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Author Topic: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?  (Read 67208 times)

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Offline richardzane

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #45 on: March 23, 2013, 11:09:43 am »
Dan,
thats a good question about hazel....I don't know.
 this is what the hazel here looks like. shrub like. it only grows on the west facing side of our limestone bluff.
doesn't seem to get very tall or tree like here ...have never noticed nuts on these, but my neighbor picks nuts off his.
it is solid wood...no pithy core.
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Offline Dan K

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #46 on: March 23, 2013, 06:10:49 pm »
Looks the same as west coast. It grows more clump like here but same type of shrub. I've cut a few shoots and they seem like they'll work. I'll try them out and if they work ok maybe we can trade a few shoots to compare.
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Offline ncpat

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #47 on: March 25, 2013, 07:46:53 pm »
Quote from: Thesquirrelslinger on March 15, 2013, 02:45:31 pm
Try that great stuff called Honeysuckle, it is a bit invasive:(
It is sort of like easy-straightening cane, and grows faster, and its nodes are a lot less pronouced. Plus the walls are thicker than RC(river cane).
Honeysuckle makes good arrows- primitive style. it loses strength if you thin it too much, and can split if you do not make the foreshaft correctly. I use the arrows mainly with a 50 pound recurve bow(Sadly, fiberglass back/belly, wood cored, I only make longbows), and they are fast and hard hitting. Quite heavy.
I intentionally prune the bushes a certian way each year, it makes a large number of 1/2 inch shoots grow.
I can also make bows from the wood of the big, thick bushes. it is very close grained, very heavy, with big, thick growth rings and very little spring growth(if any). I think it is a diffuse-porous wood.
-Squirrel

All the honeysuckle I ever saw was vines, never a tree or woody shrub. Where do you live? Maybe you have a different variety there.
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Offline richardzane

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #48 on: March 25, 2013, 09:31:41 pm »
ncpat,
thats what i thought too!  till i googled honeysuckle shrubs !
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Offline richardzane

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #49 on: March 25, 2013, 09:38:03 pm »
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Offline Thesquirrelslinger

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #50 on: March 25, 2013, 10:28:30 pm »
This stuff is everywhere I live. I will take pics next time I go sling, there are some HUGE bushes there, I made a bow last year from one with a 3 inch diameter branch. some of the hardest, heaviest, strongest wood i have ever touched.
It ruined a plane blade and 2 surform rasp plane blades, as well as dulling my hatchet.
-Squirrel
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Offline randman

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #51 on: March 26, 2013, 02:51:52 am »
In addition to the vast amounts of hazel and ocean spray we have in the wooded city parks around here (Seattle), I have a rose and a Butterfly bush (Buddleia Davidii) in the front yard I pollard every February. Butterfly bush makes great arrows. Then I have 2 mock orange and a large viburnum in the back yard. Don't even have to leave the house for more arrow material than I can use.
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Offline richardzane

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #52 on: March 26, 2013, 10:59:04 am »
randman.
sounds like you have it made! that was the whole purpose of this thread
BUTTERFLY BUSH?
thats good news! I was looking at those shoots in my wifes flower garden(lustfully)
now i'm going to be hinting to my wife ours need some serious pruning :) :)
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #53 on: March 26, 2013, 11:27:17 am »
Butterfly bush blooms on new wood so pruning it helps it flower more.  ;D
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Offline richardzane

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #54 on: March 26, 2013, 12:24:19 pm »
perfect!  :)
actually my wife now says we'll need to buy some more butterfly bushes..they do smell awful nice too.
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Offline ncpat

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #55 on: March 26, 2013, 06:17:48 pm »
Quote from: richardzane on March 25, 2013, 09:31:41 pm
ncpat,
thats what i thought too!  till i googled honeysuckle shrubs !

I learn something every day. I am taking a limb from a nearby shrub to a nursery and see if they can ID it. My wife thinks it is some type of privet. I don't recall privet having such straight limbs.

We have a tulip tree that looks to have a few very straight limbs. I may cut a few of them and try them out later too.

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Offline ncpat

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #56 on: March 31, 2013, 01:57:36 am »
Quote from: randman on March 26, 2013, 02:51:52 am
In addition to the vast amounts of hazel and ocean spray we have in the wooded city parks around here (Seattle), I have a rose and a Butterfly bush (Buddleia Davidii) in the front yard I pollard every February. Butterfly bush makes great arrows. Then I have 2 mock orange and a large viburnum in the back yard. Don't even have to leave the house for more arrow material than I can use.

Sure looks good.
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Offline ncpat

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #57 on: March 31, 2013, 02:00:09 am »
A friend gave me a few wild rose shoots this week. Not very straight but I stuck them in scraps of c onduit to see if they straighten some while drying out.

I finally ordered some points & nocks from 3 Rivers to try making a few arrows from dowels and a few from limbs.
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Offline richardzane

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #58 on: March 31, 2013, 12:04:25 pm »
yeah widrose can be pretty knarly. :) It takes me some long hikes (Christmas morning is my favorite for foraging long treks)
to find the straightest and the toughest. the ones i've had most success with are oversized 1/2" at the base and red brown to grey bark.
ones that are less can end up under-spined and they seem to shrink too much.

One of my faults has been to reduce EVERY shoot I find to 11/32 as if its a magic number... :o and i'm FINALLY realizing not only does it risk weaker spine
its just not completely necessary. so... i'm planning larger dia. on this past years batch of wild rose and see if it helps.
I've gotten myself so conditioned to 11/32 shafts i can almost eyeball it...so this'll take some getting used to.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2013, 12:39:05 pm by richardzane »
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Offline ncpat

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Re: Who Grows Their Own Shoot Shafts?
« Reply #59 on: March 31, 2013, 12:23:42 pm »
Either here or another forum, someone mentioned a doweling jig you can buy to make dowels from scratch. Anyone familiar with it? I have some white pines in the yard & eventually 1 or 2 may have to come down. I understand white pine is a fairly good shaft. I could cut some 30 or 36 inch sections and make a lot of shafts from them.
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