Being a neophyte and not knowing much about plants either I figure someone here might educate me on this stuff.
Is this bamboo or a another type of big grass and is it suitable for arrow making?
(http://davidking.us/shared/whatisit1.jpg)
(http://davidking.us/shared/whatisit2.jpg)
Thanks.
Looks just right to me. I would have to research it to tell you exactly what you have, so you could do that too! I would use it in a heartbeat.
Killdeer
It kind of looks like rivercane and if so would be a great source for arrow shafts. I'm sure others will chime in that are more familiar with the plant.
Ted
I was going to say rivercane. As I remember there is a reproduction and a vegetation stalk and one is preferable . . . but I can't remember which was which. It was in an old Al Herrin article in Traditional Bowhunter.
I call it river cane and it grows along every creek and river there is around here. It has been used to make arrows for centuries. Most people use a hardwood dowel stuck into the business end to mount points on too.
Yep... thats "river cane". Be sure you can mess with it. It has protected status in Illinois...
We used the stuff by the truck load to do duck blinds years ago... My wif got a bunch and made some killer arrows out of it.