Cane arrow pics

[Matt E]

Not bad at all! I would use them.

[JEFF B]

good luck with ya hunt this year i hope ya get somthing with those arrows as they look like they would do the bizz  

[Roy from Pa]

Nice job, good luck this season. Cane arrows are sweet:)

[Traxx]

They look Good.
But,QUIT STEPPIN ON THE HIDES WOULDYA.LOL

[shawnee]

Sorry I haven't checked back since yesterday afternoon, but the computer at home was down, so I had to wait 'till I was back at school.

Here's a little more info:

The bow is a 58" flatbow, pulling 50 pounds at 29".  Pin nocks, and I am shooting it off the knuckle.  I have been shooting cedars,  up until last night, and yes, the bow does shoot suprisingly hard at 20 yards.  I was expecting it to be a little sluggish, especially since I'm used to a reflex/deflex longbow and a 31" draw.

The arrows are 29 1/2" to BOP, and weigh from 528-589 grains, with 2 of them weighing within 30 grains.  I don't have a spine tester, so I wasn't able to check that.

I shot them last nite for the first time...finally got a big block of styrofoam.  I definitely didn't get the results I was hoping for.  All 3 arrows shot to the left about 12-15", and had some fishtail to them on the way to the target.  I only shot them twice each.

Unless I'm mistaken, hitting left is a sign of too stiff spine, right?  In which case, I am going to have to maybe make new arrows for the points, either finding a spine meter, or leaving them longer and making adjustments as I shoot them.

I'll be the first to admit I'm still learning consistancy shooting off my knuckle, but had been doing fairly well with the cedars.  

I don't have a good close-up of the tips, but I have one of the bow at full draw.  I will try and post better pics this evening if I can.

[shawnee]

Forgot to mention, in this pic, the bow was only tillered out to 25".  I worked on it more at MOJAM this summer, and it now is tillered out to 29".

I will be away from the computer most of today, but will check back in later this afternoon.

[DannyBows]

Nice work! You can be proud of that gear and your talent shines thru it. Best of luck hunting with it and I'm with Bernie, you deserve to harvest deer with it this season. Wishing you the best of luck and I expect to see a future post with pics of a successful harvest. Enjoy! Dan.

[Flatstick]

Don't give up on the arrows you have here. They look good,if you think they are too stiff work down the shaft a bit. If you have enough wall thickness in the cane, do some scraping/sanding from the front of the fletch to the back of your point. This will lighten the spine and may also get your arrow weights closer. Work them down a little at a time and shoot them as you go to see if they are improving. Congrats on all these firsts and I hope to see some "hero" pics soon.

[Izzy]

Nice looking set up.Good luck with it this year.

[Jeff U]

On the spine, I agree with Flatstick.  It's very easy to lower the spine by scraping or sanding the shafts.

But before you begin scraping try a simple test.  Flip them over and shoot with the cock feather in.  (... or cock feather out if you shot them cock feather in the first time)

Sometimes cane arrows will act very differently depending on which side of the arrow is against the bow.

It's unlikely that's your trouble if they all shot left, but it's worth a try.

[Oregon Bill]

Shawnee: Really admitr your efforts and the goal you have set. I know a lot of folks have gotten great results with cane for millennia, so I'm sure you can get them spined right. Also like Jeff U's thought. How close were the heads themselves in weight?
Please keeps us posted. I'm looking forward to the "got her done" photos of you and your lovely tackle and a nice buck.

[shawnee]

All 3 of the heads were within about 20 grains of each other, weighing from about 119 to about 138, if I remember.  The two dark ones were within about 6 grains of each other.

I will definitely keep playing with them until I get it figured out.  If I can get them flying right, I don't plan on bowhunting with anything else until I get one of them bloody.

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement.

[Osagetree]

Results of my critique,,, Excellent job on an effective killing tool set!

Just a few thoughts;

Tie off your last handle stitch under the leather.

Keep a smooth transition form shaft to head.

Wrap your sinew to the bottom of the arrow nock for better reinforcement.

Adding hardwood inserts for the point ends may add weight and help with spine.

Also, some light sanding or scraping of the shaft and nodes may help with your spine issue.

Barbed heads of any kind are illegal in ohio, check your laws in OK.

On your next bow try leaving some wood to shape you a handle, it helps take out some hand shock and is just more comfortable to shoot. I do not care for bendy handled bows, but that don't mean they are not effective.

A simple "Ferret Flopy Rest" will help with consistency,,, I never have felt good shooting off the knuckle. I flinch for fear the feathers will cut my hand.

Give it a name.

I know where you are coming from,,, I think. Bless their hearts, but sometimes the guys on here are so darn nice they won't say anything to inspire thought provocation as they do not want to be negative. I think you feel the same way I did starting out,,, You need the constructive crtisizm to learn and grow.

Besides all that,,,, I would not be afraid to pick up your tackle and hunt deer with it tomorrow morning! Well, that is if season was in already!

Great job and keep us posted on your future adventures!

