What's easier, wooden or bamboo/cane arrows?

[H Rhodes]

I like cane arrows for their durability.  They outlast aluminum in my experience.  I don't fool with inserts and use self nocks and hafted steel or stone points with good results.  I haven't tried shoot shafts, but would agree that it is pretty quick to make an arrow from wood dowels.  The heating, straightening and sanding is what takes the time with cane.  We saw up boards and reduce it to dowels with a block plane and make arrows too. I think starting with a board or a dry unstraightened piece of cane and comparing the time involved to make an arrow, there isn't much difference.  I find that my cane arrows will shoot from bows that vary in draw weight from 45 to near 60, while my wood arrows are spined more for a specific draw weight bow.   That may have to do with it's natural forward of center weight distribution, I don't know....  Cane makes a good arrow and gets the nod in the durability category.  The arrows I have made show maybe a slight edge in accuracy going to my wooden shafts, but not enough to quibble over.  I have meat in the freezer now from a cane arrow! 

[bubby]

Then why bother making Boo or cane arrows?? 

if it was easy any one could do it , the path less traveled is why, it's a heck of a lot easyer to just buy everything, but it shure aint as much fun , bub

[Prarie Bowyer]

I like to shoot and use Cane/bamboo but I hate making them.  they are kinda 1 at a time thing and my time is so limitied I'd rather at least feel like I'm making more progress than that.  Pluss it seems to me that per a bag of 12 i get some random number of actual arrows that are matched to the bow I'm making them for and several that are all different weights.

I make footed wood arrows mostly now simply becasue 1) I have the logs laying around and I can cut out the straight grain sections.  2) i can set up a process and cut a bunch at a time and take the group through the stages togeather.  3) i get more that are closer to the spine weight characteristics that i want.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

here is another point- which is more "primitive"? This is PRIMITIVE archery, not lets-go-buy-some-arrows archery. Now I am not condemming dowels. I just have a hatred of dowels after I had to pull pieces of one from my arm...
-Squirrel

[Pat B]

Squirrel, if you had chosed the proper dowels with good grain the chances are slim it would have broken.

[stringstretcher]

I do make my own dowels from poplar and they are some great dowels to make arrows from, and is what I use when I use wood.  But for me, the satisfaction of shooting a cane or bamboo arrow is just unmatched as I feel closer to  the primitive side of archery when making them.  If it makes any sense, it is sort of a completed connection between me, the arrow and the bow, and that is all I am after guys.  It gives me comfort in making them, and satisfaction in shooting and using them.  To each his own.  There is no on set of rules that any of us have to follow.  Find what works for you, and enjoy the journey, and forget what every one else thinks.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

I picked the dowels that had the grain running the length of the piece.
The rest were breaking sort of diagonally, if you know what I mean.
The ones I chose broke in tension except one, which had wierd curly grain.

[Pat B]

I prefer hardwood shoots or cane for arrows. Like you I like to keep it simple. I do have some poplar dowels that Stringstretcher sent me and they make great arrows ...but I still prefer the more "primitive" type of arrow.

[randman]

I'm a cheap tightwad so I like anything that is free.  I have a rosebush and a butterfly bush in my front yard that I coppice every year so I get a nice crop of straight shoots off em every year. Got a few years backlog of em. Also got a couple of mock orange bushes and a huge viburnum in the backyard. Don't have to go far........Oh that reminds me..have to go dig through that pile of Laurel branches the neighbor cut off and threw in the back alley....saw some nice bow stave size branches in there...