Personally I have mostly abandoned the feather stick. I live in the northern coastal birch forest, so I use birch bark (the very fine outer layer) for all my fire lighting. I may carve a very coarse fire stick as part of my kindling. But what I start the fire with is the birch bark. It's much easier to get going with a ferro rod...I can even light it with old fashioned flint and steel. But when I use a ferro rod often just one or two striukes is enough to light it. I use excactly the same method when I use a lighter or matches.
Anyway I find that feather sticks often just burn out, ie the fethers burn up without lighting the rest of of the wood...actually in a wet environment which coastal Norway is, the problem is most often not to create open flame, but to keep it going until you have a reliable fire going. and even then, turn you back to your roaring fire for a minute, and you may find it has puffed out and you have tio rebuild it to get it going again.