Two 4 inchers from full length feather?

[SteveL]

Hi All,

I want to start chopping some of my own fletching, specifically 4" low profile bananas. But I just read that trueflight will not guarantee that you can get two 4 inch fletchings from one full length feather.

Has anyone run into any problems with this?

Thanks

[Bjorn]

I usually buy feathers from someone like Raptor.......you can ask Ted what you will get. I have chopped a 5 + 4 from some and 2 x 4 from others depends.....................

[saumensch]

I use TrueFlight Feahters and from a full length i get
- 2x 4" from about 90%
- or 1x5" and 1x4" from about 60 %

[Red Beastmaster]

Full length feathers used to be long enough that sometimes you could get two 5.5's out of one, for sure get two 5's.

With today's engineered turkeys you get more meat and less feather. The feathers are thinner and shorter.

I chop what I need for good arrows from the front. If there is anything worth saving from the rear half I will make a feather for my stumpers.

[wingnut]

full length feathers have been getting shorter in length and height for years.  Seems that they are butchering birds younger.

I talked with Tim at Kustom King and he has a new supplier of full length and tells me that they are back to the original size.

I haven't got a shipment of them yet but think it might be a good alternative to the short ones.

Mike

[wtpops]

You should get 2 - 4's from most but not all full lenght feathers. Nature makes them and they are not all the same.

[deaddoc4444]

Used to be you could get   one 5" and one 4"   EVERY TIME    now im lucky to get one  GOOD  high oil line     5 inch( OR 5.5 ") cut out of a full length  I can Squeeze two 4"ers   a lot but they are not usualy the quality I want.
  oK  for kids arrows.
       I HORDE my full length wild turkey feathers for that reason

[mikebiz]

I was just cutting some 4" shields last night with a Little Chopper.  Using Trueflight full lengths.  I haven't used them yet, but I have a feeling that some of the ones I tried to squeeze out of the full length might not work.  Not much quill at the far end that looks good.  I'll keep you posted as to how they work.

[SteveL]

Well it sounds a little iffy. I was just seeing if I could maximize my pennies. Going to go with chopping my own anyway, seems to come out to be a least half the cost of buying pre-cut fletching. Besides the more of this stuff I do myself the more enjoyment I get out of it. Plus the more I do the more I'm out of the better half's hair. Everyone wins  

[kbaamigo]

I wondered the same thing about feathers getting shorter and was told that todays birds are engineered to get to butcher weight so quickly that the body actually outgrows the feathers!

[Mike Mecredy]

I've gotten 3 4" in some cases.  I buy from sagittaruis archery.

-Mike

[ti-guy]

Oftenly I get 2x4 inches of a full lenght