The other day I tried processing some goose feathers for the first time. Since this was an experiment I used the secondaries hoping that I could work out the bugs before I used primaries. I only processed 3 feathers and thanks to all the information available on this site they turned out better than I expected them to. :D They were cut to 5" shields and used to fletch a Surewood shaft that was waiting to be put in service.
I was able to give my new arrow a try today and, while it flew true, it gave a distinct whirling sound as it flew. I also shot some arrow fletched with turkey feathers that were cut to the same shape and fletched with the same jig. Those arrows were deadly silent.
So my question is why do you think the arrow fletched with goose feathers was so much louder? I've had turkey feathers that were loud, but that was usually when they were old and the feathers in poor shape. Could it be that I didn't grind the quill enough? I noticed that the tip of one fletch wasn't exactly aligned as the other two were. Would this make the arrow noisy? What do you think? :dunno:
Jon
I did some turkey secondaries one time and they zipped pretty loudly. The primaries didn't.
One feather being out of alignment with the other two can create noise. High fletching makes more noise than lower fletching. Might these be a tad higher? Secondaries are softer and may be bent/moved out of shape as they travel, also contributing to more noise.
I don't have any goose fletchings right now, but when I did make them, I used primaries only, and I didn't find them any noisier than turkey feathers.
Thanks for your thoughts. I'll process some primaries and see if they're any quieter.
Jon
Cut some parabolics and I suspect you'll have quiet.
Overall I find goose feathers to be stiffer than turkey, but they also have better oil and more water proof.
Also agree the parabolic will be,a little quieter.
Usually after being shot many times they can quiet down.