I have tried sealskin, velcro, smooth leather.  They all will work, at least I have not seen much differece between them.

They all work fine for me, but beaver tail is what I put on all of my bows, now. And--who doesn't like beaver? Peace!

Seal Skin

wo, thanks for all your oppinions guys. i found some adhesive velcrow in my garage and put that on so i could shoot my new bow some. it seens to work great. only problem is its so darn cold shooting with a tab in ohio your fingers start to crack. oh well i still went hunting. i missed a rabbit and coon. hey mudd id like to know a little more about that feather rest of yours if you you wouldnt mind exsplaining it to me.
thanks all,
steven

I agree with you, Ralphie. The fuzzy velcro is strong and quiet but can rip a feather off if snagged by it. I would like to try a feather rest and seal skin. Using bear hair at this time.

Lancelot

Seal skin, Shell Cordovan leather, Beaver Tail

I've been using the BW one piece cow hair rest/strike plate on my MAII for several years.  It is very quiet and wears well.

$bowhunter$ That isn't mine but one I want to try.

That is one of Straiera's making.

Here are his instructions(being somewhat dyslexic) I really need help and interpreter to make one...lol

"My homemade feather rest is simply a leather arrow rest with feathers installed in regular consistent  rows & columns. I use 2 columns on the shelf and 2 columns up the riser. I try to install 4 separate rows on the shelf and the same number up the riser. Keep in mind the riser may not require so many rows because of the sweep towards the flat bow limb.

As a reference the columns will look like "l l" with each "l" as a separate column of feathers laying down symetrically over the full length of the 4 rows.. Same up the riser. This will make more sense as you progress to gluing the feathers into the leather rest.

Stop & think for a minute about how this will look when it's finished. It might be easy enough to install feathers indiscriminately all over the rest; however, if we use a symetrical plan we can insure a semi-groove for the arrow to slide through once finished. Remember the "l l"? Between the 2 separate "l l"'s is the groove I'm talking about. The arrow shelf itself is pretty narrow so these columns will also result in a narrow groove. No problem as the arrow will soon locate to a perfect slot on the shelf after you shoot it a few times.

I said before these 2 colums will have 3 or 4 rows of feathers. You'll need to divide the length (or depth) of the rest into equal parts. Start at the back of the rest nearest the belly of the bow. If the installed feathers are to be as useful as you can make them, doesn't it make sense to glue these feathers in the row nearest your hand as near the edge as possible? Of course it does. With that in mind just mark your starting point with a pencil and mark off equal rows thereafter towards the front (broadhead end) of the bow. Remember we have decided upon 2 columns but only 3 or 4 rows correct? The reason is that each row (when installed) will lay down over the previous row of feathers. This just makes sure we end up with a nice bed of feathers for the arrow to use as a guide.

If you have 3 or 4 rows of feathers you'll have different lengths of feathers also. That is, no need to have an extra long feather near the front of the bow right? It will stick over the edge way to far. Conversely, it doesn't make sense to have a short length feather near the belly of the bow because it will be too short. What I want you to see is that if you stack the feathers on top of the previous row, you'll wind up with a substantial feather bed. It will be similar to a bird's wing.

Best to remove the leather rest from the bow to punch the holes and glue the feathers. Use an ice pick to punch holes through your leather rest at angles exactly like you want them to fall when glued in. I like my feathers to lay as flat as possible so I punch my holes at very flat angles. You'll punch holes into 2 separate columns of 3 or 4 rows along the arrow shelf and the same up the riser. Next is gluing the feathers into place. The pic I sent shows different colored feathers. Notice the white fluffy feathers. These are actually shorter feathers off the underside of a goose. I glue the shortest fluffiest feathers into the last row nearest the frontside of the bow. Elmer's glue works as well as anything else. You'll need to decide if you prefer 3 rows or 4 rows of feathers. I have rests both ways and can't tell much difference.

Before I start gluing the feathers into place I like to fit them into the holes I've punched to see how they may fit & line up. You can do this without glue. Immediately you'll discover these feathers will push completely through your punched holes. That means you'll need to trim off some of the quill off each feather. Once again this is just common sense. You couldn't very well glue your rest back on straight if the quills were jutting through the rest itself correct? Fit longer (& fluffy) feathers into row 2 the same way. This 2nd row will cover row 1. Trim quills likewise. Longer feathers on row 3 but the same process. They will lay across rows 1 & 2. The last row of feathers will lay across the entire length of the shelf over the shorter ones below. Make sense? Once you're satisfied your feathers are proportionate the way you prefer it's glue time. BTW, I can imagine any bird feathers will do.

Glue row 1 first with the shortest feathers first. If you've trimmed the quills back you will get glue on the feathers themselves. No problem as this helps to hold the feathers in place once the glue dries. This doesn't mean I'm sloppy with the glue. On the contrary. I prefer glue in the holes only. I'm just trying to give you an idea as to what to expect. When you finish row one glue row 2. Remember row 2 will lay down across row 1. Move to row three and glue likewise. Same with row 4. When you're finished move to the part of the rest up the riser and do the same. You're finished when you have feathers covering both the shelf & riser of your rest.

If you need help just ask. Buddy Bell aka Straitera"

Now the follow-up instructions:"I pick up feathers everywhere. For the rests, I use smaller feathers than arrow fletching. The underside of chicken, duck, or goose is good. Also you can cut the feathers in half or thirds. I always let the feather stick out over the end a good ways maybe an inch. Once you start shooting, everything will adjust & lay down perfectly (1 or 2 shots) for a very fast & quiet shot."

I know it can be done, I've seen pictures but I may need some hand holding on this one...lol

God bless,Mudd

Seal skin, it is getting harder to find, but there is still some out there.

Velcro

I use the Bear hair. I found that if my arrow spine is correct that the rest last a long, long time. If not it will wear out fairly quick.

you get what you pay for see if you can find some seal skin

Velcro

I had velcro on my longbow and I wore it down to the backing. Now I have a piece of mole skin on the shelf and a side plate from a bear hair rest. So far so good.

I used smooth leather for years on all my bows. A few years ago I made the change to velcro and haven't look back just peel the backing of the velcro and put it on.

I bought a cow hide rug to have on the floor in my home office and... well I have leather for self rest to some bows still    


Margly

I got a mink rest from Jeremy (a sponsor on here) and am really liking this rest. If and when this one wears out I'll be getting another!

I really like beaver fur shaved down to about the thickness of the old bear hair rests, but I'm a little biased     They're a light gray so they have a similar look, quieter than the bear hair (yes, that's possible) and wear like iron.

For strike plates (and rests on real narrow shelf longbows) the mink that magnus was talking about is looking real good, either left full thickness if from the legs or shaved down if from the body.  A lot of the furs should be the same.

Heavy duty velcro for rest and side plate for me.

I cut mine from a wool buffing pad and trim the hairs down to about the same as bearhair. Slick and quiet and doesnt "burn" like velcro.