spining rivercane shafts

[troutbum76]

i have several dozen shafts of rivercane that i harvested about a month ago. i am wondering how i go about deciding which ones are spined correctly to shoot out of my bow? i under stand how to straighten and fletch them, i just do know which will be the right ones. is this truly just trial and error? also what do you guys do to mount practice points? just glue on field tips to the hard wood foreshafts?

[beardedhorse]

Hi, Troutbum.  First season and then straighten the shafts.  If there is a natural taper to them, use the smaller end for the nock and the larger for the point.  If you want self nocks, you will trim about one inch behind a node.  For attaching modern field and broadhead points I try fitting hardwood dowels into the hollow cavity of the shaft.  If the hole is just a tad small I drill it out to fit a hardwood dowel of the closest diameter.  Titebond II works if you don't mind a modern, synthetic glue.  Otherwise hide glue or pitch or asphaltum all work.  When the plug or dowel rod is dry you can sand the point taper for the standard field or broadhead point.  Cane is hard and won't trim well with the pencil sharpener style tapering tools such as Whiffen and Tru Nock.  The easiest way to spine them is if you or a friend or the local archery shop has a good spine tester.  You should rotate the shaft after taking a measurement to see which configuration gives you the highest spine and place your cock feather there.  Because of any tapere you will have to have the shaft trimmed close to finished length.  Most spine testers have support posts 26" apart.  Without a spine tester I would go ahead and make all the straightened and seasoned shafts into finished arrows and simply shoot them.  The results will tell you which work well with your bow.  You could trade or sell the others or make a bow to fit them.  Just another excuse to make another bow.  As for arrow nocks if you don't want to use a cut in self nock you can glue in a plug and cut a nock.  Also a whittled plug with a shoulder can be glued in.  This shouldered plug or nock insert is a hardwood nock with a small stem that fits into the hollow of the cane.  I'd wrap with sinew or silk or fine thread at the juncture of the exposed hardwood nock and the cane and varnish or otherwise seal the thread.  The wrap can be extended to secure the rear quill of a fletch.  Good luck on your cane arrows.

[shikari]

I made these some time ago,self nocks and am waiting on some field pointd.I never spined them and they fly great up to 30 yrds,that's the furthest I have shot them.[img][/img]

[JackCrafty]

If I don't want to use a spine tester (or can't use one) to get me in the ballpark, I choose a shaft that looks way too stiff, cut it to the proper length for my draw, sharpen the tip, cut a nock into the other end (the smaller end), and shoot it at a target about 10 feet away.  If the nock end leans to the right, the arrow is too stiff (this applies only if you are holding the bow with your left hand...the opposite happens with the right), and needs to be made thinner......or another, thinner shaft need to be chosen. 

I do this until I find a shaft that shoots straight into the target.  I repeat with the next, etc., one until I have several shafts that shoot straight.  Then I divide them into groups of similar weight.

With natural material the spines and weights can vary quite a bit even though they may look similar in diameter.  Trial and error is the only way to pick shafts that shoot well, IMO.  If you order shafting from someone else, it's always best if they have been matched by shooting....in addition to being matched by length, material, spine, and mass.

With river cane shoots, it's not always possible to shave them down and make them thinner (like you can with hardwood shoots).  After you find one that shoots straight, you'll need to find a way to measure how stiff the spine is (so you can make duplicates of your good arrow).  Some people can do this by simply bending the shafts in their hands.  If you can't feel the spine, then you'll have to come up with some kind of contraption to measure the deflection.

Hope that helps.

[Hillbilly]

I usually hand-spine them. With the natural taper, I find cane to be pretty tolerant of minor spine differences anyway. I try to match them more by weight than spine (of course you don't want part of a set floppy and the rest stiff as a board, but within reason). If it's good cane with thick walls, you can just taper it and put field points on it. If need be, glue a bamboo skewer in the hole. I don't mess with foreshafts-to me they're unneccessary, weaker than the shaft, and a pain to balance and align.

[troutbum76]

thanks guys i am to give it a shot and play around with them until i find out what works the best. will silk thread work for tying on my fletching? i don't have any back sinew and i do have a lot of silk thread in the 6/0 or 3/0 sizes that i use for fly tying. i was thinking if it was strong enough it would work well since i could use my bobbin to get nice wraps and good thread tension.

[Hillbilly]

Silk flytying thread works great-used it several times.

[boo]

a home made spine tester can be no more than two nails in a wall 26'' apart and a weight with a hook . try to make your weight around two lbs. mark the wall in the center of the nails so you can put the weight in the same place over and over. on the hook you can add an indicator that points to the wall . lay an arrow that you know the spine of on the nails and mark the spot. this woks just as well for a do it your selfer that only does a few dozen a year

[scattershot]

Or, you could just leave them long, and that will compensate. I have some cane that spines in the mid-80s, and I shoot them at 30" with a heavy point. They seem to work well at that length, even though I only draw 26".