[VFB] Feather prep - a warning

[Kevin W. Machon]

Hi, all:

Thought I'd share a story that happened to me tonight so you can avoid the same happening to you.

A friend of mine, after a successful phesant hunt, was nice enough to collect a big bag of feathers for my tying obsession. This evening I eagerly sat down to sort them and pick out the best preserved, most usable ones. After reading the recent discussion thread concerning keeping "beasties" out of materials, I thought I'd take some steps to sterilize the bunch. So, remembering a post about nuking materials in the microwave to kill unwanted pets (sorry, I can't remember who posted it and don't have the storage space to archive posts), I set a plate of feathers in the microwave, turned it on, and resumed my sorting. Not more than 2 minutes later, I heard a strange sound eminating from the kitchen followed by a faint, unplesant odor. Checking it out, I found a smoldering pile of feathers making a tour of the microwave on the rotary plate. It never occurred to me that feathers are combustable! How often does one encounter a flaming bird? Needless to say, that bunch of feathers was ruined, but the worst part is the smell. My place now reeks of what I would imagine a burning dog smells like.

The moral: I think I would rather put up with the bugs than ever smell burning feathers again.

Kev





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