Glad my wife's not home

[FlintWalker]

I spent an hour or so yesterday cutting some cane. I won't call them arrows yet because I don't have a clue what i'm doing but I got all of them sorted by diameter, node length and taper. They range from around 5/16 to a little over 3/8 one the big end. Surely amongst all of 'em, I can come up with something.
  I'm gonna bundle them with rubber bands.  What should I do with them next?  How long does it take cane to dry.  I've tried to straighten some as they are but I can't get it to work. Any ideas? 
  Whenever these things dry, i'm having an arrow straightening party at my house, who wants to come?   Saw Filer

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[Justin Snyder]

Man that is a great haul.  They straighten so well with a little heat when they are dry I would just wait. Justin

[Badger]

They look great, just tie them up straight as you are doing and wait a few months. Good haul there, check back with us in a few months when you get ready to starighten them. Steve.

[wvfknapper]

Saw Filler
Good haul, I also just bundle them with rubber bands and let them set a couple month's,,, Also a good idea for the next time is to get you a pair of pruning snips to use when you cut them instead of a pocket knife, saves on the wrist and you can cut them lower to the ground.........Cane makes wonderful arrows with their natural taper and to me they seem to hit harder for some reason.

wvflintknapper

[1/2primitive]

I'd come. 
    Sean

[1/2primitive]

Kentucky would be a long way, though. 
    Sean

[FlintWalker]

I used a machete to cut them but even then it was tough. Not because they were hard to cut, but because they're so thick. No swingin room!
  I've looked at this stuff in 4 different places, two patches on one creek and two other patches on different creeks. I can tell slight differences between them all. The two from the same creek (1 mile apart) was very similar. They had longer internodes and very little flat areas above the nodes.
 Another patch on a different creek had bigger nodes, bigger flat areas and less space between the nodes.
  The other patch had long internodes, almost no flat areas but they swelled out a good bit at the nodes.
   I have several other places I plan to check out to see if I can find the best this area has to offer.  When I do, i'm gonna make a note of it and cut a bunch.

[DanaM]

Nice haul Shannon, you guys that have cane have it to easy, practically ready made arrows.
Ya need a nice bunch of crooked shoots to really appreciate that cane

[Pat B]

Nice haul Shannon. Lots of good arrow material there.
   Wives eventually get used to stick all over the house. Maybe its easier than just griping all the time.      Pat

[joewaco78]

Looks like youre going to have alot of good arrows!

[cowboy]

That's a hellofa nice haul Shannon . I'm kinda comin in here late, but to straighten go to Mickey Lot's site (the ferret) I'm sure it's been posted on here before but all you need is a candle and some cooking oil, and some gloves or a rag. Let them shafts dry for a couple of months - get your candle fired up (need to be somewhere that doesn't have a draft). rub a little oil on the area your straightening then heat it pretty hot over the candle - the oil will turn black. When it's hot enough just bend it with gloves or your rag - the black burnt oil rubs right off and the cane holds it's shape.
  Here's a few I worked on last night, they'll need another session or two to get em where I want em ( don't know a thing about spine yet) . The main thing is they bend easy with heat and hold their shape - hope this will help ...

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[FlintWalker]

I think I can handle the straightening part just fine.  It's the spine thing that bothers me.  I hate to go to the trouble of making self nocks and fletching a bunch of arrows only to see them shoot like crap.
  I wish there was some way to at least get close to the right spine before going to all that trouble.  Any ideas?

[Pat B]

You can test the spine and if they are heavy leave them a little long. For every inch over 28" you can subtract 5#. With the natural taper of the cane you can subtract up to 10# and for some reason(I believe it is the taper) they seen to tolerate draw weight differences pretty well.  Pat

ps. if they are light, reduce length to stiffen them.

[FlintWalker]

I ordered a dial indicator tonight. I'm gonna make me a spine tester so when I do find the ones that shoot well, I can match them up.

[Hillbilly]

Shannon, I think after you get used to making and shooting those cane shafts, you'll probably never use anything else. There's a lot of variation in cane, looks like you're well on the way to figuring out what to look for.

Paul, that cane looks vaguely familiar.  I've been getting some good shafts out of that same batch. They dried a bit crookedy because I didn't bundle them up, I just laid them on my workbench for a couple months.