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Notches in native arrows...

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uwe:
Thanks for the replies.
1/2 primitive, I used a tool like yours, but I have 2 more tools, but they work the same way, but the materials are differnt- more prpmitive.
One made of sheet metal (1,5mm). One is made of bone. Both have an carving in form of a written "M" The deepest point of the "M" makes the groove and the outer legs of the "M" are slightly wider than the shaft. File and hacksaw help making it.
Next I think, depends on the kind of wood. Dogwood seems to have the tendence to stay not as straight as other woods and needs straightening process time by time, as my hazelnutarrows keep straight for a long time.

jamie:
a burin flake just the job better than anything

JackCrafty:
The notches (or grooves, channels, etc) are ceremonial or good "medicine"....and NOT for keeping the arrow straight......here is my reasoning:

- If you want straighter arrows....you pick straighter shoots (or split straighter wood).
- Many NA arrows do not have grooves....even among plains tribes.
- I've seen crooked NA arrows with (and without) grooves.
- The grooves actually weaken the arrow....making it less able to flex or bend without breaking.
- Most people forget (or don't know) that the old methods of making arrows used a lot of "medicine"....not only carving grooves but smudging, using feathers from certain birds, special colors of paint, etc.
- Many grooves are filled with paint....another reason to suspect "medicine" value.
- Laubin confirmed (from his conversations with NA elders) that the grooves had special "powers".
- The very fact that the grooves are "mysterious" to most people supports the ceremonial idea.
- Arrows that have been made specifically for ceremonies always have inscriptions, special markings, etc....and I've never heard the idea that, "The lack of decoration is powerful medicine."
- There is a bow in one of Jim Hamm's books that has a "mysterious" groove running down the entire belly of the bow.  The most likely explaination is that it has some ceremonial (not structural) value. (Does it help the bow keep its shape?)  This is yet a nother reason to think that grooves are good medicine.

- And last, but not least, they look "cool".

 ;D

flecha:
I don't believe the grooves help straightness that much.  In my personal experience the quality of your finished product is in a large part determined by the quality of your raw materials.  I've had phenomenal success by being selective about what I use for shaft material.

artcher1:
On the ones I heat straightened with grooves they seem to work very well. But I'm a firm believer that this procedure is simply a byproduct of something else. Before I ever heard of this I was trying to reduce the spine on short arrow with grooves but still retain enough physical weight for a hunting arrow. You make short arrows that are correctly spined to shoot around 1'' or wider handles then your arrow weighs next to nothing. Just my thoughts.-ART B

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