Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Eric Krewson on October 15, 2014, 03:35:42 pm
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I have gotten into making cane arrows lately, just for the fun of it. I had made a few in the past but didn't have the straightening down so the process was laborious.
I have some cane I cut at least 5 years ago and kept in my attic that straightens pretty easily now. I made a few random arrows, checked the spines at around 65# on my tester, they all fly good out of my bow even though with woods it likes 57# arrows.
I like to letter my arrows with weight and spine and my finished canes with hardwood dowels in point and nock now spine out at 72# and weight over 600 grains, they still shoot great.
Have you guys found that spine doesn't matter with cane arrows? I have made some in the mid 50s as well as the mid 70s and they all fly the same out of my osage bow.
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I feel like I have seen the comment about cane being very forgiving spine wise come up a lot.
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Yes, Eric. I have some arrows that shot well from bows between 45# to 65#. I think the natural taper and cane's fast recovery is why they are so tolerant.
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I find the same Eric. I don't even own a spine tester and don't try to guess. I grab like diameters from end to end and make arrows.
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Yep! me too. That's why I like Boo and Cane, I don't have a Spine Checker.
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Yeah dude, I don't ever spine test anything and I pretty much only use cane and bamboo. The stuff is nature's gift to primitive archers. I eye-ball and it and see if they shoot well.
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Well Guys, I hate to through a negative spin on this post, but IMHO, I "think" I have made quite a few arrows, way more than I can loose, :) and plus I'm sort of a "lazy perfectionist" so I don't like to make too many arrows that don't shoot well through a specific bow. Therefore, I spine to get them in the ball park. Then fine tune (bare shaft) using length and point weight to get perfect flight. The main thing in good arrow flight (not accuracy) before all of that is shaft straightness. And wall thickness plays a big part in spine with cane, boo is a little more tolerable than my KY river cane IMO. :) ;)
DBar
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The arrows I make that don't fly worth a hoot get sold at Knap-In's or to someone that wants a Primitive arrow to hang on the wall. Usually, no less then $45 a piece. ;D
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Man, I knew I was doing it all wrong ;D ;)
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I make them one at a time,guess I don't have the process down good enough, :-\ if I make up a dozen just by size alone i might get 3 or 4 out of a dozen that hit where I look and the same, I am not the greatest shot by any stretch but I know when it's the arrow and when it's me. :)
Pappy
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I finished one yesterday, didn't notice when I straightened it that a couple of the "between the nodes" sections were oval shaped instead of round. well, I had it straightened and stained so I made an arrow out of this shaft. My first test shots were awful, low and 6" to the left every time. I turned the cock feather in and tried another shot, perfect flight and hit right where I was looking, same for subsequent test shots. Because I mark my arrows with weight and spine, I know to put old "57# 611gr" cock feather in if I want to hit what I am shooting at.
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Like Bill, I have made hundreds of cane arrows, several different kinds of cane. I spine test and weigh them because people are always asking. Cane does seem to be real forgiving in the spine area. I also break all the rules that the really primitive guys espouse. I will scrape and sand them to get within spine range, if it seems the shaft can handle it, wall thickness is real important. If you do sand them, wait until they are competely cool before spine testing, also when you are straightening them, or you may find that 55 spine became 65 or even 70.
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I also sand or scrape them or leave some longer or cut shorter to get the same flight characteristic
in a given set, Eric I also do that a lot it seems with cain,if it don't shoot right rotate it and try again,lots of times that is all it needs,then I make the nock with a black sharpie so I know how to nock each arrow. They are tough,we call them natures carbon,but as some say they can do,if i just throw a set together they never seem to work well for me,but if I take my time on each they make some great arrows for sure. :) Hope to see some of yours in AL. this spring. :)
Pappy
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Hope I can make it in the spring Pappy. I have a shoulder that went south and need to get it fixed, shooting a bow is a problem since I injured it. It is a toss up, miss some of deer season or miss some of the tournaments while I heal.
Back to cane arrows; I make my nocks by first gluing a 2" a long, 1/4" diameter hardwood dowel in the cane. On lower spined arrows you don't have much wall thickness to drill out the cane for your dowel and the walls will split as you insert the drill. I get around the splitting by wrapping the end to be drilled with tight wraps of painters tape before I drill.
I like the dowel reinforced nocks, very strong, no wrap required and invisible.
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On most of mine, I put my nock end just back of a node( 3/8 to 1/2 inch) depending on how deep you want your nock, then I wrap with sinew or a braided thread. Make your arrow shaft a little long and if you or your buddies are good enough to do a robin hood it can be drilled and inserted. I don't do the long foreshafts, I put as much of an insert at the point as I can and then I taper it like a regular wood arrow for field points. You can take the field points off later and cut slots for knapped points or just put on metal glue-ons.
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Here is one of my reinforced nocks, pretty simple. I doubt if the cane is 1/16" thick after I drilled out the center for the ramin dowel. The nock end is mostly hardwood.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/Archery%20%20pics/bendingstatic002_zpsac54d5c1.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ekrewson/media/Archery%20%20pics/bendingstatic002_zpsac54d5c1.jpg.html)
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I started out making cane arrows with the foreshaft and nock inserts, but haven't used them in quite a while now. I cut self nocks now and just sand a point taper and glue on a point just like it isn't hollow in the middle. I haven't experienced a broken point yet with a failure in the self nock or the point taper. I do wrap just below the nock with thread and superglue. I think my cane arrows have gotten better since I started spine testing them. One side of the shaft is going to be the stiff side and I mark it with a sharpie during the spine testing. I bet when you rotated that arrow to cock feather in, you were turning that stiff side to the bow. With all the care you can take, there is nothing else to do but shoot them and see if it is a good arrow or not. You turn out such excellent work on your bows, I hope to see some of your arrows posted up later.
Good luck with your shoulder. I had rotator cuff/torn bicep surgery June 26. The summer wasn't a cake walk, but I followed the doctor's and therapists instructions to the letter and am pleased to announce that I can pull a 60lb draw now. The doctor that performs the surgery really matters. PM me if you want to and I will tell you about my experience.
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I had the big head when I started making cane arrows, all of them shot great but that is only 5 arrows so far. The last on I made looked great, was almost perfectly straight, but shot awful, I needed a dose of reality.
I stopped on the side of the road on my way hunting yesterday evening (didn't see anything) and cut some more cane. I didn't look at it closely, when I did I found every section between the nodes had a deep groove that ran the entire length of the section, no round wood in the entire trunk. I pitched them in a ditch on my way out. I know where some good stuff grows.