching from use or from moth damage during long term storage. Any thoughts on an efficient way to take off the old feathers and getting the shafts ready for another feather. My thought is to use a wood chisel to strip off the old feather then just do a little spot restain and varnish as needed.
They make fletching strippers, have a curved blade, or when I can't find mine, I use a box cutter and try to be real careful, but I only use carbon shafts, would imagine they would work on wood shafts too.
One side of a,scissors or a not real sharp pocket knife at an angle. Wood requires being a little cArefull.
First small batch done and waiting on the varnish to dry. The sequence I ended up using was to start with a small pocket knife used much like a draw knife to cut off most of the feather and quill. Then I used a very small paint scraper to get most of the remaining quill. lastly I sanded with 100 grit paper mounted on my 3M sanding block that has a little cushioning material that sits under the paper so that the paper conforms partially to the curve of the arrow shaft. It worked very well. Held the arrows in a small padded vise at about chest high and under good light. Had no problem going too deep and getting into the shaft itself. Thanks for the ideas guys.
I've used a small bottle with a fine point to run some lacquer thinner along the feather base/glue line. Give it a moment to soak and it can soften the glue making the fletch easier to get off without messing up the finish underneath.
That sounds like a great idea Fletcher. I'll give that a try too. Sounds like it should save a step or two and some time.