Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: mcginnis6010 on April 20, 2014, 08:47:49 am
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OK this stuff looks like bamboo or rivercane but it's soft and pliable and its only about 2 to 2 1/2ft tall and maybe less than a quarter inch thick. Any idea?
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Sorry forgot pic
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Does it have a sandpaper feel to it. If so it is one of the horsetails and it was used for sandpaper by early man.
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Rushes?
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I dont know the proper name for it, but everyone around my part of the woods just calls it arrow weed. Dont think it would make an arrow though.
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Horsetail rush
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Yea its kinda rough feeling
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Yup,Horsetail reed (Equisetum fluviatile) I got a creek bottom full of the stuff. It will not make an arrow ,but its a way cool plant.
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It might not make an arrow but it will make an arrow smooth. ;)
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Thanks guys i have to keep this plant in mind when I get better at knapping so I can make my first arrow. I've been wanting to make one completely abo although I'm not very good at knapping yet and I don't find good stone that often. I've got plenty arrow shafts dried however lol.
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So that is what that stuff is....
About two years back I found a patch of it growing "Way down in the holler."
It was the first I can ever remembering seeing.
Got to go cut some now. Now that I know it has uses. ;)
David
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We call it snake reed up here, I doubt that its a real name. Ours would never make an arrow. Its really good and grabbing fishing line up and breaking fish off!
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It is mostly used now for strengthening nails and hair. Look for it in the herbal section of a pharmacy. Very high in silica.
Millions of years ago it used to grow to the size of a pine tree. It's a bit of a living fossil.
In the Stone Age bow chapter in TTBB you can see a piece being used as a sanding tool. Makes a great pot scourer when camping.
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I see it growing in the Salt Marshes here on the Gulf Coast.
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That is indeed a member of the Genus Equisetum. Equis pick up silica from the soil giving them a sandpaper like quality (green or dry), They have been called snake reed (cause they kind of look like snakes when they have their strobili (heads) on them, they have also been called scouring rush as bundles of them have been used to scrub pots and pans by the pioneers. It also had medicinal uses but I leave each of you to look into that on your own. It is still used by luthiers for the very fine finsh it gives to wood and soft stone(alabaster and soapstone). It is one of the oldest plants on earth.
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Guess ill definitely be getting some now to use for my carving and sanding arrows.
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Ah ha! That's what that stuff is!! I've been wondering for a long time, the stuff we have up here only gets about a foot tall and the diameter of a pencil.