# useing rit dye 4 feathers?



## CCArrows (Mar 29, 2006)

I have never heard of synthetic feathers before. Did you pluck these synthetic feathers off a plastic turkey?  I have eaten some turkey that tasted like it was plastic. Usually somebody's attempt to improve on mother nature by injecting the turkey with some mixture of herb and spices. ukey:

Either you have real feathers (probably domestic turkey) or you have plastic vanes. Is there a product name or manufacturer's name on the package?

If you have feathers, they can be colored using Rit Dye. If the feathers are already colored I would not try to change the color. Factory dying processes are more or less permanent, you just end-up with a very ugly feather. If they are white they can be colored using the following process:
1. In a large pan mix Rit Dye with water.
2. Heat the dye solution to just be low the boiling point.
3. Soak the feathers in the hot dye solution.
4. Remove the feathers and rinse with cold water.
5. Put the feathers on white paper towel or an old bath towel to dry.
You will have to experiment with the concentration of the dye solution and the length of time you soak the feathers to get the color you want.

If you have vanes the color is molded into the plastic and cannot be changed using Rit Dye. The dye will not penetrate the plastic. Plastic vanes can be colored using permanent ink markers.

There is currently a product on the market that is a sort of plastic feather (Bi-Delta Rain Vanes). If that is what you have use permanent ink markers to color them.


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## brianwalkera (Dec 29, 2006)

No these are feathers i got from 3 rivers, the bag said 3 rivers on it. If these feathers are made of real feathers they fooled me. The feather looks like some kind of plastic made to look and respond like a real feather, the material is exactly like a gateway feather. Thanks for the advice. I think im just going to get some rit dye and try it out with a few, the feathers are white, and i have a bag of a hundred so i probably will experiment a little. Thanks.


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## CCArrows (Mar 29, 2006)

I have been a 3 Rivers customer for years. Other than the Bi-Delta Rain Vane, they do not sell any plastic vanes. All 3 Rivers pre-cut fletching and full length feathers are made by Trueflight Manufacturing Company Inc. and are 100% domestic turkey feathers.


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## brianwalkera (Dec 29, 2006)

I guess i have been fooled, I always thought they felt like some kind of plastic. And the part of the feather that gets glues to the feather looked kind of like sponge. Oh well i guess you learn something new every day. Thanks for the info.


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## CCArrows (Mar 29, 2006)

The base of the fletching (the part that gets glued to the arrow shaft) is part of the feather quill. Your description of it as a sponge is pretty accurate. Except for a hard smooth outer shell the quill is very porous.

Feathers have a small amount of oil in them. The oil will stop water from penetrating the feather. Usually the cleaning process they go through at Trueflight removes most of it. If the dye/water solution does not give you the color you want try mixing the dye with denatured alcohol. This will greatly improve penetration. But *do not *heat it! Alcohol vapors are extremely flammable. I use the dye/alcohol solution to stain my arrow shafts. Be sure to rinse any excess dye from the feathers before drying them.


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