Gathering and preparing river cane for arrow shafts

[nchunter]

Before the sap starts flowing and the snakes come out, I thought I'd post what I've learned about gathering and preparing river cane for arrow shafts.  Others on this forum have posts on making arrows from cane, but I wanted to share some insights I've learned on the preliminary steps.  

[nchunter]

[4runr]

Thank you for this harvest-along/ prep-along.
Very timely for me as I have just recieved some cane from a NC tradganger in a trade. Now I know how best to take care and prep it for use.
Thanks again!

[knife river]

Excellent!  I hope there will be a lot more to come!    

[Pat B]

This is excellant Joe. It ought to help folks understand the process of collecting, bunching and eventually making cane arrows. Your text and pictures make it easy to understand.
 I do believe we have both the Arundaneria gigantia and A. tecta in the South East. The river cane that grows on my property here in NC and what grows on my hunt club in GA are 2 differant river canes but both are Arundaneria.   Pat

[Mechslasher]

pat's right, A. giganita grows to about 20-25' tall and 3' diameter while A. tecta (switch cane) grows to about 6' tall and 1/2 - 3/4" diameter.  both are native species.  identifying A. tecta gets confusing because light, temp., and moisture play a role in it's diameter and length.