I'm getting ready to do my first feather inlay. I've got lots of tutorials (thank you Barry) and I've read the threads on the forum. I've got pleanty of practice feathers and a few are drying with their first coat of 50/50 Flexcoat CP. The feather inlay I eventually want to get to is putting a Golden Pheasant Red Tip onto a Tiger Eye 9' fly rod. This is a rather large 8" feather and will look great on the rod if I can get it done correctly.

1) Some of the tutorials recommend an acrylic CP mixed 50/50 with water (one says 811 mixed with iso alcohol) for fixing the feather. I want to use Diamondite as the final finish because I've had better luck with this in avoiding bubbles which I understand is a difficulty with feathers. Diamondite recommends Diamondite CP. Could I mix Diamondite CP 50/50 with water or iso? Or should I use regular CP and then top coat that with Diamondite CP before applying the Diamondite finish? Or should I forget the Diamondite all together?

2) The quill on these feathers creates a small hollow area between the feather and blank running along each side of the quill. I'm guessing that it's important to fill this area with CP. I tried trimming down the backside of the quill by scribing the sides with an exacto knife, peeling the back off, and gently digging out what bulk I could. This didn't seem to help very much and it took a lot of effort to not damage the feather. Should I just flood the quill area with CP on the second coat and hope I fill it up?

3) I've also noticed that as the CP dries and shrinks up it will pull a gap into any of the feathers that aren't fully "zipped" up. Is there anything I can do other than just pre "zipping" carefully and checking as it dries?

Thanks
Jim Hicks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2007 12:24AM by James Hicks.

The article written by Russ Gooding in the Volume 2 #1 issue of RodMaker would answer most, if not all, these questions.

I'm going to let someone else fill in the gaps here as I'm a bit busy this morning.

..............

Jim just for for the full 100% acrylic CP - I use U40. I don't dillute it at all. Just remember to brush away any large excess. I wet the area I plan to lay the feather with CP. I then lay the feather on top and you will see the CP soak straight into the feather. Move the feather barbs until you are happy with them and then lightly brush away any large excess CP. I usually use 2-4 coats of CP depending on the number of feathers I plan to lay. Even if you plan to use Diamondite, any acrylic CP can be used under it. I steered away from 811 because I found it harder to work with for feathers.

Regards
Mark Fisher
Outback Rods

Thanks Mark. I'll get some U-40. I haven't tried that one yet :)