River cane arrows

Osiyo everyone, living in the Delta of northeast Arkansas we have plenty of river cane. I have found it is easy to work with and does very well to make arrows. Here are some photos of a few I have made and use. Most of the time when you harvest them young (and green) they are pretty straight, but here is something I have learned. If you have a small curve you can heat the cane and use a 2X4 to straighten. I also use light sandpaper to smooth the (for lack of a better term) knobbies. Then use sinew or nylon and pine tar to put the arrow tip and fletching on. Attachment 10271Attachment 10272Attachment 10273

Very nice Awanita!
Are those metal points?
I have a dozen or so that I made but have never mounted them...:(

that's awesome, do you use a wooden fore shaft?

Mrfixit yest they are metal, lol now what I made them out of is really (redneck) shows that survival will go with what works. They are made from House trailer strappings. I made a forge and put the heat to them and shaped them. The edge holds very well.

Those I did not, I have used a wooden fore shaft before and maybe it is just me but I find connected straight to the cane itself tends to shoot straighter(for me).

Nice job....thanks for posting.
We don't have river cane anywhere close.... I have used willow, but not for a long time.

Going to go harvest some this weekend. If you would like I will get some extra and try to send you half a dozen or so. Just private message me if you would like for me to send you some.

Thank you for the very generous offer....but most likely won't be making or using any in the near future.

Might want to ask around, others may be interested?

Howa, and if you come across someone steer them my way and I will help if I can. Wado.

How long do they need to cure before straightening? I have half a dozen or so I mean to use for atlatl darts, but I tend to crush them when attempting to straighten. Perhaps I just need less brutish hands when working cane?

actually you heat and straighten when green, then put between ( I uses about a 4foot by 2foot pieces of plywood) two pieces of wood with something heavy on top and let them dry...works pretty well for me.

I used a pieces of 2" PVC to straighten some willow cans.....peeled them and kept stuffing them in the tubing till tight.....worked pretty well.
Wanted to make a squared-off willow back to use as a chair and bunk.....
Didn't have enough though to make one....beavers beat me to the willow in my river bottom and pretty much leveled it.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...m/DSCF1151.jpg

I am going to start tanning about a 50lb beaver hide in the next couple of weeks. Biggest beaver I have seen.

That is a big beaver......I get a lot of damage done by them.....tunnel under the river banks and cause cave in's.
They are on the up swing again....had a guy trap them but doesn't do it any more....and I not there long enough to tend the traps.

My cousin who lives on the floodway shot him last year, had him in the big freezer for awhile looked like a dead body in there....lol the wife said we needed more room. So I took him out and got him skinned and we are going to tan the hide and make some mocs and maybe a hat. He will be big enough good gravy.

I had a bad experience going after beaver with a shot gun.

Early on when they were dropping 60ft maples into the river....I called the state DNR....Nuisance animal Hot line.
Was told I could shot the during small game hours....(daylight)....but they are mostly nocturnal.

So got my lawn chair 12 ga w/buck shot, and spot light, and was just sitting dowen to get me a beaver....spooked a couple of deer that ran 1/2 mile to the highway....one got hit.....car stopped .other cars stopped and checked..... till the cops showed up and a tow truck.

Now here I was..... in the dark,...... with the cops 1/2 mile away,..... with a loaded shotgun and spot light....What is wrong with this picture?
Walked back to the cabin and we went to the saloon in town....End of beaver hunt.....in the river.

deadfall traps don't make anywhere near the noise of a shotgun ;)

conibears work well too

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/h...tlee/002-7.jpg

I watched a few videos on cane arrows and it looked like they all had been cured almost brown before heating and straightening. I'll try some green ones. I usually bind them together in a bundle with string to cure somewhat straight. From what I understood you warm them until they gloss over, then hold straight.
I find cane on the side of the road here. Been seeing it for literally YEARS and didn't know what it was. DOH!

hey randt is that a hand built piuro the beaver is in or a tow behind.?

