Or if there is anyone else that splits and grinds them.
BARRED FOR LIFE — A TALE OF GRINDING TRUTH ©DEAN TORGES/THE BOWYER'S EDGE™ Barred fletching belongs on wooden arrows in the same way that a taut string belongs on a bent stick. These form such a perfect union and yield such a timeless truth that Moses didn't even bother to write it down.
If I don't have at least one barred feather on a wooden arrow, then I've got a second-class arrow. I wouldn't ask it to do first-class work. But who wants to pay the going price for barred fletching, provided he can even find some for sale?
One of the attractions of our sport is that it teaches if you don't have what you need, you probably can and should make it. I think it was no less a champion of the American wild turkey than Benjamin Franklin who cautioned against early trends toward consumerism with this warning: "Don't buy nothin', don't throw nothin' away, make whatever you can."
So gather up discarded turkey and goose wings from hunting buddies. Because in the spirit of our sport, the spirit which believes personal growth attends the acceptance of total personal responsibility, what follows are directions for making a simple feather grinding clamp and instructions for grinding precise and exact fletching.
As you toil at making beautiful arrows, you'll be reminded of Maurice Thompson's spiritual guide Tommy and his observation: "Any stick do for bow, good arrow damn heap work." Don't be discouraged. There is a big difference, which our language tends to ignore, between making arrows and assembling them. Remember the quality of Tommy's arrows and that he once "gave the finest exhibition of archery... perhaps ever seen by anyone." Though it may appear that you are laboring after arrows that persuasive consumer arguments urge you to buy in component form, if not altogether readymade, we both know that you are building much more.
