After a long absence, I got back in the forge! Work has been keeping me VERY busy- But now I've got at least 4 months off, so I plan on spending a lot of time swinging my hammer...

This is my first attempt at a feather. There are a few things that I'll do differently next time, but over all I'm pretty satisfied with it. It started life as a 1/4" x 1" piece of bar stock-



-Andrew

That looks really nice.

A few hundred more and you can build a complete iron bird.

Explain your process, as well as what you would do differently.

Good job,

Don

I like it! Yes, please explain your process. One of my sons wants one and my first attempt wasn't very good. Thanks for posting.

That is one nice feather, I guess that's why you're here, birds of a feather.........

i really like that - has inspired me to try one. ! awaiting with interest your method and problems etc... :)

Nice feather......try one using angle iron. By flattening the angle iron you have a ready made center ridge.

I spent a little more time in the shop today- And tried another feather. I was a lot happier about the result this time-



I used a similar process, but did the things that I thought I should do differently...

This time, I started out with a smaller piece of stock- It was 1/4" x 1" bar. First, I tapered out the quill, Using the edge of the anvil to create a 'shoulder'. At this point, I left it square, so it would be easier to grip when I was forging the tip end later.

Next, I forged the rough shape of the 2 sides of the feather using a cross-peen hammer, on the face of the anvil. I thinned both sides of the feather, leaving plenty of material in the middle to form the rachis (Stem).

Then I used a treadle hammer to form the rachis- I have a small, rectangular, flat punch that I ran down both sides of the rachis to get a sharp, defined edge.

After this, I forged out the vanes, using the peen of a hammer. Once the feather was mostly done, I cut the end of the feather off. Then, using vice grips to hold on to the tapered quill end (sorry, traditionalists!), I forged the tip of the feather, and the vanes on the end.

I wanted a 'split' in the vanes, so I cut a v shaped notch with a chisel, the forged it a bit more to make it look a little more natural.

After letting it cool down, I did the final forming of the edge cold, again using the peen of the hammer on the face of the anvil.

Then, I flipped it all around, and finished rounding & tapering the quill. Total time was about 35 minutes- Not too bad for a second go! Hopefully, this all makes sense!!

But, Since an average songbird has 2000-4000 feathers, I've got a long way to go

-Andrew

Well Andrew it appears you have the feather process down. It looks great !

Dick

Nice feathers! Now you only have 3,998 to go to cover that song bird, better get busy.
You must be a bird fancier to know the proper name of feather parts or a biologist.

Nice start and great improvement on your first, well done,

One of our guild members received a commission for an owl, and this is what he came up with, his name is Terry the tawney owl, and his cousin helped as a model

You must be a bird fancier to know the proper name of feather parts or a biologist.

I've got a somewhat more than normal interest in birds, for sure! I was headed into the Biology field, but I got sidetracked in college... But, I live with three pet Parrots, so I'm surrounded by birds all the time!

That owl is INCREDIBLE! As is the tree trunk he's on. Superb work!

Old thread, I know, but beautiful feathers!

Glad the thread came back! Beautiful stuff. Add to the to do list. That owl is insane!

You are off to a good start. The feather looks great and you are improving as shown in the second one. You should be proud.