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Cane question

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Dingleberry:
I recently harvested a bunch of cane and was wondering what everybody thought about drying/seasoning times?  The chapter, "Self Arrows", in the Bowyers Bible, Volume I says: river cane should be cut and bundled to season for at least six months before using.  I thought I read in other topics that you only need a couple weeks. what yall think?  thanks :)

MattE:
I have left it in the back of my truck for a month and it was cured perfectly. The time will vary depending on several factors. You don't have to bind it up. I also like how the color lightens up when cured outside. You can't hurt it. It is tough shaft material!

Pat B:
After harvest I usually clean up the canes and bundle them to store. I don't make many cane arrows so mine are stored for years sometimes but you should be able to work them in a few weeks to month. If dried in a shady area they will stay green but lighten up in color as they cure. Exposure to sunlight will change the color to a golden tan.
You can probably work them green. Try this with a few and see how it works out.   Pat

Hillbilly:
A month or two is usually enough if it's kept somewhere warm and dry. You can tell when it changes color and doesn't stay bent when you bend it.

billy:
Hey Dingleberry (i love that name)

I use cane all the time and I absolutely love it.  I've been making cane arrows for 10 years and it's my favorite shaft material; all my serious hunting arrows are river cane.

Cane will season slowly, but is usually dry enough to use after 6-8 weeks.  That's what I usually allow for my cane.  Here's a tip:  Don't bundle the cane.  Instead, leave it loose and a week after cutting them start straighteneing them.  Don't use heat, just bend them straight while they're green.  They'll go back to their previous shape, but every 2 or 3 days go back and straighten them.  Once they start to dry out, they'll begin holding that straightness.  Once they're dry, they will be very straight.  What's better is that because they were straightened as they dried, they will always behave as though they were straight to begin with.  If you let them dry crooked and then use heat to straighten them, they will always have a memory of the shape that they initially dried in and will want to revert back to that shape with changes in humidity.  I leave my shafts on my bedroom floor and every 2 or 3 nights I'll bend them straight before I go to bed.  It's quick, easy, and superior in my opinion to straightening them once they're dry and crooked.

I've got a cane arrow that I made with the above technique that I've straightend only twice in 7 years.  I've taken it to New Mexico, Iowa, humid VA in the summer, Oregon, and it now resides in GA with me. I killed 2 rabbits with it in Oregon (a jackrabbit and cottontail).  I skimmed a deer's belly with it 3 years ago.  It's the best arrow I've got and it's the one I pattern all my other cane arrows after.  Cane is the best material for making arrows in my opinion.  I LOVE IT! 

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