Home Depot Garden Stake Bamboo Arrow Build-A-Long (Pic Heavy)

[loon]

Thank you
Nice anonymous gift haha, ended up being really useful

[loon]

In case someone hasn't seen this, hoping it could be useful and/or interesting -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK5INvoNTdk

Thinking of making a straightening tool like that.

I'm guessing tonkin bamboo is much less hollow than the Korean bamboo arrow canes, so poking holes is unnecessary.

The heatbox looks a lot like what a grill could work as.

[DC]

I think the Korean guy is using green(fresh) bamboo. The garden stakes are mostly dry. He has to poke holes it it to let the steam out. Dry ones not so much.

[loon]

I guess this is why you keep a wet sponge (or wet ball of paper towels?) around to cool it down?

It still didn't seem to want to bend much, even when burning hot.

It didn't seem to get red like in the pictures. Just slowly blacker and blacker.

This is from the same company mullet got his shafts from, but the western counterpart. Most of them seem like garbage, others seem good but I've broken a few of them so far...

vv It looks significantly more burned in real life.

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Um, you may have gotten it too hot, they bend when hot but if you start to caramelize them they harden.

[DC]

What were you heating them with?

[loon]

thanks. A wagner heat gun. 950 to 1150F setting. What setting should I use?

[DC]

I use the hot setting on mine. Hold it 3-4 inches away. The boo doesn't have to change color to bend. Just a little to hot to hold. I only asked because I thought you might be using a torch. I've found(especially on my first few) that if they are going to break, they break at a node.

[loon]

By straightening it with my hand as cedar shafts are apparently done, I found that I don't need much heat (with an electric stove), so much that I can do it with my bare hands. Was using a towel before until I realized that apparently I don't need it. I'm wetting the shafts before straightening... does this seem straight enough? Far from perfectly straight, but it's hard to straighten more.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4gVPmGducMFTlEwQlJuMnRXcEU/view?pref=2&pli=1

...And I ended up making the shaft bent after trying to find the 'stiff side'. I guess this shaft is too wet. Or kinda green.

[loon]

Annnd I broke it by trying to apply dry heat to get rid of the moisture while straightening it since it was returning to how it originally was.

...

[DC]

It looked straight enough, not that that helps now Are you using Garden stakes or fresh bamboo? Garden stakes should be dry enough. I work on about 10 arrows at a time. Straighten a bit and let it cool while you work on the next. You shouldn't need to wet them at all.

[loon]

They are garden stakes, but some look kind of green.
10 at a time? I have so much trouble with 1 at a time 
Maybe this batch is bad... dunno.
Will try low heat for longer periods of time, it shouldn't even burn my hand at all.
edit: lower heat that still burns hand but not enough to be red hot (just barely, on the spiraly stove) seems adequate. with moistening before heating, could use a lot less but i guess i wouldn't recommend it???

[DC]

I usually heat them enough that I need gloves but maybe I'm a wuss. Some stakes are died green but I don't think that's what you're talking about. You would be better off doing ten(or five). If you do one and give it enough cooling time you're going to be standing around doing nothing for most of the time. This encourages rushing and bending and rebending the wood too much. Do ten, then you can rush all you want and they will still have proper cooling time. I'm thinking back as I write this and I do remember steam coming off some of the stakes I've done. Maybe they aren't as dry as I think. Anyway even the ones that steamed straightened out OK. This is one of those things that is difficult to get going on but all of a sudden things fall into place and it starts going way easier. It took me about 15-20 arrows to twig. I've finished about 50 arrows and maybe have that many straightened shafts waiting. I would call my arrows adequate.

[loon]

Most of the shafts I've gotten seem way too thin for my 60# hornbow. Even though I only have an about 28" draw with this bow,  a very thick and stiff shaft with no head or fletchings went tail right (arrow on right side, thumb draw) when shot at full draw. But then it wasn't that straight, and the nock wasn't carved that straight, not in line with the arrow...

That last arrow, I heated with lower heat and no moisture. It had to be hot enough to burn my hand to bend. But the stove wasn't red hot.. and the shaft looked a little green. Still, it was much stiffer than most of these shafts. Some are ridiculously bendy. Good for lighter bows..

[DC]

The garden stakes I get(brand name Evergarden) come in 3',4' and 6'. If you get longer ones you can use the fatter end. The 6' are about 1/2". I use about 40# spine and do better if I start with 4' ones.