Feather Chopper help

[Biggamefish]

I have a pope and young feather chopper new.  I have done one set of arrows and the feathers came out alright but not great.  My problem is I don't get a nice straight cut with it.  I am splicing feathers and would like a nice clean line.

My question is, is there and tricks to keep the feather straight while on the chopper?  Also  to keep it snug against the bottom of the chopping line?

I am using thre rivers choppers.

[4runr]

I always hold the feathers snug against the bottom stop with three fingers on my left hand, take my right hand and smack the top of the chopper a firm lick with a rawhide mallet. I get great feathers each time.

[Bud B.]

Have you watched the vid at 3Rivers?

http://www.3riversarchery.com/3Rivers+Little+Chopper+Feather+Die+Cutter_i4398X_baseitem.html

[Biggamefish]

yeah I have watched the videos.  they helped me get started but i just dont get the pin straight lines.

[drewsbow]

like Kenny said use your fingers carefuly to hold it on the bottom

[David Mitchell]

I used to get a funky sort of bump on the front of the fletch where the quill would turn when I hit it with the rubber mallet I use...until I started running the feather up just until the leading edge was barely clear of the chopper blade.  By not cutting the quill on the front edge of the feather I get much better cuts.

[M60gunner]

I do what David suggests. I also sand those thick bases. I learned that trick here on Trad Gang

[Dave Worden]

I think the three ideas already mentioned should nail it for you.  Holding the quill tight against the stop is probably the most important of the three.  Don't worry about hitting your fingers.  Just keep them straight and you'll miss them.  An additional note....don't hit the chopper too hard.  That bends the blades.

[McDave]

There used to be a chopper called the Vario Clipper, made in Germany.  I still have one that I have chopped thousands of feathers with, with none of the problems mentioned above.  It still may be offered in Europe, but sources here in the US seem to have dried up.

I think the secret to the Vario Clipper is that there is a slot that securely holds both sides of the quill, so the quill doesn't bend over when it is chopped.  The only drawback is that the quill has to fit the slot.  TrueFlight feathers fit, but once I ordered some other brand where the quill was too thick and they wouldn't work unless I wanted to change the width of the slot, which I didn't want to do.

No doubt some clever person could add this feature to a different chopper, if he wanted to.

[Terry Lightle]

I take an exacto knife and cut the quill against the blade on the front of the feather.The blade will go into the cut and therefore not roll the quill.Magnus told me this trick.

[slowbowjoe]

I believe the Vario is now available as "Herb's Feather Cutter", up in New Brunswick, Canada.
Interesting that should come up, was just thinking about asking for opinions on feather choppers.

[FerretWYO]

Originally posted by okla bearclaw:
I take an exacto knife and cut the quill against the blade on the front of the feather.The blade will go into the cut and therefore not roll the quill.Magnus told me this trick.

This is exactly what I learned. When you flex the quil you get an uneven cut on the barbs. Cut it first and they will look a lot better. You can also make a second cut after the quil is cut.

[shedhunta]

I just received one of Herb's choppers yesterday.  Hope to use soon.  Supposed to be replacement of vario or darn close.

[Biggamefish]

Okla and ferret,

 Just so I get this right you are closing the chopper on the feather then tracing the feather along the chopper edge with the exacto knife.  I think I am going to try it out.

[Terry Lightle]

I close it then cut only the quill next to the blade

[Zradix]

trim the base to length before the cut, so the chopper doesn't cut the base at all.

Use a decent weight rubber or dead blow hammer.

Play around with striking points to see which area of the chopper to strike.

[Bldtrailer]

Get a REALLY     Hammer and a kid     to swing     it!!!!