Repairing a fan

[Big Guy]

had a fan all ready dried out and ready to mount this weekend, but my dog had other plans and completely tore the fan apart.  Yes it was my fault leaving it where she could get to it but hindsight is 20/20.  Is there any way to piece it back together?  If this was any other turkey I would be OK with it...not happy but OK.  This one was a special turkey for a few reasons and I don't want to lose it.

[Bowguy]

What did he do to it?

[fallhnt]

Sounds like she tore it up. Epoxy it at the base.

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[Big Guy]

What did he do to it?

Just tore it apart.  The feathers are all in OK condition, they're just a pile of feathers

[SteelerFan]

Primos used to? sell a fan kit for their B Mobil decoys to use real feathers. You would insert the individual feathers to form the fan. If you can find one, you could figure out the puzzle and put it back together, and then glue the smaller front row(s) back onto the primary tail feathers...

http://www.bestrealturkeydecoys.com/product/tail-fan-holder-for-diy-folding-tail-fan/

[Greg Massey]

Mount the dog...tail....

[hobbes]

Do this to main feather group............Clean the quill ends, lay them out correctly on a table with ends over a plastic grocery sack (quills should form half moon shape), mix a small amount of Bondo,  pour/spread over feather butts/quills.

For secondaries.....you can do same thing or......super glue or hot glue to Bondo.

Use an old fan to ensure that you space and shape correctly.  You don't want too narrow of an arc or too wife.

Don't mix Bondo so "hot" that you have no working time.

[Tail Feathers]

A half moon shaped piece of styrofoam from a craft store.  Stick quills in until it's right. 

[Bowguy]

The bondo is the correct method in this situation. Before I mounted any bitd I'd have bondo 'd it., obviously w the fan itself lending to the shape but if done carefully n correctly you'd be fine. Mount the completed piece on a fan mount n you'll never see bondo. Keep it down by quills stem

[Ericbrooks]

Any repaired fan is gonna look like exactly that, a repaired fan.
Find a suitable replacement


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[2eagles]

My best looking tail by far is one I completely took apart, then on a piece of thin cardboard, I hot glued the thing back together. I started with the long ones at the back and just kept hot glueing on top in layers. It wasn't my idea, must have seen this method on YouTube or something.

[hobbes]

Any repaired fan is gonna look like exactly that, a repaired fan.
Find a suitable replacement


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That is absolutely false if done correctly unless the dog has damaged the feather itself and even that can be restored if minor and it's not broken.

[Bowguy]

Hobbes is correct. Even if the feather looks damaged it can be fixed if parts of the feather aren't missing. If you wash the feathers in dawn soap or even just wet em n blow dry them they will puff back up.

[Big Guy]

Well I wanted to thank everyone who helped me out in this thread.  Took a few ideas from here and I think it turned out pretty good.  The outer feathers aren't as even as I wanted to make them, but I'm still happy with it.  This is what I was planning for it.  Am going to try and chemically weather the boards and hopefully make them look old and grey.  And imagine a beard on the other side I'll have to find somewhere else.  The reason I went to all this trouble was I had a fire last June and lost almost everything including turkey fans.  This was the first turkey I have shot since then.  This was also the first turkey I have shot on family property so it means a lot, and why I went to all the trouble.

[Greg Massey]

Looks good , nice job on the repair...you can remember the hunt and the dog...always....