Hey guys,

For those of you who do your own fletching, do you use a feather burner or a chopper? And for what reasons would you chose one over the other.

Thanks

Chopper...cuz I'm cheep and stuck in my ways   

I have and use both.  Mostly use the burner if I have some I want to do splicing on, or some sort of custom pattern.  And I don't mind the smell as some guys do.   

I've used both but prefer a burner. Unlimited pattern options, extra burning ribbons are only a couple of bucks each and if you burn on the porch with a breeze the smell shouldn't affect you too badly.
After a few uses I had trouble keeping the chopper blade lined up for consistent pattern chopping.

I sold my burner. I am challenged when it comes to shaping the wires. Now I see you can buy them ready to go. I have the old Vario chopper and a few Lil choppers sold by 3Rivers. The latter takes some fine tuning shall we say. I believe there was a DYI in the tips and tricks section of the email I receive each week from tradbow. The Vario was the answer for chopping feathers for me, sadly it isn't made anymore. Herbs archery carried them and he tried to copy them. Last time I asked he doesn't have any. The BearPaw is very similar to the the Vario , very similar but not to many shape choices. I have also tried those plastic shapes that uses a rotary cutter to cut the feathers. They work but the blade has to be super sharp.

I have both, but like said above burning feathers smells so you need good ventilation.

Don't we all, Roy.   

Yup:)

Burner.

Burner

Burner, I actually like the smell

Chopper. I used a Vario Clipper when they were available, and now use a Shark made by Bearpaw. It is very similar to the Vario Clipper, perhaps even better. It cuts very precise edges and is consistent from feather to feather. One problem with it is that while it is good for many hundreds, perhaps thousands of chops, it does eventually wear out.  Get the most use out of it by not hammering it any more or any harder than you have to.  For the first few hundred chops, one moderate whack should do it. When you find that there is still unchopped feather after one whack, start whacking it twice. When you do get an occasional unchopped feather, carefully lay the top part back down without moving the feather. It will usually cut clean the second time.

Burner.

Chopper

 Burner. I like to splice my feathers and it gives a nice clean edge.

Chopper, that porch is cold and windy during the winter months.

Burner ............ If for no other reason than drawing back a freshly burnt arrow smells like an 'anywhere in the 10 ring is good' kind of moment.

 

I initially bought the 'slap chop' cutter from 4Rivers.  I did not like it at all and it's basically worth less than the cost of return shipping to be honest.  It's a paperweight now essentially.  The burner on the other hand... fantastic!

Burner.