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Author Topic: bamboo shaft how-to ?????  (Read 4239 times)

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Offline Jtilley

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  • WV country boy missing the hills.............
bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« on: April 22, 2011, 08:36:31 pm »
After looking at all the awesome cane arrows on here , I went to the garden center , and bought a dozen bamboo vegetable stakes. Now I have a thousand questions. Prior to this I have made all my arrows from dowels. If someone could direct me to a link, or give me some insight ( especially on straightening, nocks, and tips ) I would greatly appreciate it. :)
Thanks, John
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Some is Good , More is Better, Too much is Just Right....
John

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2011, 09:55:01 pm »
I am no expert at all, I just finished my first bunch of arrows, but I can tell you how I made them.  For the heat source for straightening I used one of those sterno oil burner cans that they put under the trays at catored dinners.  Getting them straight was the hardest part for me.  It took several rounds of bending them before I got them straight.  Then I spined them and cut them to length.  Next, I drilled out the tip ends and glued in a 16 penny duplex nail with the head ground off.  For the nocks, I used a drill press and made a hole about 1/2" from the end.  I used a miniature hacksaw with a very fine blade to cut down to the hole.  Then I used sand paper to finish it out.  I used heavy duty coat thread to wrap the tip and nock ends.  I soaked the tip wraps with epoxy and didn't like how it turned out.  I soaked the nock wraps with superglue which worked great.
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Offline ErictheViking

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Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2011, 09:55:31 pm »
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Offline Jtilley

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Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2011, 10:37:24 pm »
Thanks guys, excellent info. I'm excited about the cane arrows.............
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Some is Good , More is Better, Too much is Just Right....
John

Offline Jtilley

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  • WV country boy missing the hills.............
Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2011, 04:47:26 pm »
finished four cane shafts, two for my daughters 15lb store bought bow, and two for my sons red oak long bow. I am impressed !!!! they are fast , light, accurate, hit hard........... I'm thinking I may be a river cane arrow man from here on out!!!!!!!
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Some is Good , More is Better, Too much is Just Right....
John

Offline sadiejane

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Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2011, 11:29:38 am »
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Offline sadiejane

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Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2011, 11:34:45 am »
cool ya got some made.
i've had terrible luck making bamboo arrows so far. just not very good at getting em straight. but after reading jackcrafty's tutorial, im gonna try again. just cut about 100 shafts a few weeks ago. really hope i get better at it. as i have a dozen cane arrows hillbilly61 sent me and they are sure some sweet shooting arrows. love cane, now if i can just be patient enough to get em made...
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wild women don't get the blues

Offline Pat B

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Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2011, 03:05:10 pm »
Getting cane shafting straight is a time consuming project. I first straighten the nodes and then lay the cane flat to cool while working on others. I then go to the internodes and straighten them and allow the cane to cool on a flat surface. After this I tweek the shafts until it is relatively straight.
  At this point I cut the appropriate section of the cane a bit longer that I expect the arrow to be, check the spine of 4 sides to find the stiff side then I set up my shaft with nock and whatever for the pile end. The stiff side of the cane goes against the bow so the nock is perpendicular to that.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Jtilley

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  • WV country boy missing the hills.............
Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2011, 05:57:25 pm »
My first ones were pretty simple ( i have to admit I was doubtful of how they would perform so I didn't want to put alot of time in them). I used on oil lamp for my heat source, straightening the biggest bends first, and then working down from there, I broke two shafts before i started getting the hang of how much heat/pressure etc.  I used cut off nails inserted/glued in the end for tips, cut self nocks, and then used wal-mart craft feathers for the fletchings. I didn't have any superglue so I just tied them for and aft with button thread and painted the whipping with clear nail polish. They definately wern't professionally done , but like I say I wanted to put some together to see how they shot first, and again I was impressed. These were stakes I bought at walmart that came in a 12 pack for $3. I would love to go cut some of my own , but I'm not sure what I'm looking for. We have bamboo around here, but most of it grows 20 - 30 feet tall. I don't know if this is useable or not. Until I get around to cutting some to try I will probably be buying a couple more dozen of the WM stakes....... :)
I did not spine thes arrows as they were being shot from low draw weight bows. In spining cane , is the ratio the same as in wood (26/deflection)?
Check out the pics, but remember ...... these were quickies ;)
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Some is Good , More is Better, Too much is Just Right....
John

Offline aero86

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Re: bamboo shaft how-to ?????
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2011, 11:59:52 pm »
i posted a video of how i straighten bamboo shafts.  im just passin through at the moment, other wise id search it myself..
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profsaffel  "clogs like the devil" I always figured Lucifer to be more of a disco kind of guy.
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