River Cane Arrows?

[huntsmanlance]

Of course i have see the threads about cane arrows but really dont know much about them. I have read some say that they are natures carbon shafts.

Are they good arrows? Are they stronger than other woodies and not so easy to break? How do you spine them to the weight of your bow?

and what is a good source for the raw shafts?

Thanks!
Lance

[matt matney]

huntsmanlance,  you can find your own shafts in Ok.  Just go walk around some creek bottoms.  I found them all over the place in southern OK.

[SCATTERSHOT]

Well, I have made some. They are pretty labor intensive, but make great arrows. As far as spine goes, you can sand them in the middle, leave them long, or use a heavy point. All three maybe.

I have seen pics of some beauties by Ionian and others, but mine are ugly as homemade soap. Fly well, though, and recover nicely from paradox.

PM me your address and I'll send you some cane.

Best,
Gene

[huntsmanlance]

Thanks guys, and Matt i was wondering about the cane here and if it was the "right" stuff to use. I know there are different types.

and thank ya Gene! PM sent

[Osagetree]

Shoot send me some cane!

212 mason st.
 South Point
 Ohio 45680

     

[Jason Lester]

Ok you asked about how tough they are. You can ask Mickey about this as I showed him. I was shooting inside my building at work in the warehouse section. I missed the target (duh backed up to far) and hit the wall (steel) with the cane arrow. It was fine not hurt at all. At another time I pulled the same trick with a carbon. The carbon arrow basicaly splintered. Totaly destroyed the carbon. Then I pulled the same trick again with the same cane arrow. I got a small crack lengthwise in the cane. Didn't even effect the flight but I wrapped it with artificial sinew and retired it just for good measure. I figured it earned it.


So twice into steel with a cane arrow. Still shootable.

Once with a carbon and it is toast.

Yep they are tough. They are some work but I think they are worth it in the end.

[BamBooBender]

River cane is a type of bamboo, so it's not really wood it's actually a type of grass. They are tougher than wood arrows except maybe for good shoot arrows(though cane/boo arrows are technically shoot arrows too). I have(in the past) shown people how tough cane/boo arrows are by whacking a raw(no point or fletching, but cut to length) shaft really hard sideways against a tree or telephone pole. Cane/boo or carbon are the only ones that I have tried that will survive this.Now, I'm not saying they wont break from doing this, but it takes a surprising amount of effort and hurts my hand.  I shoot bamboo (tomato stake) shafts a lot and have yet to break one while shooting.

I don't usually spine them per se. I just make some up and use the ones that fly well or tune them by adding weight to the tip. Ferret had a good idea about spining them by placing two nails 26" apart on a wall, laying an arrow that you know shoots well from your bow on the nails, hanging a weight(usually around two pounds)from the middle ,marking on the wall how far it bends, and then do your cane shafts the same way to get a good estimate of spine.    

As far as availability; if you're into harvesting it yourself then river cane should be easy to come by in OK. Other wise bamboo sold for tomato stakes  can be found at wally world, k mart, or just about any garden store. If you wait till the late gardening season you can often get them for $1 a bag. On average I only get about 4-8 usable shafts from a  bag of tomato stakes but that works out to...extremely cheap. lol    

BTW I used to cut river cane on the Red river and the Pease river in north Tx. As well as, just about any creek bottom in the area. I even found some around culverts on the side of the road. But, it must have been switch cane, because it was almost always thin walled and a lot weaker than the mater stakes I ended up using.

At any rate, like Jason mentioned above, they are a lot of work but are well worth the effort. imo
And, the sky's the limit on how (or if) you dress them up. Judging by the leather work I saw on your site though, I bet yours will look awesome. Please post some pics if decide to go ahead and make some up.

Hope all my rambling helps you out in some way.

James

[huntsmanlance]

Yep it does James and thank ya! Now of course i will have to go try some of them boo tomato sticks too! I have some cane all cured out from when i was messin around with an atlatl. So i will make some up and see!

Thanks all

[AkDan]

Man where's Nick, he's built quite a few of this stuff.  

OH wait, they banned him?   Cant find his nick on here anymore??? Ionian....  

YOu can read his articles in Primitve Archer mag.  Dam fine craftsmen!!!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Mickey did a piece in TBB III, also check with Pat B. They both make some nice arrows with cane

[JC]

Cheapshot here on tradgang made me a couple that I shot the heck out of until losing both. Awesome arrow material, far superior to any wood and even aluminum in my opinion. If they didn't take so dang long to make, I'd get into building them.

[shawnee]

Lance,

There is a tradganger named Mike Hames that is close to you (Norman area), and he has a large supply of river cane.  He will sell you some, and would be a great resource person for you.

Do a search on here for his contact info.

I've had guys that hunt with cane arrows tell me that they have shot deer,and as they run off, the cane arrow is whipping around and glancing off trees and brush, and survives just fine.  Can't see a wood shaft of any kind doing that very often.

Like was said before, they are a little labor intensive, but not rediculously so.  I've had to work harder straightening some ash shafts than I have on the cane I have straightened so far.  Use heat, and it bends like rubber.

[Aeronut]

As for spine, all of the cane/boo shafts that I have made have never spined under 90#'s.  And yes, they are a little labor intensive but tough as nails.

Dennis

[onemississipp]

The cane arrows, don't really take that long to make. You still have to fletch, nock, and tip them like any other arrow material. So the only other steps involved would be straighting them and cleaning up the nodes. *some woods require some form of straighting also*

Grab a bottle of "Wesson" cooking oil, your citronella candle and get started!!!

[StephenR]

Lance,I have a bunch already dried If you need some.Good to see you posting again.

You still making arm guards with that cool lacing system??

Stephen

[ozarkcherrybow1]

Dennis, the last batch of cane arrows I made spined between 46 and 61 lbs. You must be getting them too thick.
 When I harvested mine, I tried to get only the ones that were about 3/8 diameter at the bottom end, and left them about 4 feet long. After they dry out and go through a straightening process, I move them back and forth through the spine tester to see where I want to cut them to rough length. In most cases, I cut them to the heaviest spine the shoot would allow.
 I must add, that range of spine seems to fly real nice out of my 57lb mulberry selfbow or my 55lb Savannah longbow! Cane is very spine tolerant, IMO. From what others have said, they don't even worry so much about spine. They try to get weight matched by adding shot inside the shaft.
 Hope that helped...Terry

[Aeronut]

Terry,  I use a heavy broadhead (160gr or more) on all of the arrows I hunt with and the ones I've made from cane or bamboo fly like darts with those heads and I shoot around 50#'s or so.  They fly good out of all of my bows.  I usually hunt with them but this season is going to be the Ipe testing time.  I will still have one or two cane arrows in my quiver though.

Here is how I make them.

 http://groups.msn.com/hanarchery/shoebox.msnw?albumlist=2

Dennis