turkey fan question


woodshed

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Guest psefirestormlite

I don't know if this will help but, I use a sharp knife and try to fillet as much fat as I can. After that I tack it down to some card board and poor salt on the back. don't be skimpy on the salt, the more the better. After that let it sit for a week or two in a dry area away from anything that can get into it.

Good Luck

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If I have more of the small feathers in front there are more layers of quills. Is it possible to get the tissure out from between the layers?

Is this why most fans only have the one row of secondary feathers?

Can I pluck them all out and then glue/bondo them back in later?

thanks

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Guest okla_bowhunter

Well, we take a soft wire brush wheel, or knife and try to get all of the meat and grease out from betweem the quills. Then, we put borax on it to cure it.

Then, we spread them out exactly the way we want them, lay something light all the way around the fan, and then take 1 inch 3m masking tape and work your way around the fan. Then, put bondo around the front of the quills, and after that sets up, cut a piece of wire, and shape it into a "U" shape that will cover the quills on the back side, and let the wire hang down about 3 inches on each side.Then, put the wire over the quills on the backside, and put bondo over the wire. Put the extra wire in some foam and let it dry for about a week.

THE TAPE WILL NOT DAMAGE THE FEATHERS.

Hope this helps ya.

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thanks, I might be miss wording my question.

I've done what all of you are basically saying. It works great. It's just that I've never kept more than one row of the small feathers.

How do I get the meat and fat out of the quills if I have 3,4, or 5 rows of quills? Is it possible to cut/clean out all of that meat from under the top rows of quills? It just seems like it would be impossible to get under the small feather quills to get back into the main feather quills.

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Guest okla_bowhunter

I would think that it would be all but impossible to take the feathers out and try to put them back in exactl the way they were. But i am not sure, i have never heard of anybody trying to take the feathers out though.

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What you will do is prepare your tail the same way you have been, with the 2 main rows of feathers. I use bondo so that they are set and ready for step 2. Then you can cut some of the back feathers from the next few rows, and hot glue them to the bondo where you want them. Your turkey tail panel covers the quill ends and your set. As for removing all feathers and re-assembling, I have to do that from time to time with certain poses when I mount one. It can be done and really not that hard.

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I would think that it would be all but impossible to take the feathers out and try to put them back in exactl the way they were. But i am not sure, i have never heard of anybody trying to take the feathers out though.

Thats the way I mount mine. I pluck all the feathers from the tail and clean all the fat off. I use alcohol to remove the oily residue from the quills and hot glue the main tail feathers to a half moon shaped piece of felt. Then I place another piece of half moon shaped felt over the tail feathers and add the smaller feathers in the order I plucked them out. Once I'm happy with the way it looks I hot glue them to the felt backer. Then place one more piece of felt to cover the quills. Then all you have to do is mount it to the plaque. It works great.

Tail.jpg

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I take all of my tails apart, feather by feather and hot glue them back together. The only feather group I leave intact is the back feathers. Use a steak knife to remove the meat and fat off of the feather quills and then dip each quil into a cup of rubbing alcohol to degrease. Lay the primary feathers out to your like-ing and hot glue. Allow to cool and then lay your secondary feather group on top and position then hot glue them down. Flesh the back feathers and degrease . Allow to dry and then super glue skin to hot melt glue.

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Ok,, I'm really liking the disassembly idea then back together with hot glue. It sounds much easier than picking and scraping.

RTF: with the back feathers,,, please confirm something. when you say "flesh", do you mean that these feathers aren't plucked? then are still in the skin and then you glue the skin onto the the top?

wouldn't the skin attract bugs and smell like any other flesh?

thanks.

one other thing. I have the tail in the freezer for now. All flesh still on it. that's ok right? I couldn't get to it due to traveling alot.

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In the freezer is fine. It will last in the freezer for a while so don't worry. Yes, I said do not pluck the back feathers. If it is fleahed (scraped) of all fat, it will be fine. I like to apply some mineral spirits to that small piece of skin and let it soak for about an hour. just dab some on with a wet paper towel.

When putting a turkey tail back together, pay attention to the way the feathers are shingled. The secondary feathers will be shingled in a reverse pattern then the primary feather group.

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A little trick I do, is to press down a small one inch x one inch piece of cardboard into the hot glue AFTER I glue down the secondary feather group. Be sure your piece of cardboard is dead center at bottom of tail. This is where you are going to super glue your back feathers. Just apply super glue to the skin section of the back feathers and press down onto the cradboard.

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