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Cane shaft straightening

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sleek:
I'm using a heat gun to straighten tomato stakes and I'm struggling to get them exact. I can get all the nodes to align down an imaginary straight line,  from nock to base, but the inner nodes have a gentle wave to them that I cant get straight without spending hours on each one. How straight and perfectly aligned do the inner nodes have to be?

DC:
I do the "inbetween the nodes" first. I think that helps. I try to get them as straight as I can but that's just me. I heat my barbeque up to 400 and stick the shafts in the rotisserie hole. Heat the whole arrow for about 30 sec or so and then do the initial straightening.  Wear gloves. ;D After that it's just a few minor bends to get out. I know that an arrow can have a few whoops and still fly straight but they can also have a little wiggle and fly like crap. It just depends on the dynamic balance I guess and I have no idea how you can foresee if it's going to fly.

jimmi the sammi:
I do it the opposite way from DC's method.  Using a propane torch for heat, I straighten the nodes first since they seem to be the hardest to play with.  Then I sand them to acceptable smoothness then straighten in between the nodes.  After all that then go through the entire shaft again.  Seems to take at least 3 sessions to get them right.  Have used purchased tomato stakes for years to make hunting arrows successfully.  Hope that helps.

Russ:
+1 with sammy. The nodes seem to be the ones in need of the most correction. Takes about 3 broken shafts for me as it takes him three sessions.

artcher1:
Never used a heat gun to straighten bamboo or cane, only a propane torch. Node areas require more of a spot heating which a torch easily provides. Like Jimmi, I'll hit the nodes with sandpaper before straightening, then a rough straightening of the nodes as needed, and then proceed to straighten the inner nodes. Then back to the nodes again. Repeat as needed.

To make the straightening process easier, and I'll not seen this mentioned before, there are only two planes to straighten on cane, bamboo, dowelled shafts and some hardwood shoots. For cane and boo, you need only to straighten the leaf scar side, and then rotate the shaft 1/4 turn and straighten it's side. So you only have to two sides to straighten here, instead of having to constantly rotating the shaft to locate it's crooks.

I made up a hardwood grooved straightening block to help with the process. Here's a pic...…...Art

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