Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Ed Brooks on June 21, 2016, 12:38:14 pm
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I was going to get my darts out and take pics of them lastnight, & I found a couple of my feathers have been someones lunch. can / should I use raid to spray them or would something like neem oil work to spray on them to keep the bugs away? What do you do to keep them away?
I have my good cut feathers in a 5 gal bucket with a lid and some borax for now, but I cant do this with arrows and darts. Ed
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Why couldn't you build a box to fit your arrows and darts and sprinkle some borax in the bottom if that?
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Why couldn't you build a box to fit your arrows and darts and sprinkle some borax in the bottom if that?
I guess that could be done also but I'd like to find something to spray on them if I can. thanks tho. Ed
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is this before or after fletching? I made some arrows for my kids and they left them under their beds--no more fletchings. Standing in a corner or off the ground, I don't seem to have a problem. I keep unfletched feathers first in the freezer for a while to try and kill whatever might be on them, and then in ziplock bags.
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is this before or after fletching? I made some arrows for my kids and they left them under their beds--no more fletchings. Standing in a corner or off the ground, I don't seem to have a problem. I keep unfletched feathers first in the freezer for a while to try and kill whatever might be on them, and then in ziplock bags.
The bugs hit my fletched darts standing fletching up, in the corner of my bedroom. My unfletched feathers are in the bucket. Ed
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I have heard that the freezer won't kill mites
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I haven't tried it but you might try spraying them with Permanone spray. It is sprayed on your cloths to prevent ticks and chiggers while you are in the woods. You can buy it at WalMart and other places. It is labeled for spraying on cloths and not on your person. Any bug that touches it will DIE! I'd do a test first to be sure it doesn't adversely affect feathers.
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Moth balls work but then your arrows smell like Grandma's house :D
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I get bugs in all kinds of things; Buffalo robes, feathers, etc. I am constantly trying to keep my stuff from being eaten. You can buy aromatic cedar at places like Lowes, Home Depot, etc. Make a box, long enough to store your arrows in. It doesn't have to be fancy; a cardboard box will work. Line it with the cedar. You can just glue the cedar in there (or make yourself a really nice cedar box, like the ones my NDN friends store their feathers in). Freeze the arrows for about a week, remove from freezer for a few days, and then freeze again for about a week. Remove from freezer, store in box anytime not being used. I know,,,,,, overkill, but I got tired of things eating my work. Curtis
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I've never tried it haven't had problems yet but I think I'll try it on a few after reading this post. I've heard of guys putting feathers in microwave for a bit to kill mites.
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Spray with Permanone or Pemethrin . Or keep them in the freezer. I dust my full turkey mount down every couple of months with a feather duster sprayed with WD-40. Read that in Outdoor Life Magazine years ago.
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You can also buy pure cedar oil, for renewing cedar. It is good for your hands, I also used for fleas on my cat. No fleas, or eggs now. Just use a few drops in your hands, and rub your hands together, and then rub against the grain of the hair, and around the neck, and top of the head, and stomach, and tail. They don't like it, but in a few minutes, the smell isn't quite so strong. But the fleas are dead, or getting out of Dodge! Try that, and see how it works. Just make sure it is pure cedar oil. You don't want to put to much on your cat, or dog, just a few drops, if that, on your hands, and rub them together, and wipe it on your dog, or cat. It doesn't take much. Try a little on a rag, or your hands, and rub the feathers and see how that works. Roaches,and moths love feathers. But cedar oil will kill them! Anywho try it and see if that solves your problem.
Wayne
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2nd on the cedar oil, also usually just cut and dry cedar boughs to store with feathers, but it might look kind of finny bundled up with your darts in the corner.
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Have to try the cedar oil. My wife loves the smell of cedar.
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Thank you for all the replies, I will look for some cedar oil and give that a try. Ed
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I keep my feathers in a shoebox filled with cedar shavings, the kind you might put in a hamster cage. So far so good.
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add citronella, lemon eucalyptus, and/or geranium to the list of oils that repel bugs. My wife makes a non-toxic bug spray with all those oil plus the cedar. Works great if you don't mind re-applying a little more often than the deet stuff.
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I use piece of string impregnated with tar in my drawers, it keeps moth and other nasty creeps away, not sure if it works on bugs - smell also very nice :o ... I think it keeps almost all insects away
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I use piece of string impregnated with tar in my drawers, it keeps moth and other nasty creeps away, not sure if it works on bugs - smell also very nice :o ... I think it keeps almost all insects away
Yah but how do you protect your feathers ;D ;D ;D
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Beat me to it, DC. I imagine Tar gets a little sticky down there. ::) :D
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I use piece of string impregnated with tar in my drawers, it keeps moth and other nasty creeps away, not sure if it works on bugs - smell also very nice :o ... I think it keeps almost all insects away
Yah but how do you protect your feathers ;D ;D ;D
I use to make a few knot on a thinny rope and it is not sticky and put it among my feathers - BUT NOT ON THEM, the recommendation was to put this in the boxes, quivers etc as it definitely keeps insects away not sure for your bugs - anyway It is good against moth.
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I think they where mesin with you freke, cause you said you put it in your drawers. Just a little friendly joke. Not thinking I want a string with tar on it in my fruit of the looms 😊
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Sorry Freke I didn't realize you weren't North American. Over here "drawers" is not only a sliding shelf, it's also a synonym for underclothes.
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Sprinkling borax in with your feathers will help prevent bug damage with stored feathers.
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Borax is great stuff with more uses than I can count, keeping bugs away being one of those. Diatomaceous earth is another non toxic that is very effective at killing insects. BTW that's just a big fancy nerd-word for chalk dust.
If you don't mind using a toxic chemical based product, I recommend "hot shot's no pest strip". It is one of the few things I've seen that will completely rid indoor plants of spider mites. It's great at keeping spiders out of stored/covered boats as well. Just don't leave them out in any living spaces. They are intended for places that don't see much human traffic. Constant exposure should be avoided.
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Sorry Freke I didn't realize you weren't North American. Over here "drawers" is not only a sliding shelf, it's also a synonym for underclothes.
You all got me there:)
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I just drop a couple of mothballs into a wooden box that contains my arrows. That seems to take care of the bugs. When my Turkey hunting buddies gift me with wings, I cut off the feathers drop them into a Ziploc bag with 5 or 6 mothballs and write the date on the bag. After 3 months anything that lived in the feathers or hatched from eggs in the feathers is dead. I don't know what borax does but mothballs are certainly easy to use.
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Thanks for all of the ideas and comments.
I was kinda thinking about this again and was wondering if smoking the feathers (in a smoke house not a pipe..LOL) a bit may help them of just make a nice smokey meal for them bugs. Ed
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I bet it would actually, especially if you used a wood that kept insects at bay normally. I'd probably use cedar. Just don't run jerky with your feathers, unless you want to get ill. If these are hunting arrows I would avoid smoke of any kind though.
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I put a couple of tablespoons of borax in a gallon zip loc bag, insert the fletched end of three or four arrows in the bag, close the zipper up tight on the shafts and give the bag a good shake. I never have bugs, some of my arrows have been out in the shop for 20 years and still have no bugs. Untreated feathers left in my shop will be buggy in a few months.
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Yep, I got the Borax idea from Eric, now, after losing DOZENS of turkey and goose feathers, every box of feathers has Borax in it... as does any bag or container that I have snake skins, fish skins, rawhide, sinew, etc in.