It' a pirouge I made from some northern white cedar boards.

i like the information presented by the thread. i also have a small amount of information that may help when using bamboo or river cane making thing's. if you take a small drill bit in a hand held handle and drill small hole into each joint at the separation point for each joint making sure to get the pithy stuff inside away from the hole so it will breathe and go just 1/4th inch so you will hit hollow in the cane at each joint if you allow them to dry it will dry very straight stood in a corner. little to no splitting of the cane at all occurs it has worked very well for me and i get pretty good results. if wished you can put a drop of wood glue at each hole to seal it after it has dried completely . if you are growing bamboo or river cane and you wish to control spread dig a trench then salt the trench with rocksalt anywhere you wish the bounds to be. this cauterizes the nodes and keeps the terms of spread very well. hope this help's tom

Been using port Orford cedar for years, but haven't used river cane arrows. I have heard of it, but we don't have them in my area. I'll have to find somewhere that has them near me. Just curious, have you used a spine tester on these? What wheight bow are you shooting these from? I use a 1962 bear kodiak magnum type 2 prototype, but I'm planning on making a self bow and these would be great with one. Where is river cane generally found?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tradionalist

Where is river cane generally found?

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Um....rivers?

Actually, it's native from New Jersey to Florida and west to Ohio and Texas.

What is the latin name for what you guys are calling "River Cane"?

Not sure about the Latin name, but it is in the same family as Bamboo.

I got this info below from wikipaedia.

I've used Typha stalks with hardwood foreshafts for arrow shafts, Callicoma Serratifolia shafts, cedar shafts and I also use Bamboo shafts (from Bhutan), but "River Cane" is new to me. They sound like they are a great source of primitive shafts.

Arundinaria, commonly known as the canes, is the genus of bamboo in the grass family.[1][2]
The question of which bamboo species should be included in Arundinaria has been debated for many years. Some authors maintain that only the North American species should be included, while others include Asian species otherwise considered members of other genera (Bashania, Oligostachyum, Sarocalamus, Fargesia, Sasa, etc.).
Either way, Arundinaria is the only temperate bamboo in North America.[3][4] The genus is native to the eastern United States from New Jersey south to Florida and west to Ohio and Texas. Within this region they are found from the Coastal Plain to medium elevations in the Appalachian Mountains. Its members have running rhizomes and are woody and tree-like, attaining heights from 0.5 up to 8 metres (1.5 to 26 feet). They produce seeds only rarely and usually reproduce vegetatively, forming large genets. When seed production does occur, the colony usually dies afterwards. Among the distinctive features of the canes is a fan-like cluster of leaves at the top of new stems called a top knot.[5][6]
The genus Arundinaria has a complex taxonomic history spanning over two centuries. The canes of the southeastern U.S. were originally described as two species of reed grasses in the genus Arundo by Thomas Walter in 1788. André Michaux, working in 1803 and unaware of Walter's work, correctly interpreted the canes as a distinct group and created the genus Arundinaria with one species. However, neither of these researchers left enough information to their successors, leading to confusion surrounding the identity of the species they had described. The later workers G.H.E. Muhlenberg and A.S. Hitchcock each changed the circumscriptions of the species within the group, but it wasn't until epitypes, type specimens that clarify older ambiguous names, were applied to Walter's and Michaux's species in 2009 that the taxonomy could be stabilised. Meanwhile, many similar Asian and even African bamboos were placed in this genus under a very broad concept for the group. Preliminary phylogenetic studies in 2006 using molecular and morphological evidence have suggested that the genus forms three natural species confined to the southeastern United States.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Enigma

They sound like they are a great source of primitive shafts.

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They are. The Native American tribes that inhabited my area used river cane for a wide variety of applications.

Little info....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundinaria_gigantea

The cane was also used by groups such as the Cherokee, Seminole, and Choctaw to make medicine, blowguns, bows and arrows, knives, spears, flutes, candles, walls for dwellings,[10] fish traps, sleeping mats, and tobacco pipes.[12]

A pretty useful resource if you ask me.

Found out it's starting to naturalise down here too.

Profile
Impact
Arundinaria reed is a small to large bamboo-like plant. The only Arundinaria species currently known to be a problem in Australia is Simon bamboo (Arundinaria simonii f. variegata), which has naturalised on Lord Howe Island.

Arundinaria reed was originally introduced as an ornamental bamboo. It grows in thick clumps and has the potential to become a serious weed of urban bushlands, roadsides and open woodland areas.

On Lord Howe Island it has spread from gardens into nearby World Heritage environmental areas. It out-competes native vegetation and prevents the growth of understorey species. Thick stands disrupt the nesting and burrowing behaviours of native birds.

Distribution
About eight species of Arundinaria occur worldwide. Native species originate from Asia and North America. It is a widely cultivated plant, mostly for ornamental purposes. It has been distributed into Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, the Cook Islands and Australia.

Many types of cane, reed and bamboo type grasses exist within Australia. Arundinaria reed is only known to be present in NSW. It occurs as isolated infestations on Lord Howe Island and in small localised areas near Manly and Wagga Wagga in NSW.

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