Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: recurve shooter on March 30, 2008, 06:19:57 pm
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im gonna make some cane arrows. i live in southern louisiana, so i got no prollem findeing the stuff. i need to know basicly how to streighten them, how long to dry them, how to spine them, so on. i know it would take years for yall to tell me compleatly how to do it. i just need some tips to go off of. i really apreciate any thiny any of yall could tell me. peace out,
recurve,
who now shoots longbows. ;D
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Cut your cane about 3/8" or so at the big end. Leave it long so that you can pick out the best-sized section for your shaft later on. Be picky when you're cutting and try to get at least second-year canes that don't have papery sheathes around the nodes. Watch out for bushy cane-it will have dipped-in sections above the nodes. The rounder the better. Bundle it up with rubber bands and let it cure a couple months or so. Cane straightens easily with heat. Cut your shafts to length and heat the crooked spots over any heat source that isn't too hot, keep turning it constantly so that you don't char it. I like to straighten the sections between the nodes first, then after they are straight, heat and straighten the nodes so that the sections are straight with each other. You only have to heat it until it starts to "sweat", and you start to smell it. After you have them pretty straight, work the nodes down with a knife, file, or whatever. Then go over it again and fine-tune it until it's perfectly straight. Be careful bending the nodes, especially after you've worked them down smooth.
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wow. that was remarkably helpfull. that should be enough to get me started. anymore input is welcome.
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When you get started, just post on here and we'll walk you through it. Cane makes great arrows. You can start straightening some of them a week or two after you cut them.
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I don't like to sand or file the nodes on cane. That is the canes weakest point. I prefer to heat the nodes and compress them by rolling on a hard surface with a wood block. I use my wood stove to do this generally but have used the floor or a work table top. This will make the nodes the same the diameter, or approximately, as the rest of the cane without violating them. Pat
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thanx pat. i woulda never thought of that one, and ill keep yall posted. think im gonna cut some this weekend.
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I work mine down completely even/flush with the shaft, and I've never broken one yet, even with direct hits on trees and rocks. I have broken probably hundreds of wooden arrows. It may make them a little weaker than they would be, but a weaker cane arrow is still fifty times tougher than a cedar or other wooden arrow, even hardwood shoots. I've always heard not to file them down, but my own experience has shown me that it don't hurt a thing, and I don't want all those bumps sticking out of the shaft to hit the bow as the arrow is leaving. I've seen pics of cane bowstrings made from strips of split cane with the nodes worked down completely smooth. If smooth nodes are strong enough to hold up for a bowstring, they probably aren't gonna weaken your arrows too much. :)
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I've been straightening cane shafts in the evenings at hotel all this last week - have been doing it exactly the way Hillbilly described. Using a candle for my heat source (as per Mickey Lotz tutorial), rub a little cooking oil on section your heating and heat till the oil turns black, rub it off with a rag and straighten. I've notice that you can still straighten on them even after they've gotten cool - think they may still be a little steamy on the inside.
Haven't tried rolling the nodes under a hard block to compress em, will play around with that some next time..
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Allright! Got em done :P. Here's about four evenings in BORING hotel room worth of straightening :). Those on the right are what I got from Hillbilly, those on the left were some I cut in Houston - the nodes are way farther apart, not sure what it is :-\. Anyway, those on right were snaky, twisted, and bent - kinda like Marie Lavoe ;D. Crisco, candle, elbow grease, and eyeball is all it takes ;).
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Good looking shafts. Looks like you got 'em tamed (except for the first node of the one on the right. ;D ) That was a pretty gnarly batch of cane, I didn't bundle it like I usually do, just piled it up on my workbench until it dried. I've made some good arrows out of that same batch, though. Looks like you've got the hang of it now, after doing a bunch of them you get a lot quicker at it. One thing about the cane, once you get it straight, it usually stays that way.
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wow, thats nice work cowboy. so all ya do is heat and hand bend till they are streight?
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You caught me Steve ;D, yeah - that one on the right does still look a little snaky in the pic. Need to build one of those shaft straighteners to use rather than my thumb, man it's sore hehheh ;D.
That's right recurve :). Have your heat source fired up, rub a little oil on the section your working and heat till the oil turns black - only takes a few seconds. then wipe off the oil and start straightening - eyball down the shaft each time you bend it. Like Hillbilly says - it'll go easier and faster with time. I like to heat up the whole section between the nodes first, once all those are done it's pretty easy to straighten out the nodes.
