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Rivercane flight arrow

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Robert Pougnier:
Had an extra light shaft of rivercane from NC that I decided to turn into my one and only flight arrow.

Shaft is rivercane with sourwood nock insert and plug at tip. Tiny american bison bullet point. fletch is 2.5 inches.

28 inches long, 300 grains, center balanced.

bjrogg:
Hope it flies as good as it look’s Robert

Bjrogg

Pat B:
Nice flight arrow, Robert. Let us know how it flies.
 A note about cane arrows...You can make self nocks in cane arrows without inserts. That's how I do it. Just cut in the nock and add a sinew wrap in front of it. I've never had a self nock fail unless hit by another arrow. The sinew wrap will hold it together without fail. And it will reduce the physical weight as far as a flight arrow goes. Even on the point end with stone or trade points the sinew wrap will hold it all together. I used to insert a small dowel into the cane but realized it wasn't necessary so I stopped doing it. With field points or glue on points I just taper the point end and glue on the point. You do have to use a sanding type tapered. In my experience a pencil sharpener type taper tool doesn't work well with cane.

Robert Pougnier:
Thanks!

That's great to know Pat. I'm new to cane arrows, made my first two dozen this fall and was definitely worried about the ends splitting. I'm beginning to realize how tough the material really is and have gradually been trusting it more. My most recent batch (still drying from finish) has inserts into both ends but flush rather than built out. I'll post them in the next couple days.

Next batch I will try them as true self arrows. I appreciate the feedback!

I haven't got to shoot this one yet. I am currently in South Carolina and not in my home area so I don't have the space to shoot it. I really want to do some distance shooting with this arrow and test it on a few of my bows. It looks like a lot of fun really. If I get a chance to do that and measure the distances I'll post some results.

Pat B:
Where in SC are you. We lived in Bluffton, outside of Hilton Head Is for 12 years before we moved to Brevard, NC in 1990.
 I think the cane you are cutting is switch cane(Arundaneria tecta) one of the 3 native varieties of cane. Up here in the mountains we have hill cane(A. Appalachiana). It is very similar to hill cane but better I think. Both make good arrows. River cane(A. gigantia) makes ok arrows but not as good as the other 2 native canes. River cane grows up to about 15' or more and is about 3/4" in diameter at the base. I think "river cane" is a generic name most folks call any cane used for arrows.

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