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What are the best atlatl shafts?

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Tracker:
Made a real nice cedar atlatl. Could not find dowl rods long enough for practise lances, so notched, glued and wrapped two dowl rods together, worked for a few throws before it broke. I have some peach tree suckers seasoning, but for now what is a good thing to make shafts of? The cane around here is very curvy, and I have found that you cannot heat-straighten green cane, it collapses Has anyone ever heat-straightened dry cane? And what else have you found that makes the long straight shafts needed? Thanks

Tracker

DanaM:
Dry rivercane heat straightens easily, actually I straightened a 6 footer last night for a atlatl dart, my first one ever ;D

wolfsire:
A 4" scarf joint with an 8" cordage wrapped tube of papper, rawhide, etc., will hold joined dowels very well.  Dry cane shold heat straighten nicely if not too crooked to begin with.  Ived used arrowweed, arundo donax, desert willow, tamerisk and maybe a few other shoots.  Never used commercial dowels.  1/2", give or take, with a spine of 5-7 lbs pushing down on a scale is good.  This is an excellent site, and you may get more answers here, but it is primarly about archery.  I suggest you go over to paleoplanet and check out the atlatl subforum there.  http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/forums/24

Tracker:
Thanks, I will try straightening some dry cane, and wrapping with rawhide. Congrats on your first atlatl shaft, Dana! :D

JackCrafty:
I've used ramin dowels......3/8" ramin @ 4ft long with a long arrowhead (10") or foreshaft+arrowhead (10"-14") works really good for kids atlatl's.  I split the the end of the ramin dowel about 4" down and insert an arrowhead or foreshaft with a wedge-shaped tang, then glue and wrap.  The ramin is cheap and fairly consistent in spine and weight.

River cane or bamboo is probably the best material.

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