A feather duster is an implement used for cleaning. It consists typically of a wooden-dowel handle and feathers from either the male or female ostrich bird that are wound onto the handle by a wrapped wire. Dusters vary in size but are most often between 14" and 32" in total length. Some dusters have a retractable casing instead of a dowel handle. These dusters are typically used by rack-jobbers and truck drivers who need to dust store shelves, and like to retract the feathers into the handle to avoid damage.
Feather dusters are effective in dusting tight areas, or areas where there are a lot of odds and ends to dust around. The individual feathers are able to penetrate through the knick-knacks and pull the dust out of the area without disturbing items. On large open surfaces or walls, or in trying to get spider webs in the ceiling, either a feather duster or other dusters like lambswool or synthetic dusters will work.
Read more about Feather Duster: History, Types, Mechanics of Function
Famous quotes containing the words feather and/or duster:
“This whole day have I followed in the rocks,
And you have changed and flowed from shape to shape,
First as a raven on whose ancient wings
Scarcely a feather lingered, then you seemed
A weasel moving on from stone to stone....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Always polite, fastidiously dressed in a linen duster and mask, he used to leave behind facetious rhymes signed “Black Bart, Po—8,” in mail and express boxes after he had finished rifling them.”
—For the State of California, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)