Rivercane Species

[YosemiteSam]

I've been inspired by some of you who use and/or harvest rivercane for arrow shafts.  I'm curious if similar species of rivercane can be used with any success.

Those of you in the Southeast, I'm guessing that the rivercane you use is arundinaria?  We have tons of arundo donax, an invasive plant here.  Can this be used?  Or is it more trouble than it's worth to find out?

[Pat B]

Arundinaria is the only native cane in the US and it has 3 species, A. gigantia(river cane), A. tecta(switch cane) and A. appalachiana(hill cane). Of these three hill cane is the best, then switch then river cane. All three make good arrows but river cane with it's thinner walls, bigger center hole, more pronounced nodes and more pronounced sulcus(indentation above the node) it is the least desirable.IMO All other bamboos are exotics, mostly from Asia.
Arunda donax, giant reed cane can be used for arrows but like phragmites isn't very durable.
 There are Asian bamboos that make good arrows too, Japanese arrow bamboo, Tonkin and others that grow in the US.

[YosemiteSam]

Pat B - you know your canes!  Thanks for that info.

[Pat B]

I'm fortunate enough to have hill cane growing along the stream that runs through our property. For years I tried to eliminate it until I found out how good it is for arrows. Unfortunately for most, hill cane only grows in the Southern Appalachians where as river cane and switch cane grows all over the Southeast.

[YosemiteSam]

Reminds me of my neighbor's ivy.  I hated it for years.  Then I got bees & learned that it provides a good nectar flow in late October.  Suddenly, it didn't look so bad.

[BMorv]

Check out Jackcrafty's videos on you tube.  He has one video that explains the different canes used in arrow making.

[Pat B]

Patrick(Jackcrafty) knows a lot about Native American archery. He  is a heck of a flintknapper and builds beautiful, authentic Plains style bows, arrows and quivers. I give Patrick lots of hardwood shoots and hill cane for his projects.
 A few years ago Patrick contacted me to tell me there was something coming my way in the mail. A few days later I got a package with these in it. They were loose when I got them so I mounted them on the board for display.