July 26 , 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
113 
Forest and Stream is the official organ of the National Archery Association. 
Device for Feathering Arrows. 
Since the revival of archery in the late 
seventies, my father has been a follower of the 
sport. Some of my earliest recollections are 
of bows and targets. I have his word for it 
that I was “some bow shooter” myself when 
barely old enough to attend school; that I would 
seldom miss a pumpkin across the yard, which 
was sixty feet. I think I would be “going some ’ 
to keep up to that record now. I have made 
and remodeled a large number of arrows; and 
also had the experience of my father to assist 
me. He was a very careful workman and had 
made several sets before I made an attempt at 
the work. The device used in feathering, here 
described, was one of his ideas. 
It is not my intention to discuss the entire • 
process of arrow making, but to deal only with 
feathers, their choice and application. I have 
used and tested by actual service four kinds of 
feathers. The one to be most commonly ob¬ 
tained, the turkey wing feather, I discarded at 
an early stage of my experiments. I found it 
to be too stiff and inelastic as a general thing; 
also that the texture and resiliency of individual 
specimens of these feathers differed greatly one 
from another. 
The peacock wing feather is softer and of 
a more resilient nature, with less difference be¬ 
tween individual specimens, but is scarce and 
difficult to obtain in sufficient quantity to allow 
a good selection. The gray goose wing feather 
is slightly softer than the peacock, and of near¬ 
ly the same degree of resiliency, but almost as 
hard to procure in quantity large enongh for 
manufacturing purposes through ordinary sources. 
My most successful experiment was by going 
contrary to precedent and the advice of some 
older and more experienced archers. As a last 
resort I made a trial with turkey tail feathers, 
and so far have found them to be suprior to 
any of the other feathers in every way. The 
stock runs much more even than the wing 
feathers in texture and degree of resiliency. 
Another great advantage is that it is easy to 
obtain a liberal supply of them in good con¬ 
dition. There is not so great a difference be¬ 
tween the inside and outer surface of the tail 
feathers as there is in the wing feathers, but 
the same care should be taken to use only 
feathers from the same side on any arow or set 
of arrows. 
At first I was led to believe that the only 
proper way was to carefully trim down the rib 
of the feather until it was in right shape to be 
glued to the shaft. However, I soon changed 
my mode of operation and now strip the feather 
off the rib or quill, only the very thin outer 
skin of the quill adhering to the feather. This 
operation leaves them in quite a roughed up con¬ 
dition. but they can be readily smoothed and 
straightened by steaming and pinning flat on a 
board. 
I match the three feathers on each shaft 
as closely as I can judge, and also try to get 
those on all of the set to run as nearly alike 
as the number from which I may select will 
permit. Each feather is next roughly trimmed 
a little larger than it is to be when ready for 
use. 
A good device for putting the feathers on 
evenly consists of a short block of wood having 
a shallow V-shaped groove at the top in which 
the shaft is securely held by small wedges. At 
DEVICE FOR FEATHERING ARROWS. 
the ends of the block are small uprights with 
a vertical groove in each. The ends of a split 
clamp that can be tightened to hold the feather 
fit in these grooves. The clamp is so made that 
the feathers may be put on parallel to the shaft 
or with any amount of twist desired within rea¬ 
sonable limits. When in use it is kept in con¬ 
tact with the arrow with a large wedge having 
a slight degree of taper. On one end of the 
base block is a circle whose circumference is 
divided into thirds; the line marking the upper 
third coinciding with the position of the feather 
held in the claim. A small pointer is attached 
to the arrow directly over this line when the 
first feather (the cock feather) is put in place. 
When the other two feathers are attached, the 
arrow is rotated so that this pointer covers each 
of the other two marks in turn. This method 
spaces the feathers evenly, without guess work. 
I use hot glue to attach the feathers. Three 
or four minutes are required for it to set, so 
that the clamp may be opened and the work 
continued. Of course progress is not very 
swift. If I were in a hurry or had a large job 
of feathering to be done I would have two or 
three more of the devices, so that I could use 
all of my time and not have to waste any wait¬ 
ing for the glue to set. 
When the feathers are all set on an arrow 
I look them over, and if any one does not stand 
at or near the right angle, I pull it off and set 
on another until it suits me. When all of the 
set are done and the glue has had time to get 
thoroughly hardened, I give each feather a good 
pull to make sure it will stick, and replace any 
that may be loose anywhere. If none is found 
wanting, I mark the point where the upper end 
of the trimmed feather is to be, being sure to 
have the same distance from the nock on each 
shaft. 
In trimming, a light chisel is used, the edge 
of which is shaped exactly to the outline that 
the finished feathers are to have. An assistant 
holds the arrow so that one feather is fiat on 
the end of a hard wood block, and a single light 
tap on the chisel with a small hammer shapes it 
perfectly. The work is finished by applying a 
light coat of shellac varnish between the feathers 
to keep moisture away from the glue that holds 
them in place. In inclose photographs of the 
feathering device in use and also taken apart. 
Geo. Nichols. 
Scottish-American Archers. 
Jersey City, N. J., July 18 . —Editor Forest 
and Stream: The general rule is that Wednes¬ 
day afternoons are occasions for quiet little 
practices and experimenting on the part of Dr. 
McLean, J. Cleland and J. Duff at the above 
club range in Jersey City. But of late a change 
has taken place, and the rule is at least six 
shooters each mid-week day now. On Wednes¬ 
day, July 16, the following shooters paired off 
and shot against each other with an earnestness 
that would have done credit to a full fledged 
National tournament. Of course no one of us 
looks for great scores on our part as yet, but 
just as soon as we find out whether Ford, Rend- 
torff, Elmer, Hertig, etc., are in the right, then 
we will be able to set to and follow the good 
example, having something fixed to work upon. 
A single American round was shot with the fol¬ 
lowing scores: 
T. Duff .25 125 24 124 28 1G0 77 40ff 
N. Clay .23 87 26 136 28 152 77 385 
T. Cleland . 18 74 21 103 29 137 68 314 
J McRae .11 47 16 66 20 104 47 217 
Dr. McLean and J. J. Ross practiced only 
at forty yards and did not keep the score. 
J. M. Cleland, Sec’y. 
