Hi guys and girls, I just have an idea to share with all you badminton fan. Any suggestion is welcom. Since the Thanksgiving (thank to the turkey for giving it's live so I can have a dinner) is comming. I wonder if we can harvest the turkey feather and use it to make shuttle. Here is my arguments. 1) We consume a lot of turkies here every day and all the feathers are not used. 2) We don't have bird flu here in US yet. Supply will be more stable. (However, Chinese might spread it just to kill the compatations) 3) My dear Canadian friends here don't have to worry about I killing those Canadian geese that crap on my car when they fly by. 4) Extra money for Turkey farmers. 5) Drive feather shuttle price down. Possible set back. Turkey do not fly... Let me know what do you think!!!
If I'm not mistaken, turkey feathers are quite a bit bigger then geese feathers. Manual labor cost too much in the states. And no (at least most likely) company is going foot the bill to start it.
Hi D, I think we can take the top part of the feather which is simular to the geese feather. I believe there are cheaper labors a company can access 30 mile south of UCSD. I am going to see if I can get some turkey feathers to test if the shuttle (not the bird) flys good. Interestingly, some of the more expensive darts are made with turkey feather... Does it mean it has better shaft strength?
I think the key factor might be the cost (labor, etc). I doubt any US manufacture willing to invest in a fairly small market, and thinking about going to head-to-head against asian market.
1) If you look at the farmed turkey, they are white. 2) I am thinking about making shuttle with machine, not by hand. If by hand, I think buying the feather in TX and send it over the south border to make it in Mexico. Give them more job and cut down on border crossing... 3) The fether thinkness is the only big worry I have. I am thinking about getting some turkey feather to see if I can make a feather shuttle to test it out. No Sir DinksALot, you will not be the person test it. Why, the shuttle will not be a bullet when you hit, it will be a cannon ball and put a big hole in the wall of SGVBC. And I thought turkey does not fly.
Master Dink aside, I am sure Halim and Tony will be very glad to test out the turkey shuttles . I believe automation, sensors and robotics have advanced enough to assemble a shuttle without human intervention. There are shoes, industrial and office apparel assembling plants in the U.S. that don't have a single human to operate the machines and handle the raw material.
You probably have to pay alittle more initially before production economy of scale favors the consumers. On the positive side, Turkey feathers might be more durable and require less feathers per shuttles due to size.
