Harvesting Bambo

[Dan K]

Found a neighbor with a large grove of bamboo and said I could have all I want.  I know bamboo shrinks when drying so what size culms should I harvest to end up with a suitable size arrow shaft?  I've seen other posts that recommend making arrows out of shafts 7-10mm so I assume this is the correct finish (dry) size to shoot for?

[stringstretcher]

Take a 3/8 open end wrench with you and cut the big end to that diameter.

[Pat B]

I agree with Charlie. 
  What kind of boo is it? How big?

[stringstretcher]

And to add to this Danny, make sure you get the second years growth.   If you need to know what that is, pm me.  And like Pat said, what kind of cane/bamboo is it?

[PrimitiveTim]

Maybe you could explain the difference here?  Are first year shoots the ones that don't have leaves yet?  What is the difference as far as arrow shaft performance?

[Pat B]

Tim, the first year stuff has healthy sheath at each node. Those sheaths begin to deteriorate after the second season and usually by the third they are gone...at least on the 3 native canes; hill, switch and river. After the second growing season is the optimal time to harvest but you can use third year stuff as long as it is still green in color when you cut it. If it is tan, leave it alone.

[Dan K]

Not positive but it looks like Tonkin.  It's green, straight, and turns yellow when old.  Can I use the seasoned (dead) canes or is it best to cut the live ones?

[PrimitiveTim]

But how does age affect performance of the arrow?  I'm wondering because I'm about to ship a guy 50 shafts and if first year growth is no good then I'll take out any first year shoots.  The stuff I'm cutting is not native to the US.

[stringstretcher]

Tim.  When the bamboo/cane grows it grows to its mature height the first year, and the walls are thin.  After the first year, it will start to loose or have lost it sheaths and it matures by growing with in the inside, or rather growing thicker walls.   Hence, higher spine and not as spongy.  Hope that helps you guys. 
And no, do not use the dead standing.  It is just that and will break very easy.

And Dan, I don't think it is tonkin as from what I understand, tonkin only grows in the very high altitudes over seas.  As Pat said there are only three canes native to america, hill, switch, and river.  But there is also a Jamanese Arrow Bamboo here that is used in a lot of land scape work.

[Dan K]

OK, got some pics to help.  These are growing at 500 ft in Portland Oregon.  I'm not sure what the sheaths are so not sure what to look for.  I didn't see anything different among the canes other than the shininess and the color.  Some were really green, some looked like they had a grey coating on them and others were turning yellow.  I'm not sure if this gry coating is the sheath and I'm going to guess that the yellow is 3 years or older.

[TacticalFate]

well, that's not Japanese Arrow Bamboo, for sure, looks like a clumping variety

[stringstretcher]

Not sure what that is either.  But in your second picture, you see all those brown, tan looking leaves on the ground (sheaths) those at one time were on the stalks.  It looks like you have more of a bamboo than a cane.  Cane of any type will not grow more that 12-18 feet tall.  Bamboo does??

[stringstretcher]

Here is a picture of switch cane

And this is Japanese Arrow Bamboo

[osagejack]

you need to be real selective when cutting cane or bamboo, I just cut about a 1000 cane you need to cull at every stage of the process I probably only cut one out of a 100 and probably only a dozen out of that 100 will make it to finished shafts,,they need not be straight, but there don't need to be angular bends at the nodes, those look like a type of  non native bamboo, I would dry a couple and test them before I invested a lot of time in some,,

[stringstretcher]

The diameter looks way too large to me for any kind of cane.