How many times can you steam feather birdies?

I'm like you and usually steam about 6-8 for a 2 hr session where we all contribute.
I've re-steamed and never really kept track how many times but no more than 2-3 times and
haven't noticed any degradation.
I think so long as you don't over steam you should be good to re-steam. Cap it once you see the steam start to rise from the other end.

I'm sure there are some that depending upon their skill level will only steam once. I can't notice any difference yet.

 

I don't know....................................................we don't usually cook the birds becaue we're from the

high humid subtropica climate region.A guy who runs the Red willow badminton club in saint alberta

showed me once how they steam the birds,but I cooked through the whole tube.The pop went mad,really

mad at me.That was fun..............

My uncle used to dip the feather in hot water in order to make the birds last longer.One time he did the

whole carton of birds.That was twenty tubes,man.He didn't say how many birds he used that night.He

said that it was too much work for one session at one night.....................You make the judgment.

 

AS FAR AS I REMEMEBER
You should only steam the birdies you will use for the next day's use . After that they get humid and stuff or whatever , then they easily break.

Steaming the same birdies more than once makes them more fragile.

Source : Victor website

 

In my experience steaming is excellent to keep the shuttles 'soft' so they dont break easily. Steaming over 4 times doesnt affect the shuttle in any way we can detect. However the water accumulated during steaming has to be allowed to dry off before using or the flight path is affected.

 

In other words, without getting too technical, your inquiry is about saturation specific humidity and liquid water lapse rates.

As others have also mentioned, re-steaming a few times should not become too much a concern. You have also correctly surmised about glue. Glue is nutrient-rich and with some moisture and warmth, mould will start to appear. If you see the glued areas (string at feathers, feather at base, and cork cover) become pinkish or brownish or blackish, then start playing harder and longer with lots of full court action net-drops slices, the works, and also offer shuttles to others in the gym that evening.

At some tournaments, steaming, even change of different shuttle speeds, is not necessary, such at Richmond Oval/BC. The reason is the temperature is relatively constant, and so is the humidity (~54%). As long as you dont keep steamed or re-steamed shuttle tubes in warm place too long, the shuttles should be fine for club-play

 

this is true, one time i oversteamed a wilson topline 100 and the shuttle wobbles when flying. it was soft, but useless what's worst is that it comes off the stringbed kinda slow, then it accelerated like crazy making the pace of flight inconsistent.

 

I am currently browsing our forum to find out the best value for money feather shuttles because we want to switch from Nylon now. In fact that is why the feathers we have we keep a bit long and need to steam before use or they break like glass.

 

I have tried steaming one tube constantly for like 8 times at least. This was because I carried two tubes, and at that time I was never willing to use my more expensive tube and I steamed them every single time I was getting ready for a game the next day. In the end I never really used many of those shuttles, cause the first shuttle or so was a little mouldy. I stopped doing that ever since and now only steam mildly and not so extremely. I'm still okay with it. I steam only when I am going to play and I usually only keep a max of 6 birds in a tube as other friends bring their shuttles too so I don't expect to use too many, I keep an extra tube as backup anyways (unsteamed). Every time I go home I replace the birds that were used, so the same tube is consistently steamed day before I play, and only some birds have been steamed before previously... so I can't say for sure... But I never notice too much degradation from my experience unless you oversteam and make the shuttles soft.