Main Discussion Area > Arrows

Cane arrow help

<< < (3/6) > >>

Pat B:
I have made arrows with river cane(Arundinaria gigantia) that fly well but are noisy to draw because the nodes are so large. The shaft diameter is bigger than I like for arrows also with a great degree of taper. They do make good atlatl darts. ;)      Pat

Hillbilly:
Hard to be certain from a pic of cut stems, but that looks more like Chinese golden bamboo to me. It's naturalized all over the south. You can make good arrows from it, but you have to be picky cutting it to find shafts that are the right size , don't have too many nodes, and aren't really flat or sulcate on one side. Don't be afraid to grind those nodes down even with the rest of the shaft. I do it to all my cane arrows and haven't broken one yet. Knocker, native river cane can reach nearly 30' high and 3" in diameter under ideal conditions, but it's rare to see it that size. Most of it around here maxes out at about 10'-15' tall and about 3/4" in diameter. To get good shafts, you have to use the part between the ground and where the heavy branches start, so you usually just get one shaft per stem.

Don:

--- Quote from: richpierce on June 21, 2008, 12:25:12 pm ---This is a form of bamboo that is not good for arrows in my experience.  Is one side of the cane flat?  The nodes are too big to sand down.

--- End quote ---
Rich. Yes one side is flat. I'm going to give them a try as soon as I have some time.
If I could cut them myself I could be picky, but I live a bit to far away.

cowboy:
Well I finally saw the picture :). That looks identical to a bundle I've had drying for about a year, never tried to straighten em yet - found a source of river cane FINALLY ;D and have had great success with them. Let us know how these turn out.

JackCrafty:
Here are my steps for working with cane:
1. remove leaves and branches
2. clean off dirt
3. cut and sand down nodes (but not flush with shaft)....just the high spots
3. scrape off any dark or ugly areas on the outside of the shaft.
4. dry the cane for two weeks
5. straighten with heat
6. cut to size, weigh, spine, and put together matched sets of 3-6 shafts
7. cut nocks
8. add tips and arrowheads
9. trial shoot (without fletching) in order to make sure shafts match the bow
10. paint
11. add fletching

Tom Mills has a good series on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFxZ8D3Mya0

Also, I believe MarkInEngland (on this forum) has lots of experience with cane/bamboo. ;D

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page