My wife and I went out and cut river cane today. Man was it ever hot out there. We ended up with about 6 dozen shafts. I've been reading everything I can find about river cane shafts and will be giving them a try when these shafts are ready to start working on.
The part that is getting to me is after sweating like crazy gathering these shafts now I have to wait 1-3 months before I can start tiinkering with them. Guess the only thing to do is keep reading the threads about river cane and gather info for when it is time to work on mine.
I have them bundlesd up and wrapped tight in batches of 12 and stored them upright in my storage shed. Can't you lay them flat and let them dry? Why do they need to be standing upright?
Any other tips that might help me on this adventure?
Pac, the only reason I know of that people stand them in a corner is to take up less space. All my cane and shoot material lay flat, unless I don't have the space. When I heat straighten any arrow material, I lay them on my basement floor for a couple of days to rehydrate. I know of no reason that they have to stand in a corner. Waiting to hear the replies on this on also.
Pac, I straightened mine while they were green. I stood them in the corner of the living room by a heater vent (Winter time when I did mine) I hand straightened them without heat. I would go through them every couple of days. After about a month when they were dry they are straight and ready to be made inro arrows.
I lay mine flat on top of a shed out in the sun. Depending on humidity, they should be dry in a couple of weeks to a month, max. I turn them over every couple of days. Bill