Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Eric Krewson on October 21, 2014, 10:22:33 am
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I did a search but found nothing on heat treating cane shafting.
My new cane arrows are pretty good for the most part but several still need a little hand straightening day to day, all were straightened with heat but not to the point of caramelizing the shafts, which brings me to my next question;
Have you guys seriously caramelized a shaft like some do for bamboo backings? Did you find these shafts stayed straighter?
Also; do you find different varieties of cane easier to keep straight, japonica opposed to hill cane or Tonkin?
I tend to over think anything I get into in the search for a better product. I then then settle into a practical solution that produces a consistent result.
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Ive only used hill cane. I heat only enough enough to straighten them. They stay as straight as POC or spruce shafts do. I might have to straighten a few every couple months. Ive also noticed it takes one crooked cane shaft to fly poorly. Most can wobble along and still shoot broad heads like a bullet.
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The last set of hill cane arrows I made I took a heat gun and tried to give them a slow steady heat treatment before I straightened them. They turned a light carmel brown. I did that before I scraped the rind off. So far I haven't had to adjust any once they were finished. I plan on trying this again on my next batch of arrows.
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I cut a bunch of hill cane yesterday from a several different places. It is surprising how quality varies from one patch to another. My first patch had long "blood grooves" on every section, next patch had the same grooves only on the upper sections, patch #3 had very round cane with almost no grooves where the leaf clump attached.
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Eric, you are probably cutting switch cane(A. tecta) and not hill cane(A. appalachiana). They are very similar but hill cane only grows up in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
After I straighten cane I will go back over the cane starting at one end heating it until it takes on a little color. I move out the shaft, spinning it slowly as I heat it until you get to the other end. Be careful, any moisture in the cane will come out the far end as steam. Once I've done this I lay it flat to cool completely. You may have to tweak it a little but they usually stay straight after that.
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You guys got me thinking now. Ill have to try heating them up as you do. Although I don't have any issues that bother me, if I can make them better I will.
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What about putting lighting grooves in them? I read somewhere that some Indian tribes would do that. Patrick
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Ive seen them in hardwood shoots, but never cane or boo. I don't think you'd want to compromise the power fibers that way. Just a guess.
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No lightning grooves in cane. Like Pearlie said, it will compromise the power fibers. I've done lightning grooves in hardwood shoot arrows with mixed results.
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That's cool, just wondering I'm fixing to make a bunch of arrows myself. Thanks, Patrick
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Well seasoned wood or cane makes better arrows.
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I was heating a cane shaft today, had all the shaft browned but the smallest section, about the time this section started to turn it blew up like a small firecracker.
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Too hot and possibly too much moisture. I've never had a cane internode explode while heat treating or straightening. You can drill a very small hole at the node to relieve any internal pressure that build up while heating.
I watched a youtube video of an Asian man sitting in front of a sheet metal barrel/oven and straightening cane for arrows. He would run the cane in and out of the very hot oven, pull it out and straighten a section then back in the oven. I think he drilled a small hole at each node.
You really don't have to get cane all that hot to make it pliable. I add scorch marks for camo effect on cane but don't try to get a solid darker coloration.
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This cane had been in the attic for 5 years. I was experimenting with caramelized cane and the section that blew got brown faster than I expected, I pushed the limits a bit and it blew.
Next question; How about speed drying cane? I am going to put a half dozen shafts in my drying box to see how long it takes to dry out at 100 degrees. I suspect there will some cracking and splitting but I have an unlimited supply of cane.
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Well send some of that cane my way then!
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Green cane may check when fast drying but I don't know. I usually let it rest for a month at least before messing with it. Again, drilling a small hole next to the nodes might prevent the checking. Let us know what you find out.
I have speed dried sourwood shoots. From tree to arrow in 3 days by laying them under the wood stove after stripping the bark but I had trouble keeping it straight. Any other hardwood shoot I tried to speed dry checked badly.
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I throw mine on the Tin roof of my shop or leave them outside on the patio in the direct sun and never had any of them check
I have had cane and bamboo break real easy after I got it too hot when straightening them. I think caramelizing them will make them too brittle.
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My fast drying cane experiment has been going on for 10 days. I checked on the cane today and found it has already turned from dark green to tan and has no checking at all.
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Eric, I don't think you need to worry about checking, but when you start straighting them be careful about heating the nodes, I've had dry cane break at the nodes, I think it was because I got them too hot. Oh; also Mullet and I are in Florida and drying cane on a tin roof in the sun is a lot hotter than a controlled heated hot box.
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I have only done a few dozen bamboo shafts, and used mostly the "Martha Stewart" tomato stakes, but I was under the impresssion that carmelizing was mandatory, and have always done it that way.
I got this idea from a YouTube vid where an old Korean gentleman was making Korean-style arrows from Japanese/Korean arrow bamboo. He had them over a charcoal fire and the narrator mentioned that the shaft must be "cooked" evenly or it would go crooked later. So, I always cooked them evenly after straightening.
Pretty jealous of you guys who can go cut cane. Doesn't grow anywhere I know of out here in the West, and I have about given up on tomato stake. I have turned out some fine arrows, but the quality seems to have dropped a lot and I get about 2 usable shafts from a pack of 10, and they aren't anywhere close in spine.
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Do you have a link to that video? I love watching those masters at work and haven't found one with English narration.
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I've dryed plenty of hollow rose shoots, elder branches and even a couple of hollow tree segments for making drums. I've had none of that check, leading me to the assumption that "tubes" are somehow immune to checking 'cause they can shrink inwards.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyejbipavWw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdB59FWQpN8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Nbb7g9jTQ
This guy is clearly a master....check out the human lathe work he does. I would guess he's made a few!
I pretty much copy exactly what he does.
I've planted a bunch of Japanese Arrow Bamboo about 2 years ago, so far it's got itself established and is sprouting new shoots. The new shoots it's sending up are incredibly stiff and they aren't much over 1/8th diameter.
A few months ago we cut some wild cane in Cornwall and tried to speed dry it over a fire to make blowguns with for a bit of fun whilst camping...well we suspended a load of canes over the fire...got distracted....then BANG,BANG,BANG three of the sections blew right after each other! It was surprisingly loud, like somebody shooting a rifle next to your head loud!
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This guy is clearly a master....
I pretty much copy exactly what he does.
Great set of vids. Thanks!
If you copy his approach to making boo arrows then a buildalong from you would be tremendous asset to this beginner (& likely to many others).
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Thanks, Mike!
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A little off topic but I used several bamboo poles to make a tepee farm for smoking brain tanned deer hides. I wrapped a cotton painters tarp around it to form the tepee. Put a hot coals in the center with old punk wood for smoke. Had to run inside the house for a duty call and heard someone shooting a shotgun outside. When I returned it was a big charred area and the shotgun was the bamboo nodes exploding. They were extremely loud.
I have tossed a few river cane poles into a fire just to watch them explode...primitive fireworks?