Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: cowboy on December 10, 2007, 06:46:13 pm
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Here is one stick my brother brought up from the coast. It was all dead and shrivled up, but with the rain it sprang back to life so I stuck it in the ground :).
joewaco78: This is what I was talking about in the bamboo arra post - hopefully somebody can possitively ID it as switch can, then I'll be set for life ;D. Brother say's it's everywhere around where he lives south of Houston (Laporte). C'mon Steve - give me the good news ;D ;D ;D.
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Way to go Paul importing invasive species for your own pleasure ;)
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Looks like it to me,but wait for the experts to weigh in.It's not native to Fl.
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Hard to say for sure from one sprig. It looks generally like switch cane, but I've never seen switch cane with big long branches like that on it. Whatever it is, it looks like it would make good arrows.
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Paul,I just pulled the end off of some I have growing,looks like Japanese arrow bamboo to me.I'll post a picture of mine tomorrow.
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.................Looks like Eddie said ta me Paul......bob
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I'd say its not switch cane but could be bambusa with the longer inter nodes. Does it grow in clumps or is it a spreading type. Whatever it is, looks like it would make arrows. ;) Pat
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Dadburnit - I thought I had er this time, hehe. Well if it ain't switch cane, but is Jap arrow cane - that'll have to do :). It's thick walled and the nodes are over a foot apart and it's straight and stiff. don't know if it's spread out or bunched up, will have to get a truck load when I go down around X-mas - and some roots for the invasion ;). Eddie: that'll be good if you could post a pick of the real thing....
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it's not river cane or japanese arrow boo. too many leaves for river cane and too small a leaf for jap boo. it could be a tonkin or korean species.
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Paul,Here's some pictures of arrow boo.
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I am watching closely.. Seeing if I can find anything like that around here...
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Tell ya what - I'll take picture's when I'm down there, maybe somebody will recognize it :). Thanks Eddie: That looks like some good stuff - big leafy tropical lookin stuff. My search has only just begun - I'll find it soon enough, hehe ;).
Hey joe - never stop lookin..
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Does it grow in the snow eddie? ;) ;D Lucky bas*%^$
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It snows in Japan. ???
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I like lookin for stuff.. Just had to be sure of what I was lookin for! Hahaha
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The clumps of bambusa I've seen and collected from didn't get over 10' in diameter and were over 50 years old. It doesn't spread at all. The individual culms(canes) grew to about 15' and had a max diameter of 3/4". The cane walls are thick with a small center hole and there is very little, if any, indentation above the nodes like in most bamboos. Pat
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Thanks Pat, this specimen is the one and only I've come across so far that doesn't have any indentation above the node - almost like a dowl. I'll take some pic's of the grove while I'm there.
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I am not seeing anything like that around here so far.. But I hope I just needa look harder!
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I have confirmation - FINALLY ;D! This is definantly switch cane - a no brainer to all the locals down there that have been around it all their life. The groves I saw were growing in clumps, and I heard of some that was growing along a creek - didn't get any pic's of the plants but have one of the shafts I cut. This stuff is the straightest I've seen - straight as an arra (almost literally), the nodes are anywhere from 12" to 15" apart, has a very small pithy center and is strong. My quest fer arra material is finally ended ;D ;D.
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Looks like nice stuff cowboy, I just spent 2 hours with the heat gun
staightening red osier shafts, and thats only the first session. You southern
folks have it way to easy with that stright stuff ;D
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Paul, With internodes that long and the cane growing in clumps and your discription of the cane I would have to say it is Bambusa and not river cane. As far as Art Butner is concerned, Bambusa is the best cane he ever used for arrows. Looks like nice stuff. Can't wait to see the arrows you make with it. Pat
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Sheesh... Now I just gotta find it here! haha! Nice haul!
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I agree with Pat, I believe you have some Bambusa there also. If that's the case then be aware that it'll spine out pretty heavy on you. Just a 9/32" nock end will produce a spine of around 75#. Good idea to always top these shoots out at 1/4" or so when harvesting.
C:\Documents and Settings\Arthur\My Documents\My Pictures\cane-boo 005.jpg
C:\Documents and Settings\Arthur\My Documents\My Pictures\cane-boo 008.jpg
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Doesn't look like switch cane to me either, and I've planted and cut a lot of the stuff. I would also guess Bambusa or one of the Sasas. Looks like great stuff, whatever it is. An arrow by any other name will still fly as straight. ;D
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I was curious if this was even close? I found this earlier this evening.
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another couple of pics to follow... Can anyone tell me if I am on the right track?
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Joewaco, that looks more like Arundo donax (giant reed) or maybe Phragmites reed. They're both pretty marginal arrow material-you'll probably have to use foreshafts and nock inserts to make it work.
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What's a foreshaft? And how good of arrow material is this? I shoot a 55# bow currently.. I would be really upset if it blew up in my face... much less arm..
