some river cane stuff..

[aero86]

started the arrows last night.  i think i cut them during the summer of this year.  sure did cut a lot, but a bunch of them were trash, spine was too weak on some.  anyways, these are the first ive put together, i made 3 a couple months ago to torture test.  river cane will do well as long as you dont repeatedly miss your target.  not as tough as the tonkin ive been used to using, but its still pretty good stuff.  ill stick to it.  plus, its free.  so, i decided to make a few more, and cut a few more.  some of these i purposely cut a bit light, but not as light as the ones before.  also, i got one piece to try to make a blow gun out of.  THAT will be a learning experience.  anyways, on to the pics!

the one with the turkey fletches is the one with the point i decided to make.  i decided to go with white fletchings on the cane since the turkey feathers are VERY camo when you miss your target in the woods!  lo  im really liking the white fletchings with black thread.  i know it should be silk, but i got the strongest thread i can find.  i think it will work well. l




heres the point i decided to make.  its basically a duplex nail with metal brazed on, then ground down.  think it could be used for small game?  holds a decent edge.

[hillbilly61]

Nice looking arrows, aero86

[Pat B]

Are you sure that is river cane. It doesn't look like the stuff I've seen. The nodes are usually very pronounced and they are thin walled and long deep leaf scar. Doesn't really matter, I'm just curious. 

[aero86]

well pat i was about 100 percent sure it was..  what would you say it was?  i mean, this patch was growing right by water, so i just assumed it was..

[Pat B]

It doesn't really matter. If it makes good arrows that is what matters. There are many species of cane in the US but most are asiatic varieties that were planted here and most will tollerate weter soils. With the roundness of the culms and the longer internodal areas it just doesn't look like the river cane I am familiar with. Where are you located?

[aero86]

north east texas.  id seen a few pictures that said it was river cane, with the long scar.  and the few clear pictures i could find online looks like this stuff.  i just dont know. 

[Pat B]

I'm not a taxonomist so true ID for me would only be a guess also. But like I sad, it really doesn't matter if it makes good arrows.

[nclonghunter]

I have been using unwaxed dental floss for arrow wraps....very strong and thin and I believe it can be separated to make it thinner. Nice looking arrows, I like the white feathers also.

[aero86]

i have been using artificial sinew for my wraps.  i wanted to try something else.  ive got a bunch of real sinew, but im gonna use it to back a bow with.   i like the nice contrast of the black and white.

[Pat B]

Dental floss is very similar to artificial sinew. I keep some of the unwaxed stuff in my archery tool box incase repairs are needed.
  Aero, one back strap sinew will make wraps on lots of arrows. Set one aside just for that. I now prefer real sinew for wraps because it shrinks as it dries and really holds the fletching well.
  I pull off a thin strand and chew it until soft. Then I make the wrap and let it dry then seal it. By chewing the sinew your saliva and the sinew makes it's own glue so no other glue is needed. When I get to the end of the wrap I lick my thumb and forefinger and work them around the wrap in the same direction. This helps to make it all stick together.

[aero86]

i do have a bunch of processed backstrap.  i may save some for the next batch i put together..

[oneeye]

Ditto what Pat said.  Makes my daughter sick watching me wrap w/sinew.     Nice arrows Aero.    Scott

[aero86]

lol scott i bet!  i think i got the bug again this year.  same thing happened last year when i pick up archery again.  gotta do something while your inside when its cold out.  you know, the texas kinda cold!  lol

[aero86]

just wanted to update this cane.  here is all i cut


my experiment went well i believe.  i cut most of them close to the same dimensions, and mostly went for node spacing as i was wanting to make some korean style arrows for my kaya khan bow.  the spine weight was a bit less than what i wanted, so i made them an inch shorter than my usual 30 and use a 75 grain field point. they fly really well from my 55# bow.  ive actually got more of this stuff left to straighten, this 6 came from the first 8 i straightened.  they averaged 45# spine, 350-375 assembled, i was getting close to 180fps with these arrows too!  hopefully some of the others i straighten will have a higher spine so i can add a higher point weight. 

[jturkey]

hey pat we have the same stuff here it is listed as river cane i'm in mississippi. we have river cane,hill cane, switch cane and 2 other natural canes plus 5 different typs of cane that are asianic in nature. as well as a few guys that planted  a few acres of moso bamboo.