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Paul, I'd be about sure that the stuff on the left is Japanese arrow boo. It makes great arrows, too.
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Nice stash Cowbow, I wonder how they spine and how consistant foer weight? Kenneth
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Steve, I'm going to bring a bundle of em to Pappy's. That way you can inpect em first hand and maybe ID em. Don't have any leaves or anything - just the shafts.
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Thanks Kenneth! I don't have a scale and have never spined a shaft - need to get on the ball ;D. Last dozen (the first dozen by the way) they were some fabulous looking arras ;D, but were only four in the bunch that would fly straight :'(.
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when i harvest my shafts i'l take pictures of em and post. im pretty sure its just rivercane, but im sure yall can id it. plan on harvesting this weekend.
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i made a similar batch out of oak dowels.
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Recurve, take a camera with you and take some pics.
Nicely done Paul. On your first cane arrows that don't shoot well, flip them over(cock feather in) and try them again. Many times that's all it takes. ;) Are you lining the nock up perpendicular to the nodes?
Pat
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On my cane arrows a lot of them fly really good and some pretty good. My problems is to get a batch that all fly the same. I guess you just have to make a bunch and cull the ones that dont grupe with the rest, to get a matched set. Anxious to see them at Pappys, are you driving or flying? Kenneth
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Recurve, they would be alot easier to ID with a pic of the live plants and a close up of the cane shaft :).
I'm not sure what nock perpendicular to the node means Pat, but I did line the nock up with the point - meaning the two cutting edges of the point is up and down when the arra is knocked on the bow. I'll try that flipping them over thing - think I have one of the bad one's left that I haven't given away yet.
Kenneth: if you were asking me, I'm driving. Will already be in AL, about two and a half hours away...
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Oh yeay Cowboy I guess that was not too clear, but yes I was asking you about the driving. You must travel with your work? I just thought that was quite a trip from Texas. Kenneth
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Yep Kenneth - it's a purty good drive, about thirteen hours I think. Not near as bad as Justin, or some of the others last year though, or you? Seems like your up in Colorado, Montana? Trying to remember from the Lil bucky story :).
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Yes I am in S.W. Colorado but don't remember any thing about the little bucky story. Kenneth
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Oops, well forget that. I'll have to dig back through my mag's and see what I missed or I may just be imagining things :-X.
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Paul, What I mean is have the bud portion of the nodes on the side of the shaft instead of on top and bottom. The sides of the cane with the nodes is usually the stiffest side. I also cut the nock and point slots the same direction. Pat
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Pat B. Do you compress the nodes while the cane is still green or after they are dried? Do you use oil? I usually file or sand the nodes a little. I would like to try the compression method.
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Cheapshot, I compress the nodes as I'm straightening the shafts. I start with the internodes first, let them cool for a day and straighten the nodes and let them cool for a day then re-heat and compress the nodes and heat temper the entire shaft. Oil is not necessary but I sometimes use it when straightening but not when tempering. When you heat up the cane you will notice droplets of "sweat" appearing on the cane. When you see it, its ready to work.
I have never tried to heat straighten green canes. I do, sometimes straighten green canes a bit without heat as they are drying. Pat
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Pat thanks for the information. I've read about the Korean Arrowsmiths tempering their shafts over a bed of coals. Any tips about tempering cane? Have you tried using the oven?
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OK Pat, gotcha now - wil giver a try :).
Kenneth, I am now removing foot from mouth ;D. I don't know where I dreamed up Lil bucky, I was thinking about Elkie :).
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Cheapshot, I don't use an oven but I have heard of folks doing so. I either hold over the flame, rotating and moving back and forth, until it heats up well and becomes plasticized then lay it on a flat surface until it cools completely or lay them under my wood stove for a while. On hardwood shoots I hold them over a flame until it scorches then move on to another area. This also gives a nice camo pattern to the arrows. Pat
ps. the arrow shafts below are the ones that went with the Southern Community Bow Set. There are 3 different hardwoods and you can see the scorching on 3 of them.
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OK Pat, gotcha now - wil giver a try :).
Kenneth, I am now removing foot from mouth ;D. I don't know where I dreamed up Lil bucky, I was thinking about Elkie :).
Paul you been hittin the shine again :D Pat had Lil Bucky also his cardboard cut out deer decoy.
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Ahha! I knew I didn't just dream that up ;D. I thought maybe I was getting it from the little buckskin I used to ride all the time when I was younger - boy we had some adventures. He wasn't too impressed when I slung the dead rattlesnake over the back of the saddle that time though :D.