One Eye, welcome to the land of arrow making. You're in for an interesting journey!

For your staining you can also use Rit dye mixed with denatured alcohol. There should be lots of info on that process in the archives. I use Rit and aniline dyes on all the arrows I make and they look great (if I do say so myself ). I don't use it but that Apple Barrel paint is great stuff for cresting. Cheap, too... local craft shop here just had similiar paint on sale for $.50 a bottle.

Sounds like you want to use a spliced feather but you might be able to save money or frustration by passing on the splice for the first set or two.

Keep posting your questions here and we'll do our best on getting you together with a set of great arrows that you'll be proud of.

Guy