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A foreshaft is a piece of hardwood attached to the front of an arrow. I wouldn't consider it to be good arrow material myself. There's bound to be something better around there.
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gotcha.. I will keep looking.. This was a fluke find.. And I got so excited I took a piece and lots of pics just to ask... Another friend just pmed me and said it is large reed not river cane... Darnit.. hahaha.. I will keep looking!
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Joe: That's where I started several months ago - burn it ;D, ain't good fer arra's...
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Haha... You got me jealous... I am tryin to wrack my brain to think where they could be hidin.. But I cant find a lick of river cane here.. Leastways.. Not on the river haha..
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Sorry bout the pic, I was shakin so bad I couldn't keep it steady. We found some japanese boo earlier but couldn't cut it. These however the ranger wasn't sure about so I find out in the next few days whether I can cut it or not. I would like to be ready if I can.
So is this the arrow boo I have been looking for?
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I think you nailed it this time Joe ;D. That's exactly what I cut in LaPorte (everyone knew it as switch cane down there) but have found it it's more likely to be Jap arrow boo - good enough! Don't cut those young shoots with the slick nodes and no litte clusters of twigs sticking out, they'll shrivel up on ya as they dry. Hope you can cut all ya want :).
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A good selling point to the ranger about cutting the cane is you only want mature canes and they will be dying anyway so you will actually be thinning the patch helping it will continue to thrive. ;D Pat
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Well, I saw the park ranger today and asked again. His boss said a no go. :( If it was just a little further he would'nt have a problem with it. So I asked if there are any just outside the limit his boss said. He pointed me in a direction! Hope to have good news soon!!!! :D
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Looks like I spoke too soon! I saw the BOSS today and we got to talking and explained to him how many and what age I would cut, and he said it didn't sound like a bad idea afterall since he was planning to cut the older ones anyway! THanx for the idea Pat B. It really DID sell him on the idea! So now I have cane whenever I need it!!!! And yes it is japanese boo. I asked him about it! Woohoooooo I am very excited!!!
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I'm glad to hear that Joe! I know how it is trying to get permission, sometimes you get it - most of the time ya don't. But when ya do it seems like ya get more than ya can handle :) - it all comes out even in the end.
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joe do you need my address ;) I could trade you snowballs >:(
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Joe, A better selling point and I stumbled onto it is,, Find the tallest shafts and just cut the top 4' that is good arrow size, and leave the rest. I sent some like this to Art B to make some arrows and he said it was the easiest he had worked.
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Never hurts to ask. The least they can say is no. By explaining what you want it for will usually strike someones interest and break down their defenses. Sometimes it works...sometimes not. Pat
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Nope, I am good Dana. We have plenty of snow here still! :D
I am actually happy and surprised I found it in the most unlikely of places! I wasn't even looking!!!!! I just saw it and snapped a few photos to see what it was!
And no, it never hurts to ask. But I do believe he wouldn't have agreed if I hadn't had a further explanation of what I wanted it for and how I was going to go about harvesting it. He seemed very happy about me having some information of what to do. I believe otherwise he would've assumed I planned to just hack everything down!(And there is quite the little treasure stash there) So now i have plenty to play around with! And it will keep coming back again and again! Sure wish I could import this stuff to texas and grow it!
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I might've missed something Joe, but where are ya/ where did you find this stuff?
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Right now I am visiting in Oregon hahahaha. Me and my lady were taking a walk in a park just enjoying and we stopped at a duckpond and boom.. Looked over and went wow... Thats alot of boo, got closer and all the the shoots were slim and very strong, I couldn't even snip a lil piece with my lil gerber. So I snapped a pic. I was still super excited about finding BLACK japanese arrow boo not 10 minutes earlier. But that one I know I can't cut as they don't have much of it yet. Beautiful stuff though. I will try to get a pic asap for ya. I will be back in tx by about next weekend with hopefully around 30 or so cuts.
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Maybe the head guy will allow you to take a root cutting/division to take with you...just don't tell him you are taking it out of state. :o
Look up "bamboo" on line. There are sources for all sorts of bamboos. Your USDA hardiness zone map is a useful piece of info when ordering exotic, or any plants for that matter. Most bamboos are tropical or sub-tropical so if your area gets very cold it will limit the varieties of bamboo you could grow. Pat
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Well it gets about 30 or less here easily at night. and this specific bamboo is flourishing. You can see where they occassionally cut it back. The black japanese boo thought doesn't seem to have much to it for some reason. And I wont tell him :)
Hardiness map? What is that? And where do I goto on the Usda website to find it?
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Most plant books have the USDA hardiness map or you could probably go to their website and it would be there. The hardiness map shows the different temperature ranges for the US and maybe Canada. When you buy outside plants it is a good idea to look at their hardiness zone to see if they are compatible to your area. Pat
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I forgot to mention. I am shooting a 55# @28" that is center. What size diameter do I need to cut? I have heard 3/8 but I dunno if that's a general rule. Will that work for 55# as I know they can handle quite a few different spines.