Sorting cane?

[stringstretcher]

I have read a lot of post about people sorting cane shafts by spine before they do anything.  How or what method do you use to sort cane that has not been straightened or at least somewhat straight?  Do you do this by feel or is there another to do it?

[Pat B]

Charlie, I bundle cane as I cut them. No rhyme or reason. When I'm ready to make arrows I pick canes that are similar in size and go from there. I only spine cane arrows to find the stiff side. Other than that when deciding which will be hunting arrows the arrows that fly the best are chosen and I try to match weight for the 3 or 4 that will be in my hunting quiver.

[stringstretcher]

Thanks Pat.  Yea I can spine my arrows and have a testor that is quite effective on spineing.  I used to make a lot of arrows for professional shooters and myself and know a thing or two about spine.  But I keep reading that people sort their cane by spine before they do anything, and was just wondering why.  I spent a few years working with Olympic shooters and have a good sense of what spine is and does.  I still spine each and every arrow I make for anyone,  but was just courious about the spineing before you straighten them to use a spine tester.  I know, I know,,,,taking this too far,,,,but thats the competive side of my arrow work taking over.

[Pat B]

especially with cane it would be difficult to spine before straightening.

[stringstretcher]

That's my thoughts......maybe I just read it wrong

[Pat B]

If you can make one of the uprights on your spine tester adjustable you can do it. It's the same with hardwood shoot arrows, like sourwood...or red osier.

[stringstretcher]

"Same here, I let it dry,then sort it by spine before I do anything to it. "
 
 
 
here is one of the quotes that I saw,

[Hillbilly]

Charlie, that was probably me that said that. What I meant was that I sort it by "hand-spining" to get in the ballpark. If you fool with cane a lot, you can judge the stiffness pretty well by flexing it in your hands. That'll get your cane sorted into batches that are reasonably close, within a five-ten pounds of each other, anyway. If you want to put them on a spine tester to get them exact, you'll do that after you get the canes straightened and finished out. 

[stringstretcher]

Thanks Hillbilly.  I thought it was you that has said it and thought you had some majic in the picking fingers of yours.....lol.  By the way, I had a quitar in my hands yesterday for the first time in over 32 years.......that was one set of picking you definately are glad you missed.......lol

[Mechslasher]

i sort my cane by weight after drying, mostly in 25-50gr sets.  then after straightening, i'll have roughly matched sets.  similar densities usually lead to similar spine wieghts.