grows wild here anywheres there is water. im always by the river, hence my handle name, so i use that. it takes a long time to dry. it will warp a lot if you dont heat bend it after its real dry then grease and burnish the heck out of it. you dont want moisture to get back into it. so keep them greased and burnished. i even thought about smoking them when i heat bend just to make sure moisture can not go back into the shafts easily. but ive used them for a long long time. they do work.strong. very strong.i use them for atlatl darts as well.like i said, very strong.Tony