More cane shaft questions.

[Pat B]

 Green cane may check when fast drying but I don't know. I usually let it rest for a month at least before messing with it. Again, drilling a small hole next to the nodes might prevent the checking. Let us know what you find out.
I have speed dried sourwood shoots. From tree to arrow in 3 days by laying them under the wood stove after stripping the bark but I had trouble keeping it straight. Any other hardwood shoot I tried to speed dry checked badly.

[mullet]

I throw mine on the Tin roof of my shop or leave them outside on the patio in the direct sun and never had any of them check

I have had cane and bamboo break real easy after I got it too hot when straightening them. I think caramelizing them will make them too brittle.

[Eric Krewson]

My fast drying cane experiment has been going on for 10 days. I checked on the cane today and found it has already turned from dark green to tan and has no checking at all.

[duke3192]

Eric, I don't think you need to worry about checking, but when you start straighting them be careful about heating the nodes, I've had dry cane break at the nodes, I think it was because I got them too hot. Oh; also Mullet and I are in Florida and drying cane on a tin roof in the sun is a lot hotter than a controlled heated hot box.

[Springbuck]

  I have only done a few dozen bamboo shafts, and used mostly the "Martha Stewart" tomato stakes, but I was under the impresssion that carmelizing was mandatory, and have always done it that way.

 I got this idea from a YouTube vid where an old Korean gentleman was making Korean-style arrows from Japanese/Korean arrow bamboo.  He had them over a charcoal fire and the narrator mentioned that the shaft must be "cooked" evenly or it would go crooked later.  So, I always cooked them evenly after straightening.

Pretty jealous of you guys who can go cut cane. Doesn't grow anywhere I know of out here in the West, and I have  about given up on tomato stake.  I have turned out some fine arrows, but the quality seems to have dropped a lot and I get about 2 usable shafts from a pack of 10, and they aren't anywhere close in spine.

[DC]

Do you have a link to that video? I love watching those masters at work and haven't found one with English narration.

[Jodocus]

I've dryed plenty of hollow rose shoots, elder branches and even a couple of hollow tree segments for making drums. I've had none of that check, leading me to the assumption that "tubes" are somehow immune to checking 'cause they can shrink inwards.

[mikekeswick]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyejbipavWw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdB59FWQpN8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Nbb7g9jTQ

This guy is clearly a master....check out the human lathe work he does. I would guess he's made a few!
I pretty much copy exactly what he does.
I've planted a bunch of Japanese Arrow Bamboo about 2 years ago, so far it's got itself established and is sprouting new shoots.  The new shoots it's sending up are incredibly stiff and they aren't much over 1/8th diameter.
A few months ago we cut some wild cane in Cornwall and tried to speed dry it over a fire to make blowguns with for a bit of fun whilst camping...well we suspended a load of canes over the fire...got distracted....then BANG,BANG,BANG three of the sections blew right after each other! It was surprisingly loud, like somebody shooting a rifle next to your head loud!

[Knoll]

This guy is clearly a master....
I pretty much copy exactly what he does.

Great set of vids.  Thanks!
If you copy his approach to making boo arrows then a buildalong from you would be tremendous asset to this beginner (& likely to many others).

[Springbuck]

Thanks, Mike!

[nclonghunter]

A little off topic but I used several bamboo poles to make a tepee farm for smoking brain tanned deer hides. I wrapped a cotton painters tarp around it to form the tepee. Put a hot coals in the center with old punk wood for smoke. Had to run inside the house for a duty call and heard someone shooting a shotgun outside. When I returned it was a big charred area and the shotgun was the bamboo nodes exploding. They were extremely loud.

I have tossed a few river cane poles into a fire just to watch them explode...primitive fireworks?