First try at river cane arrows

[Roy from Pa]

Well I am trying my first river cane arrow. Doesn't look too bad but I am sure I will improve. I need to do a little more straightening though. I think I will also drill the nock end and slide a piece of Osage down into that end about an inch and leave it flush with the end of the cane. The point end has Osage down inside 3 inches and it is bottomed out against the first node. I did split the shaft a slight bit, prolly because I ran the drill in too fast would be my guess. I decided just to keep going and finish this arrow anyway. The epoxy oozed out of the split and I then clamped the outside of the shaft. I'm sure it will be strong enough to shoot. I was surprised how straight the drill bit went in. I guess it follows the hollow cavity. Any suggestions are welcome, thanks Roy

   

   

   

   

 

[Dano]

Oh sure!!! do a foreshafted cane arra the first try!!! Make us all go, Gee I wish I was a tallented as Roy. Juss funnin, getting the shaft to spin true may take some work but well worth the effort. Are you planning on making the foreshaft removeable? OOPs just re-read you post, guess not, with the epoxy ooozing out.

[the Ferret]

Dang show off amatuers..huh Dano!

Drill your hole in stages, don't try and drill it one size all at once, especially if it's going to leave the wall thin. I split one once in awhile, but use tite bond on all sides of my plugs and it ends up being just as strong as pre-cracked, maybe stronger.

Nice job on the foreshaft Roy. Did you turn it on a lathe or hand sand it down?

Be sure you do all your straightening before reducing nodes.

[T.J.]

hmmm were you at the expo in wheeling? They did a primitive arrow seminar that was really good and talked a lot about river cane. I'm thinking of trying some myself. Keep posting great photos on your progress.

[rawshaft]

Can you hang a change bag on the back end of the ROY

[Roy from Pa]

I did the foreshaft on a bench sander with a round wheel. Then hand sanded. Ok on drilling the hole in stages. Does the foreshaft need to be inserted into the cane 3 inches? I've been told 1 1/2 or 2 inches is fine. Is epoxy a good glue for the foreshaft or are others better?

[Pat B]

Roy, I have 2 cane arrows that Art Butner gave me with foreshafts. All he uses is a taper on the fore shaft and a socket in the cane to match. (3/4" to 1" long). He sets it with super glue and wraps the cane at the joint with thread set in super glue. Being a tapered fit, the fore shaft would have less chance of breaking and with a wrap on the cane would prevent splitting. I have shot these 2 arrows for 2 years now. I did break one of the foreshafts, split from end to end, and had to really work to get it out of the cane to put another in.    Pat

[the Ferret]

Traditionally forshafts were installed with hide glue, fish glue, pine pitch, birch tar or shellac and then linen thread or sinew wrapped. Part of the purpose of a foreshaft is to be able to reuse the arrow if the arrow hits something hard and the foreshaft breaks. If ya can't get it out, ya can't reuse the arrow. However we do this more for grins than for any real purpose.

I would think 1 1/2" would be plenty deep enough Roy.

[Matt E]

Your arrow is looking good so far!I have split a few shafts while drilling for the fore shaft myself. I remedied this problem by serving the end of my shaft before I try to drill. This has eliminated the spliting of my shafts altogether.I also use only one drill bit size now! ...... The reason I use a foreshaft is most knapped heads the size I prefer are from 80 to 100 grains. I need more weight up front for good  arrow flight. A fore shaft 3 to 4 inches gives me the added weight I need. They also look great as someone else has mentioned.

[cory hunter]

hell i admire you just for trying, i always tell myself im gunna learn to build my own arrows n then never do lol. great work keep it up!

[traditional_archer]

Your arrow is looking good so far, can't wait to see the completed version.

[Roy from Pa]

Well I played around some more tonight in the bow shop. Came up with this head on a cane arrow. I did not like how I had to deal with the flat spot on the cane while wrapping the foreshaft/arrow junction. I guess it will be ok but in the future I think I will make my splice where the cane is rounder.. Any comments there? Mickey? Anyone? I'm a rookie here learning as I go.. When the arrow is placed on the bow, should it be aligned so those flat sides on the cane are either facing up or down? I don't think I'd want them facing the side of the shelf on the bow..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[the Ferret]

Roy looks great! Nice splice job. Those little indents don't mean squat and they vary from one side to the other at every other node so at some point they are going to be against the riser anyway. You have to learn to ignore them. Look through them when staightening. Looks like you got that one plenty straight. Can't wait to read your reaction after you shoot it.

[Roy from Pa]

Thanks Mickey, but you never really answered my question on arrow alignment. I noticed that the sides 90 degrees opposite from those flat spots are nice and straight so I'm gonna lay that side up againist the riser.. That ok with you? LOL

Tomorrow night she gets turkey feathers tied on and a self nock cut in and shot.. YEE-HAW..

[the Ferret]

Well OK go ahead and get picky about how ya shoot it if ya want.  

[MAC]

Looks to be straight as an arrow.

[Art B]

First thing Roy, your spine requirement should dictate your node placement. Course you can move your node placement if you don't like it but still keep your spine requirement (by length, point weight, etc). Glad I could clear that up for you  :D  !

You're right of course, you want those furrows or flat sections at the node's area facing up and down for long/self bows. For true center-shot bows this could be reversed though. But to index your shaft you should have the first node's flat section that's in front of your fletching facing up (12 o'clock). But as always, shoot your arrow from both sides to determine best flight. But about 8 out of 10 times the prescribed method above for indexing boo/cane works fine.-ART B

[the Ferret]

Art you must have access to a lot of cane if you can be that picky with node placement. I usually get a dozen pieces of cane a year and trying to manuever node placement around tip and nock is hard enough LOL

I've shot cane with nodes just below the nock,actually in the nock, in the feathers, 1 1/2" below the tip, furrows in, furrows out, furrows up, furrows down...and anywhere from 3 to 6 nodes in a 30" span.Of course I shoot off a floppy rest so there is "give" in the shot. That and paradox means there's not much worry about node location to me.

I've only had one piece of cane that had to be shot cock feather in so I stripped the low feathers and made it a 4 fletch flu flu. That was a piece of Martha Stewart cane from the garden store.

BTW a few years ago there was an article in one of the magazines where someone found a box of Japanese cane arrow shafts and they all were perfectly straight, had 4 nodes and all the nodes lined up exactly the same on every shaft (if memory serves me). Now that is awesome!

[Keystone]

Dang Roy.....great job man!

[Art B]

Na, don't have access to a lot of cane Mickey, just use what folks send me. But for me personally, it's not so about making arrows but rather getting them to fly properly. I don't make up a dozen arrows just to get a few good flyers. I make up a dozen arrows to get a dozen good flyers. As you certainly know, to much work goes into these types of arrows and not get' em right.

And a consistent method really helps, that's what I was describing. Take those Japanese cane you mentioned, very consistent throughout. Not saying that we have to be precise in node alignment for good flight but cane does have some predictable manners. Side to side deflection being the most critical IMO. Often times the clear sides are the stronger sides while the furrow sides the weaker. More oval the shaft the more pronounced these differences are.-ART B