For me I don't like the smell of burned feathers.

The good thing about a chopper is it's fast.  But, even with the best chopped feather, if you don't pay attention to placeing the feather on the shaft, you will often get uneven fletching around the shaft.  The burner is going to give you exactly the same feather lenth, and front to back all the way around the shaft every time.  I still use a burner on my arrows just because I can get the exact shape I want every time.

On the chopper, if the quill (base) of the feather bends before it's cut, the front end of the feather will have a strange shape. I can usually fix it by putting the cut fletch back in the chopper and carefully aligning it so just that strange part is trimmed. I also keep a pair of small, sharp scissors on my fletching jig table to trim little doo-doos. As I've gotten better at chopping I have less problems like this.
It's for this reason that I like Gateway feathers. The Gateway bases are not ground as wide as Trueflight bases and I do not have the same issue with them. I'll use both brands, but tend to chop Gateway easier.

Guy

It takes a lot longer to chop my way, but the results are much better than anyway I have come up with yet.  If you lay the feather down good along the base and just lay the chopper blade on the quill, I take a very thin, really shart exacto knive and lay it right beside the cutting blade and cut the quill, allowing the cutting blade to lay right on the feather itself.  I don't let the cutting blade do my quill, and this gives the front and back cut of the quill the same angle as the chopper itself....just for what it's worth and my opinion.

Watch **** and a burner will show up. I chopped for a lot of years. I will only burn now. Nice consistent arrows that are all the same.
 Do not burn feathers in the house and throw away the trimmings when finished to keep the smell down. Do not burn in garage if wind carries smell into kitchen. Wife or others will complain and you will be in the doghouse.

It lives here.
Killdeer

Oh, that's how ya do it!

Microwave the feathers, then burn them!


 

This is rough! I'm NOT the kind of guy who has trouble making decisions.

I sure thank everyone for the input. I'll figure out what I want eventually.

OkKeith

I have finally managed to make a decision.

I am DEFINITLY going to buy either a chopper or a burner.

That's as far as I have got so far.

OkKeith

Have heard others comment about a burner burning the cap paint on the shaft ??? Just looking at them I could see where that could happen if the wire is not bent at a sharp angle away from the shaft and not along it......I can also see where you might have scrap pieces of feather barbs if you do not bend the wire close enough to the shaft ?

Never seen a feather burner in action. How long does it take to burn a feather ? Is it immediate and then you spin to the next feather ? How do you get rid of the black burnt edge on the feather ?

Search for feather burner and there is a post called "Custom Feather Burnalong".  That gentleman has the right idea.  Thanks, Travis.

Question:  When using a burner, I assume you have to cut the feather (the base) to the lenght you want before gluing to the shaft and then burn?  Thanks.

This may answer some questions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4fYFLEuGEA

Guy

I got a burner, bought it used for $60.00 and I have 4 ribbons for different shapes and sizes of cuts. However, My wife screams every time I burn, but not for long as the smell dissipates quickly. I have always wondered how long the choppers last. Just my 2cents  

Some of my choppers are probably eight or nine years old now and I use them pretty regularly. I haven't noticed any degradation in their performance or cutting ability.

Guy