Cane arrows better than dowel?

[Pat B]

My hill cane arrows for this past year are 550gr to 650gr with stone heads. My hunting bows this past year were 47# and 48#@26".

[PeteC]

Arthur,I use 3 types of arrow shafts.In my humble opinion,cane is #1,hands down.#2 are shoot arrows,and #3 ,self- doweled shafts.Although a good number of these  turn out very good(#3),the cane and shoots are so simple,and quick to build,I rarely get the router and drill out much anymore.God Bless

[Dane]

Hillbilly is right. He made me a set of beauties for the Xmas trade, and shooting them was like being able to see after being blind.

I have a bunch of cane on order (live in New England, so harvesting is difficult ), and doubt I will ever go back to wooden arrows, aside maybe from replicating historic arrows down the line. Shoots I have to try, but cane looks hard to beat.

Dane

[Justin Snyder]

What does "better" mean? 

[Hillbilly]

Justin, to me better means weight is just where I like it, forgiving of minor spine variations, almost unbreakable (important if you're a lousy shot like I am), easy to straighten, stays straight, looks good, historically correct for my area, more water resistant than wood, and just shoots good, etc. etc.

[Postman]

Aurthur - you probably have some invasive bamboo species  up there somewhere that would make good arrows- I think I remember seeing a stand in that state park near you by Cranberry,PA maybe, about a decade ago (forget the name....Moraine, maybe?...but it has a big lake,& probably lotsa goose feathers during waterfowl season, also.)

 Look up bamboo pics and keep an eye out - you might even  have a neighbor with some that wouldn't mind you cutting some or try trading for some on here.
or, even easier, just to get started, try some "Garden stake" arrows - that thread is on here from a few days ago, and I'm taking the kids on a "mission" to find some  right now - probably see them in your stores up there in a few weeks
Good luck
Postman