Has any one shot an Oak flu flu? I want to make some flu flu's out of Oak because its pretty accessible, and was wondering about performance. Pheasant darts if you will :)
They will be heavy but other than that they should fly fine. All they have to go is 20 or 30 yards or less.
i just picked up some lauan dowels (made in indonesia , looks like a twisty gnarley red oak) , and i plan on checking them out more as i get time. they were cheaper than ramin , and the ones with straight grain were very straight arrows.
i havent used oak , but for flu flu's you can use just about anything. i'd think the extra weight would get them out a bit farther.
my spirals dont go far at all... 20 or 30 tops.
-hov
For lack of knowledge I'll bite. What's a
flu - flu?
Blue, a flu flu is an arrow with oversized feathers. They are used for aerial shots or shooting at squirrels up in a tree. The oversized flu flu feathers allow the arrow to travel hard and fast for a short distance but drop quickly after that. Keeps you from loosing too many arrows.
blue do a search on here and you will see some very beutiful arrows in the flu-flu.
Can anyone tell me how I might get a feather quill to not snap when I attempt to wrap it around a carbon shaft? I had thought about steaming the quill to make it more flexible.
Could use the method where you "tear" the barbs from the quill rather than split & grind the quill.
You can also resand the quill down with sand paper or another type of material. The thinner the better. Also try working the feather back and forth over the edge of a table or counter or something to help loosen up the quill. Be careful thought you can break the quill doing that.
Keeping the Faith!
Magnus
magnus has it. i split my feathers with a pocket knife , then shave them with razor blades. the construstion type , not the shaving ones even though that might work.
once you get the quill shaved off , a quick swipe over a countertop edge or dowel rod will snap the remaining quill and let it bend.
i have found sticking them over a boiling kettle to help , but hte feathers i use are craft(crap) store feathers , and the dye makes a mess when steamed.
the main thing is to get the pith out of the middle .its when i fail to do this , they snap and come apart.
soaking may also help.
been thinking of using goose biots for flu flu's , but those barbs on a biot would probably hurt like a mofo..
-hov
If your feathers are dry the quill gets stiff and brittle. You can re-hydrate them by placing them in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel for a few hours. This also helps when striping feathers from the quill.
I agree with Magnus. Just roll it over the edge of the table. Just like a dollar and a vending machine, but make sure they aren't dry like Pat was saying.
ill have to try the wet towel trick. i havent had any issues even with really dry ones. just gotta use something round.
-hov
Thanks for the information guys. I'll definitely look them up. Looks like an opportunity to pheasant hunt with a bow once I get an adult size shooter.
The feathers I have are dry. I will try the wet sponge in the bag with the feathers...don't know how the super glue is going to work with the moist feathers?
You don't want your feathers wet. You do want to rehydrate them though.
Take the entire feather, and soak it in water for a few minutes. Take an old shaft, put a cloths pin on one end to hold it, wrap the feather around the shaft in the proper direction(don't ask how I know that) and then put a cloths pin on the other end and let it dry. When it dries, it is already spiraled for you. What I found to work the best is take fletch tape and apply it to your arrow shaft first, the take the already spirale feather and lay it down on the fletch tape. Works like a charm and the quill will not spit if you get it wet. JMO
thats a good idea stretcher.
and for a really really slow flu flu , wrap opposing wing feathers opposing ways. it makes for an interesting pattern on the fletching , but the feathers dont last very long. i had two i did this way, and they would go 10 yards and drop. noisey as heck , and not for shooting off the hand , but they were fun.
-hov
Yeah thats a really good idea stretcher! I'm gonna have to try that out.
Hova, Can you post up some photos of one of those? I'd like to see what that looks like...I've done the double wrap in the same direction.
instead of doing them like this
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you do them like so , sort of like a parachute. but they fall apart fast...
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