Feather

?? White goose in China is a major poultry, just like chicken and duck.  Feather is a by-product.  Goose down is also famous for use in production of comforter and Ski-wears.

中国で水鳥はチッケンと同じように主食です。水鳥の羽はよく出っています。ダウンはスキーの服や毛布もとても有名です。

This is all about Feather.  How they make from raw material to ready to manufacture a shuttlecock. 

下記は羽の作り方。 

1	wash and bleach 洗う、漂白		Feather has to be sanitized.  Bleaching makes the feather whiter.
2	drying 乾燥		Feather usually sun dried or oven dried.
3	sorting 選別		Feather is sorted from same side of wing. Both left & right feathers will be used.  But, all left feathers or all right feathers will be planted on the same shuttlecock.  Shuttlecocks made from left feathers are usually more stable in flights.  Lower grades will be re-exported.
4	cutting 切る		A feather of approximately 8 inches will be cut to 4 inches.  The cut feather is exactly like the one on the shuttlecock.  It's ready for punching to the cork.
5	angle measure 同じような切った羽を選別		Cut feather will be measured per their curve.  Only similar angle of curve will be put together.

Cork

Cork - The major component forms the Base of the Shuttlecock

コルク

The bark from the Cork Oak (Quercus Suber).  Not only does the cork oak bear the distinction of producing Suberose tissues, it is also, due to its long lifespan (150 to 200 years), certainly the only tree to show a conspicuous production of Suberin, with an excellent capacity for regeneration and a protective tissue characterized by extraordinary physic-mechanical and chemical properties. 

Cork Forests in the Mediterranean These are the result of the particular structure and chemical composition of cork. This tree grows mainly in regions with a Mediterranean climate and Atlantic influence.  On closer examination, cork reveals an alveolar structure, analogous to that of a honeycomb. Its minuscule alveoli are compactly arranged, with no empty spaces, and their dimensions are so minute that one cubic centimeter of cork contains around 42 million cells.

Since that time, cork has very rightly been regarded as the best material for closing bottles of all types of wine. Besides sealing without allowing any defects to get in contact with the wine, it also makes the bottles easy to open. It has unique properties, such as elasticity, compressibility, impermeability, imputrescibility and adhesion.

Indeed, when centuries-old objects made of cork were found at the bottom of the ocean, they had retained their original characteristics almost unchanged. By the same token, when a cork stopper is compressed to half its diameter by the machine that fits stoppers into bottles, it regains, due to its multi-cellular structure, about 85% of its volume immediately, and about 94% after 24 hours. 

It is its extraordinary elasticity that explains how cork is able to maintain its full sealing capacity for more than a hundred years. Owing to the waxes and fatty acids in its composition, it is resistant to penetration by moisture, and is almost impermeable to gases.

Shuttlecock

このページは、どのようにしてシャトルが作られているか紹介しています。シャトルの材料は、水鳥の羽、コルク、糸、コルクを覆う皮、テープと糊、その他です。

1	コルクの計量		コルクは皮で覆っていますが、その重さを計量し羽とのバランスをとります。
2	パンチング		一羽の鳥から16枚の羽を取り、機械でコルクに差し込んでいきます。
3	整羽		パンチングし終わった羽は、人の手によって整えられます。
4	検査		出来たシャトルが一定の形かどうか型にはめて調べます。
5	縫製		羽の形を整え、強度を増すために糸で縫製します。
6	糊付け		羽とコルクがラケットの強打に負けないよう、糊付けを行います。
7	長さの測定		規定の大きさになっているか測定します。
8	重さの測定		シャトルの重さを正確に量り、±0.28まで合わせます。
9	選別		一つ一つの羽を重さでスピード別に分けます。

Grading

Our Shuttlecocks are graded into the following:

A.  Fancy Grade Shuttlecocks made of superior grade Chinese Goose Feather.  Whiter in color and very durable, consistency in flight.

B.  Tournament Grade Shuttlecocks made of 1st grade Chinese Goose Feather.  Same quality in Hi-Qua brand is being approved by the IBF for International Tournament.

C.  Club Grade Shuttlecocks made of 2nd grade Chinese Goose Feather.  It's flight and durability is the standard in the industry.  The best seller.

D.  Practice Grade Shuttlecocks made of 1st and 2nd grade Feather.  After tested, it's being found that the flight is slightly not up to our standard.  So, it's a downgrade from our above kind of shuttlecocks.  

E.  Slight Wobbler Grade Shuttlecocks found wobbling slightly. 

Speed Chart

Speed of Shuttlecock is one of the key factor.  A shuttlecock which is good in Hong Kong may not be good to use in London.  Because there's differences in temperature; humidity; altitude and air pressure etc. 

In an IBF tournament, most of the Chief Referee will test up to 3 different speed of shuttlecocks to ensure that particular speed is right for that particular place at that particular time.

Fast or slow do not represent the quality of the shuttlecock.  But, of course, the consumer has the right to choose. 

Table above is the 3 most common system using right now: