Is there an articial feather out there being manufctured? If not why doesnt soemone come up with a subsitute for feathers? I dont like veins for trad archery. Silly right!

I'll bite. What would the advantage be with "artificial feathers"? The real ones work pretty well.

Maybe lower cost. Just a silly thought.

How would artificial feathers different from vanes?

Possibly waterproof or water resistant that would be flexible and react like real feathers??

BiDelta Rain Vanes are as close I've ever seen. Regular old vanes work best for me.

Rick

Why? How would you duplicate the oil lines in the real deal the water proofing so to speak?

Years ago a company came out with a textured vane.was supposed to be similar to a feathers resistance.can't remember the company.it was in the eighty's.

I believe they were called dyna-vanes

read somewere to take a raserblade and slice regular vanes at an angle ////// they supposedly would lay down like a feather when striking something....ron

the techolage is here just no demand for it they can make artificial grass and plant so feathers would not be to far off for them take a plastic fern leaf and tri them down to feathers would work.

sorry for all the wording not to good on the phone key pad.

You silly boys. Then what do you suppose we do with all those feathers come Thanksgiving time ?

What's wrong with real feathers? I still say we are making this too hard.

There have been artificial feathers manufactured over the years that showed up in the fly tying world when I was tying commercially. They never caught on, and I don't recall ever seeing any made in to fletching,

My brother brought me a bow back to Bermuda from New York in 1965 when a kid.The arrows had moulded plastic one piece knock and bristle type fake feather.The feather collapsed like real feathers do , but being like thin finger/ bristle type of thing they did not knit back together like real ones do.The complexities of real feathers would probably preclude being made very easily.If they could it would be amazing.Feathers are natures Velcro .How could you mould those minute little hooks that allow ruffled feathers to knit back together? We seem to be stuck with vanes for now or the real thing. OSR

This is just a bit off topic.I think an English man made these .Silly but a bit of light hearted Christmas fun HOLLY leaves OSR

I'm sorry guys, but I haven't had a need to use anything but real feathers.

I like traditional stuff, anything but feathers is not in my vocabulary.

By the way, my geese have been doing well in the rain and swimming in the pond without artificial feathers.......Ha!Ha!

Now to get serious, I do understand your question Crow, but think about it, if feathers were a problem why would you want to make something artificial to duplicate them, you would only need to make an artificial anything if you couldn't get it anymore.

What it all boils down to is .....

... if a manufacturer developed an artificial feather that has all the characteristics of a real feather ...would you buy it?

There is entirely too much artificial stuff in the world now. An artificial Christmas tree may look pretty real and last a lot longer than the real thing, but no way do I want one. Tried it once but gave it away to Goodwill.

I would buy them if the worked as well and were cheaper. Feathers will run you a buck plus per arrow. Gets pricey when you are keeping a family shooting. Imagine if the stuff came in 10 foot rolls and you choped it to your profile for a few cents a piece.

You would only need the artificial ones if the real ones weren't available or were priced so high you couldn't afford them. Feathers are your friend.

Real feathers for me as well. A real feather differs from any man made feather kinds like a bug differs from a fishing fly. Both will work, but one is made by man and the other created by God.

A scientist says to God, we don't need you anymore. We can make life now. God says OK, make a man. Scientist says okeedokee, and kneels down to grab a handful of dirt. God says, hold on there, hoss, use you own dirt.

Wood is still plentiful and cheap, yet many of us prefer carbon for a number of reasons...

I love the look of feathers, but vanes are 1000 times more durable. Vanes are also quieter in flight.

Rick

I agree with you Rick 100 percent, I just don't care for the tail weight that vanes add. Seems like I usually have to go up 25 grains on the tip to get the spine back to where a feathered shaft was

John, that is sometimes a draw back for sure. In my case the extra weight comes in handy to get me where I want to be.

Rick

Just like carbon arrows it will never catch on. :-)

To answer your question Crow, I am not aware of anyone manufacturing "artificial" feathers other than vanes. I'm not an expert though, so there could be someone out there trying it.

On the second part of your question, I would say "Good question!" If you, or I, or Tom, Dick, and/or Harry came up with a equivalent "artificial" fletch, I bet they could make a LOT of money. I bet for every archer on here who only uses real turkey fletching on their wood arrows, there is at least one archer who doesn't mind trying new stuff. As we have seen, many on here like to tinker.

However, the LOT of money won't come from artificial fletching, it will come from your having built a "better mouse trap".

To create artificial feathers, start at the beginning -

Create an artificial turkey egg to hatch an artificial turkey to grow artificial turkey feathers to make artificial fletching.

Or the other beginning -

Every wild turkey that I shoot comes equipped with a set of natural, organic, barred, wild turkey feathers that are just perfect for fletching!

And a similar thought on a different topic -

Some natural "things" have a delightfully wonderful appearance and other very important characteristics that to the best of my knowledge cannot be perfectly duplicated, created, or installed - even under surgical conditions.

Back in the early days of my career in rendering we would receive about four forty foot trailer loads of turkey feathers everyday to hydrolize. Do you have any idea of how many feathers fit in a forty foot trailer? I see no shortage of real feathers now or for as long as people eat turkey. This post begs the question, why artificial?

People who develop great new ideas just go ahead and do it. They do not wait for someone else to do it.

DDave

You would only be creating a "feather like" product.

It would be material of some sort, likely a form of plaxtic, maybe a natural materia, that had the coloring and pattern of a natuarl feather on it. I've tied dozons of Letort Hoppers and Letort crickets that I used just such a meterial on them. The material came in sheets about 12" long by 4" wide.

As was stated earlier, this has been done guys.

If there was a 'need' and it was econimcally feasible, it could be done. But with a rest, vanes are fine. If you are shooting off the shelf, you probably prefer feathers.

It's kind of like the reason we don't see artificial bamboo Hill bows

I don't envision recreating the feather "considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates" (quote from wikipedia). I picture someone coming up with a vane that has all the shooting characteristics of feathers with additional advantages. In other words it shoots off the shelf and stabilizes arrows as nicely as feathers, is completely waterproof, durable, lightweight, and quieter than a real feather both in the quiver and in flight. I think it would have to be made of a material other than plastic as I believe plastic will always be too heavy and won't be able to shoot off the shelf like feathers. If someone could develop such a vane that is visually pleasing and cheaper than real feathers, I think the world would beat a path. I would maybe have a hard time putting such a vane on my wood shafts, but I sure wouldn't on my aluminum and carbon ones.

Pat, I looked that up. Thanks for the link.

I'm playing with XS Wings (a sort of spin wing). Lighter than feathers OR most vanes, lots of spin, more than rugged enough except for pass-throughs. Easier to install than feathers. The flo-orange is hard to loose. No less "traditional" than fiberglass or Dacron.

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