tulip-poplar shoots for arrows?

[Chicknlady]

Hello everyone!  Husband and I escaped the heat today and went for a drive... hit alot of woods-roads in the local timberlands, and there were tulip-poplar seedlings and saplings growing EVERYWHERE... in the ditches, along the road sides, on the well-locations, clear-cuts, EVERYWHERE. 

Just wondered if anyone ever tried these... I did a search, and came up with nothing but arrows made from boards for tulip-poplar. 

Thanks! 

[H Rhodes]

Give em a try Chicknlady!  They grow straight as a string and will make an arrow.  I betcha got feathers already!

[Chicknlady]

Thanks Howard!  Yep, I took my son a few days ago back to the park, and we got another bag full of goose feathers... we also got yelled at by a crazy lady  ...  apparently she thought we were too close to the geese.   I'm still not sure if she was worried about us, or the geese!     lol, but we did get hissed at by one the geese, and son thought that was really cool.   All in all a good day.

I will try the tulip shoots!

[Sparrow]

Debark one and set it in the house handy,pick it up now and then and straighten it,if it checks,leave the bark on and dip the ends and let dry for a few weeks,then try again. Lots of shoots make good shafts if the are good and dry. I have never tried tulip poplar,but I used to make things out of the splits when I lived in S. Carolina and really love the wood. Good luck.  '  Frank

[Pat B]

The poplar shoots will probably be a bit bigger in diameter than other regular shafting. Probably at least 3/8" mid shaft. Split poplar or boards, on the other hand, makes a very good arrow shaft.

[Hillbilly]

I've never had good luck with the shoots, tried them a couple times. But split tulip poplar heartwood from a log makes excellent arrows, as Pat said.

[criveraville]

It's not cold enough for tulips yet 

Cipriano

[Chicknlady]

lol, Cipriano, you're adorable   !

Just an update, I was down around the forestry lands again and messed around a bit with the tulip-poplar...  Hillbilly, Pat, you're right on.  Lots of problems with these shoots...  one, they aren't as straight as you'd think, kinda the zig-zag growth pattern at each leaf-node.  Two, they grow so fast that second-year wood is too thick for arrows.  I did harvest a couple shafts to mess with, but there are TONS of better species around here to use.  On this trip I found a gold-mine of black cherry and red maple shafts to keep me busy until fall.... then I'm back into my multi-flora rose patches!   

Thanks for the replies, guys!!!

Here's some pics:



Some young shoots





If you look close, the middle of my hand is at about the point of this year's new growth, the width of my finger is nearly 3/4" thick for comparison.




cross section of new growth, lots of pith

[crooketarrow]

  I CUT THEM ANYTIME I COME ACROSS THEM. No heat required to straighten. But not super sloft like say HAZZEL. I cut ALL SHOOTS IN THE WINTER and only when there suckers from a tree being cut down. These will grow thinner and taller than a ground spapling. It already has a root system to grow off of. So thet strech out to the new sun all of a sudden.
      If their(ground shoots) to big around. I've used a thumb plane or 60 grit sand paper ,popular sands really easy after it seasoned and easy taken down. More so than other shoots. But if you get suckers you won't have this problem. Popular makes a good arrow not as light as one would think and perrty hard. If the shoots a sucker they grow really straight and stay that way when tempered and finished.
  I once did a survile bow class and made shoot arrows as they are arrows from popular shoots. E
  But tempering not a problem Not even sure if it really helps. But do'nt see where it hurts them either.

[Chicknlady]

crooket, I never thought to look for the tulip stumps sprouts... mostly because there is so little tulip around here.  This vast area of tulip seedlings is very unusual, probably an indication that the state finally is getting the deer herd down where it should be.  usually you only saw an occasional tulip seedling in fenced clear cuts.

lol, poplar here is usually actually aspen, or quaking aspen...  tulip poplar is called "tulip tree" and cucumber is "cucumber", although our Home Depot calls both"poplar" here...