Feather Shafts

I draw pencil lines on the feathers to represent the shafts (see the feather just below the one
I am working on in this photo.) With a fine tipped ruby carver mounted in my high-speed grinder
I grind away a bit of wood along one side of the line. I reverse the bird and run a second line
close to the first effectively "raising" the shaft.

After sanding the feather to smooth out the area near the shafts, I use a "de-fuzzer" made from
a brown Scotch-Brite scrubbing pad (the brown one is softer than the regular green pad.)
With the pad spinning slowly in the grinder, I run it down the length of the relieved shaft to
slightly round it and to remove any burrs that were left from grinding. The feathers are ready to
texture with a stone.