I have a friend that is a fanatical goose hunter. He has given me 8 goose wings. I want to turn them into fletching. I thought they would look great and have natural water repellancy. A fun winter project.
Questions: What feathers do I use off the wings? Is a certain length better for goose feathers compared to turkey feathers?
Thanks for your time!
The long primary feathers are best, but they are certainly not as robust as turkey feathers.
Most fletching come from the primary flight feathers at the end of the wing, 4 or 5 on each wing. The secondary work also but not as well as the primaries and like Sojurn said they aren't as robust as turkey feathers.
Rob DiStefano started a topic on goose feather fletching some time ago, which was placed in the "how to" section.
Try this link: http://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=108933.0
Goose feathers were the preferred feather for arrows during the pinnacle of archery use in warfare during the Middle Ages. "The Grey Goose Feather" is the title of what probably is the most respected book on the history of archery by E G Heath.
Goose feathers are softer you need to trim them lower to slightly stiffen them. They work good but are almost black in color and hard to see in flight . I have about fifty that a friend (Bode on here) gave me all ground and ready for fletching .
Just what I needed. Thank you to all who replied!
I had heard that goose feathers were not as resilient as turkey feathers, but love the idea of using them. Being dark, they will be harder to see. I will definitely check out the previous thread in the How To area.
Thanks again.
Just add a rabbit zonker tracer behind the fletch for better vision.
My guess would be the "grey goose" feathers used in that golden era were from the large domesticated grey goose, not the little Canadians we get our goose feathers from now. Big difference in size.
The turkey had not been introduced into Europe during war longbow period. Gray goose was probably the best available in sufficient quantity.
Quote from: BAK on December 13, 2019, 01:31:35 PM
My guess would be the "grey goose" feathers used in that golden era were from the large domesticated grey goose, not the little Canadians we get our goose feathers from now. Big difference in size.
It discusses in the book how many fletched arrows were demanded from each town, and how they would harvest the feathers from the geese without damaging them too much, although I'm sure it didn't improve their already nasty dispositions.