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Rivercane arrow question

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gutpile:
cane needs to be dry, wait till it turns yellow.. shooting green cane will have too much paradox.. remember orientation of cane affects spine.. one side can be 55 lb..other 70... truth... cane is an incredible material for arrows... naturally tapered, hollow lightweight, extremely spine tolerable, very easy to straighten.. I would do an initial pass on the cane straightening before bundling , it wont take much heat at all when green ... cut your cane at least 6 inches longer than you will need before bundling also, you can shorten but not lengthen...also I pick cane that is not to flimsy when alive, usually they dont have husks on them... gut

Pat B:
Knowing the species of the cane you are using will help. These days "river cane" is used as a generic term when in fact river cane(Arundaneria gigantia) is one of only 3 native North American canes(bamboos). A. tecta(switch cane) and A. appalachiana(hill cane) are the other two and river cane is the least appropriate of these canes for arrow making. River cane will make good arrows but the over sized nodes are noisy when drawn across a bow. All other canes or bamboos are from other parts of the world and there are many of them in the US, some good for arrows, some not.
 Like Gut said, cane has different spine values from one side to the other and generally the actual nodes will be placed up and down and with the stiff side of the arrow against the bow. Placing the stiff side against the bow is true for any arrow shafting.
 Also, be sure you harvest only mature culms(canes). With the native canes each culm has a 3 year growing cycle and there is a paper like sheath that protects the nodes on first year cane. By the second growing season the culm is maturing and that sheath begins to deteriorate and by the 3rd season the sheath is usually completely gone and that culm will die at the end of the 3rd growing season. After the second growing season but before the culm dies is the optimal time to harvest cane for arrow shafting. If you happen to cut an immature culm it will shrivel with lengthwise ripples. These are not appropriate for arrows. 

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