Leather Feathers

by Winston MacDonald aka "broken arrow"

Let us all go back to a time in history when we, as a species, hunted with bow and arrow on a daily basis. We are hunter gatherers. Our hunt has been good today. Two of our arrows found their marks, and two coastal black-tailed deer died quickly. We will rejoice in camp tonight as our food cache is critically low and fresh meat is badly needed to feed our camp of twenty, including three children. We will use the bones of the deer for tools and arrowheads. The hides will be turned into leather for clothing and hunting implements.

Today, we find ourselves without fletching feathers. The feather bag caught fire last night, and all of our primary feathers were burned beyond recognition. The men were out hunting, and the women and children were fishing. A wind came up and fanned our campfire, burning the feather bag and two arrows. Burning feathers is a smell we will not forget for some time and a problem we will deal with beginning tomorrow. It will be another three weeks before the ducks and geese begin their northern migration into our area, so we cannot replenish our feathers until then. Usually, we fletch our wild rose and willow shoots with primary feathers from several different birds, but for the next few weeks we will be shooting "leather feathers" and, thanks to the teachings of our ancestors, we will still be able to shoot accurately.

It is not as simple to fletch with leather as it is with a feather, but we have no alternative as we must hunt every day to feed the family. Buckskin behaves much like a bird’s feather; it has a soft side like the bottom side of a feather and a tough smooth side like the top side of a feather. Everyone in camp will be working on "leather feathers" tomorrow. Working with hide glue, leg and back sinew, and cuttings of buckskin will have us all chuckling. These materials really like one another and want to bond as the hide glue is just a shorter molecular chain than leather and sinew. The chuckles really begin when each finger tries to bond with all three, as you will see on your first try. Hide glue will amaze you if you have not worked with it before, as its strength surpasses many types of glue that are sold today. (photo 1) Beef rawhide sold in pet food stores as a small dog bone makes excellent hide glue and can be rendered down in three to five hours with three cups of simmering water in a small sauce pan. The impurities will settle as a jellied globule on the bottom and can be spooned off at the end. Now you have hide glue that will take you on an amazing journey. (photo 2)

To make leather feathers, first cut a piece of leather in the shape of a fast feather (photo 3) with a 1/2 by 1/4 inch tail on the trailing edge of the feather. Coat the three tails with hide glue on the soft or bottom side of the leather, and position them evenly around the arrow shaft ahead of the knock. Then tie all three down with a fine piece of back sinew that has been soaking in warm water for fifteen minutes. Dip the sinew in warm hide glue just as you begin to wrap, starting at the largest end and working towards the smallest end of the sinew. Put this arrow aside to dry until the sinew does not feel warm to the touch.

The next part of the process requires a bit more dexterity. The idea is to tension one feather and rotate it on the shaft by tying it down with a thin piece of back sinew dipped in warm hide glue, and starting to wrap from the large end of the sinew gradually putting tension on the sinew as you wrap towards the fine end, remembering to "chuckle." When all three feathers have been applied in the same way and have dried, you are almost ready to shoot leather feathers, but I must tell you about waterproofing before you go out in the rain. I spoke with the elders and told them about this waterproofing stuff we have now, so we don’t have to use so much bear grease and beeswax. They said to go ahead and use it if it will cut down on those two.

For months now, I have wondered what would I do if I was not able to obtain feathers to fletch my arrows. (photo 4) Would I have to stop shooting with bow and arrow? To satisfy my own curiosity, I took my thinking back to a time when this was a reality. First, I used my fletching jig, and fletched with different shapes of leather on wild rose, Port Orford Cedar, and willow shoots. They all shot well, so well in fact, they gave feathers good competition. (photo 5)

As hunter gatherers and resourceful people, we would have resorted to leather fletching due to circumstances and geographic locations. Let us say the resource was always on our back. Each hunter would carry rawhide for hide glue, leg and back sinew for wrapping, scraps of buckskin, and wear leather clothing that could be trimmed in an emergency to produce "leather feathers." I believe that leather, being more difficult to work with than a feather, would have necessitated a strategy in design to simplify cutting and application when working with sinew and hide glue. After experimenting with different shapes and sizes, I let the obsidian arrowhead be my guide. (photo 6) As I admired its sleekness of design and its fast look, it took me back to a time long ago. Now all I need is a fast leather feather to guide this missile. (photo 7) It must be sleek in design. I must be able to cut it out with my knife. It must be easy to apply. It must be spirally fletched to spin out any imperfections in my wild rose and willow shoots and any imperfections in my arrowheads. Each hunter must be able to fletch six arrows in one day starting with rawhide. (photo 8)