[ber643]

Shawnee, Sounds like good info from Osagetree to me. When I decided to do more or less what you are doing, I was able to get some really great Canes from a friend (I'm sure you saw the thread). That same friend gave me a lot of info in e-mails we sent back and forth also. I have found out that my Cane arrows that I built eartlier are actually good arrows also (better than I thought at first) as far as shooting and accuracy. However his attention to detail, and his experience, make his far superior overall (and he is much faster - LOL). I wouldn't hesitate to use mine, if they were all I had, seriously. However, since I am lucky enough to have the ones he built for me, I'll use them. I will work more on mine, and any I make in the future, to make them better yet (closer to his, I hope). If you would like, I will provide you with some of the conversational info I got from Art, after I go through the messages and put what you might find useful into some kind of e-mail or PM to send you. Sometimes - much of the time - we were just chewing the fat.

I also am not getting to do much knapping but I hope to get back to it after Deer season this year - along with Cane arrow making, and bow making - LOL.

[the Ferret]

Hey Clint been on vacation (mocycle ridin) and just getting caught up on reading here. Those are very very nice looking. Both the bow and the arrows.Try making up a couple cane with field points around 32" long and see how they fly. It may just be because you have a wide handle pass the arrows are a little stiff for bending around it.And do try shooting them once with cock feather in, but that usually cures one arrow, not a set.It's woorth a try. Also try flipping the bow over and shooting off the other side. Seen that fix more than one arrow flight problem. It also may just be a case of adjusting your mental computer to get them to hit where you want them to, or letting the deer get into 7 or 8 yards (That's what I do ha ha).

You're definitly getting a handle on this primitive thing! Great job!  

[ishiwannabe]

I am thoroughly impressed. The one thing I was thinking was barbed points are illegal here, but Osagetree covered that.
I just started knapping, and am due to start a self bow soon(maybe tomorrow for a start), so once those two skills are achieved, I will start with cane or rose arrows.
Good luck! I hope to be hunting with the same type of equipment next year.

[shawnee]

Osagetree, thanks again for the comments.  I really am looking for constructive criticism.

Mickey, I was hoping you would see this, and chip in your opinions, too.

And Bernie, I saw those shafts that were given to you...they were awesome!  And I would definitely appreciate you sending me any tips you can, when you get a chance.

In answer to a few of the comments:

The reason I chose a flatbow was because I have a long draw, and wanted to get all the draw length I could out of the short stave.  With this being my first bow, I didn't want to have to try anything too radical to do that.  It really doesn't have much hand shock, but it has definitely been a challenge to learn how to grip it, and to learn to shoot without a shelf.

I'm OK on the points as far as regulations go.  Oklahoma's regulations only say this as far as broadheads go:

Broadheads: Hunting type points not less than 7/8 inches wide and not less than 1 1/2 inches long.

I did shoot the arrows with the cock feather in over the weekend.  Definitely helped 2 of them, but still kicking left about 5-6 inches.  The 3rd one it didn't help at all.  I will sand/scrape them and see if that pulls them in a little more.  Which brings up a question...if I sand the outer sheath off the cane, will I need to seal them?

If the sanding doesn't do the trick, I will add the hardwood foreshafts.  I plan to try that with a few I build, anyways.  And I will definitely build some longer ones with field tips, so that I can tune/shorten them to the right spine.

I decided against the floppy rest for now, just because I wanted this bow to be as authentic to the Indian flatbows as I could,for my first one.  But if I can't stay consistent with my shooting, I will definitely add one.

I'm waiting on the name for now.  Seems to me like the bow should have something to say about it, and I haven't got to hunt with it yet.  One will come, eventually.

Thanks to all who looked and posted.  It has been a fun process, and not near as difficult as I thought it would be, except for the knapping.  If any of you have been wanting to give the selfbows and arrows a try....jump in and have at it.  There is plenty of info, and people to help, right here on this site.

[Flatstick]

Shawnee,,,I know some don't but I do scrape off all the rind on my canes and then seal them with Tru-Oil. It works for me  

[shawnee]

Flatstick, do you have any idea how much spine goes down after you scrape them, in general terms?

And how many coats of Tru-oil do you use?

[the Ferret]

Clint I've never had to scrape one down probably due more to how skinny my bows are than anything else. I would think you'd need at least 3 coats of tru-oil if you don't plan on hunting in heavy rain. That's not something you'd want to do anyway with stone heads (I don't like hunting in the rain with ANY heads)

Take 2 nails and nail them 26" apart on the wall. Hang a spare cane shaft on them and hang something in the middle that will make it bow some.Mark on the wall where it bows to. Take it off and scrape off the rind in the middle 1/3. Hang it back up, hang your weight from it,a and see how much it changed. Keep trying it until you get an idea how many scrapes does what.

Actually if you get a cane flying good for you. put it on your nails, hang your weight and mark where it goes to. Any you scrape that comes to that mark (similar spine as the good flying one) should fly well out of that particular bow.