What are the best atlatl shafts?

[Tracker]

Made a real nice cedar atlatl. Could not find dowl rods long enough for practise lances, so notched, glued and wrapped two dowl rods together, worked for a few throws before it broke. I have some peach tree suckers seasoning, but for now what is a good thing to make shafts of? The cane around here is very curvy, and I have found that you cannot heat-straighten green cane, it collapses Has anyone ever heat-straightened dry cane? And what else have you found that makes the long straight shafts needed? Thanks

Tracker

[DanaM]

Dry rivercane heat straightens easily, actually I straightened a 6 footer last night for a atlatl dart, my first one ever

[wolfsire]

A 4" scarf joint with an 8" cordage wrapped tube of papper, rawhide, etc., will hold joined dowels very well.  Dry cane shold heat straighten nicely if not too crooked to begin with.  Ived used arrowweed, arundo donax, desert willow, tamerisk and maybe a few other shoots.  Never used commercial dowels.  1/2", give or take, with a spine of 5-7 lbs pushing down on a scale is good.  This is an excellent site, and you may get more answers here, but it is primarly about archery.  I suggest you go over to paleoplanet and check out the atlatl subforum there.  http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/forums/24

[Tracker]

Thanks, I will try straightening some dry cane, and wrapping with rawhide. Congrats on your first atlatl shaft, Dana!

[JackCrafty]

I've used ramin dowels......3/8" ramin @ 4ft long with a long arrowhead (10") or foreshaft+arrowhead (10"-14") works really good for kids atlatl's.  I split the the end of the ramin dowel about 4" down and insert an arrowhead or foreshaft with a wedge-shaped tang, then glue and wrap.  The ramin is cheap and fairly consistent in spine and weight.

River cane or bamboo is probably the best material.

[Hillbilly]

Cane or bamboo. You can straighten green cane, just take it easy on it. Usually if it's collapsing, you have first-year culms with thin walls. Cut older canes. Too much heat can cause problems, too.

[Tracker]

Hey, thanks for the tip on older green cane, Hillbilly!

[Scowler]

If you want "store bought" atlatl shafts check out Thunderbird Atlatl.  They sell (among other things)quality ash wood atlatl shafts.  They are easy to straighten and are very durable.

[GlassKnapper]

I make mine from bamboo and river cane. After its seasoned when you go to heat straightening it heat the area you want to straighten until it starts to "weep" just a little then bend and hold, thats what works best for me, and alternate on multiple ones to allow for heating and cooling cycles. Like wolfshire said the scarf joints work really well. I have glued and wrapped some scarf joints to make one piece darts, and half used the scarf joint along with appropriately sized pieces of cane as the "scarf tube" to make two piece take down darts.
--pat