Cane arrows

[SirRobin77]

Hey guys Im going to build some cane arrows for the longbow im making and i have a couple questions. 1. Do you have to use a forshaft/nock inserts on cane or will self nocks reinforced with sinew work? Can you haft the point straight to the cane shaft? 2. What about spine weight? Do you spine these arows just like any other arrow? Matt

[Mechslasher]

matt, i wrote a "how to" article on building cane arrows that was published in the last winter and spring issue of the bowyers journal.  to answer your questions: 1. no, selfnocks will work but you need to insert a small dowel into the center of the cane.  2. i spine my cane arrows similar to "regular" arrows except you need to find the stiff side of the cane and place it against the strike plate.  the stiff side will usually be found to the left or right of the node scars which should face up and down.

[Pat B]

Matt I never use fore shafts or separate nocks with cane I just make self nocks with a sinew(or thread) wrap just below it and insert stone and trade points directly in the cane with pitch glue and sinew wrap. You can also taper the cane to accept glue on points. With a bit of fitting you can install screw in points by drilling out the center hole to fit the shank of the screw-in. A bit of glue and a good wrap will do the trick. Unlike Chris I find the stiff side on the side of the node scars and that side should be against the strike plate. Art Butner tought me about cane and shoot arrows and this is the way his are set up.
 As far as spine goes, cane is very tolerable of different weight bows. With its natural taper you can go with an arrow spined 10# over draw weight and if you leave your arrows long you can decrease spine weight by 5# per inch over 28".
    Pat

[Bill Skinner]

My self nocks are butted against the nodes.  It takes some time to select good pieces and my arrows end up 30 to 33 inches long.  That works if you match your points to your shafts.  A heavy point with a short shaft and a lighter point with a long shaft.  And a thick walled shaft needs a heavier point than a thin walled one.  Bill

[Bowferd]

Keep those threads coming. I'm working on some at the moment, or was a bit earlier. The dozen shafts I purchased  were so expensive that I went to Home Depot and purchased some 5' stakes and cut them down to between 33" and 39". Thought before I started on the good dozen that I would tamper with the cheapies, follow directions as closely as this old mind could follow, and hopefully make all my screw ups on the stakes.
Even at that, the 3 I finished last week are not purty by any means. Crooked as a sidewinder slitherin thru the tall grass, but I'll be darned, at 15 yards they still ended up in the target (the 1st round). These are about 3/8 to 7/16 and spine out between 80 to 125. Since they will be throwaways, I placed 100 grain Woody Weights and 190 grain points on them to try to figure them out.
I will end up with turkey feathers and 160 to 190 grain trade points on the finished product (hopefully).

[dano140]

Out of curiosity, would you work with Bamboo the same as you would Cane?

thanks,
Dan

[Pat B]

Cane that most talk about here are the native river cane, switch cane or hill cane all in the Arundaneria genera and all American bamboo. Some of the cane that are sold as plant stakes are Tonkin or Japanese arrow bamboo...these and others bamboos(cane)all make good arrows.  
  Pat

[JEFF B]

i made some and you dont have to use an insert when making the selfnock you just make it behind a node and sinew below the node. that way it makes it strong i do the same with the point but it takes a while to get cane the same length with nodes in the right place.

[Osagetree]

You might find some help on this old thread I did a while back;  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=039191;p=5