River Cane Uses

[Oldbear63]

I assume we are all talking about river cane (Arundo donax - Wikipedia). It is widely used for clarenet and saxophone reeds, but it is considered an invasive and undesirable weed by most biologists.

I don't know if it is the same as the cane of cane brake rattler fame. Would anyone know if this is "canebrake cane"?

 

[Cvkotvkse]

Can't give you the scientific answer but it pretty much looks the same to me. Perhaps the river cane is indigenous to the South Eastern U.S. and bamboo

I assume we are all talking about river cane (Arundo donax - Wikipedia). It is widely used for clarenet and saxophone reeds, but it is considered an invasive and undesirable weed by most biologists.

I don't know if it is the same as the cane of cane brake rattler fame. Would anyone know if this is "canebrake cane"?

Actually, that species is an invasive exotic. The one in the Southeast is Arundinaria giganteum, a native species.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

So what is the difference between river cane and bamboo ?

Bamboo and "river can" have the same basic make up or three layers. The inside soft stuff is called pith and it does nothing for the fishing rod or the dart except add weight. The next layer is composed of power fibers which appear as brown dots. These fibers run the entire length of each section between the bumps that are called nodes. They are the part that bends and then recovers to its original "at-rest" position. The top layer is the enamel which is the hard outer coating of the bamboo or river cane. The photo below of a section of Tonkin Cane shows its make up nicely. The space in between was actually cut so that the bamboo didn't split in weird places as it dried out. The photo below is supplied courtesy of Charles H Demarest, Inc., which is the foremost and almost exclusive exporter of Tonkin Cane. They have been exporting it since the very early 1900's.

The Tonkin Cane bamboo used for making fly rods is considered the best, and is grown in a very small mountainous area in the Sui River region of China. It grows about 40-feet tall in three years and the bottom 12-feet of the bamboo is used to make fly rods. The cane is about 2½" to 3" in diameter at the base. This particular bamboo goes by the common name of "Tonkin Cane" because it was originally sold commercially exclusively at a port where Southern China meets the Gulf of Tonkin. It's scientific name is Arundinaria amabilis, which translates to "Lovely Bamboo".

The depth of the power fibers is what makes Tonkin Cane ideal for making bamboo fly rods. For building fly rods, the bamboo is cut into 60° strips and are tapered from the inside to preserve as much of the power fibers as possible. Ideally the power fibers would reach the apex of this 60° triangle. No other bamboo has the mass of power fibers that Tonkin Cane from the Sui River region of China does. It's been transplanted all over the world but no place else yields the very thick layer of power fibers that you see in the photo above. Besides making fly rods from this cane, it is also used throughout Asia for scaffolding when working on buildings.

River cane is basically a miniature version of this but has more pith than power fibers, yet works perfectly for atlatl darts. It is found throughout the US, but is particularly common in the southern states. I made a couple of atlatl's when I lived in Vermont but had a hard time finding river cane. I finally went to the gardening section of big box store; bought bamboo gardening stakes that were about 6-feet long; straitened them; and made my atlatl darts out of those. They worked great and weren't very expensive, but river can is usually free where you find it.

 

[david w]

I used river cane once to make a lean to for a five day hunt and fish trip.

 

[Brokennock]

The depth of the power fibers is what makes Tonkin Cane ideal for making bamboo fly rods.

Besides making fly rods from this cane, it is also used throughout Asia for scaffolding

You left out bamboo backed bows.
A questionable piece of bow wood backed with Tonkin Cane bamboo will shoot great and should survive any flaws the initial piece of wood has,,,, unless that wood is too weak in compression strength.
A really good piece of bow wood backed with the same bamboo will shoot amazing and allow for design options that the wood alone would not allow.

Bamboo really is amazing stuff. Strong, flexible, fast growing (easily replaced, and good looking in many applications. River cane ofnthe right type may meet most of these depending on application.
Containers, bows and arrows, fly rods, flooring, spatulas, powder/shot measures, instruments and instrument parts, construction material, blow guns and darts, water pipes/plumbing, many decorative uses, food, now even clothing...
Just a short list off the top of my head in no particular order.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

You left out bamboo backed bows.
A questionable piece of bow wood backed with Tonkin Cane bamboo will shoot great and should survive any flaws the initial piece of wood has,,,, unless that wood is too weak in compression strength.
A really good piece of bow wood backed with the same bamboo will shoot amazing and allow for design options that the wood alone would not allow.

Bamboo really is amazing stuff. Strong, flexible, fast growing (easily replaced, and good looking in many applications. River cane ofnthe right type may meet most of these depending on application.
Containers, bows and arrows, fly rods, flooring, spatulas, powder/shot measures, instruments and instrument parts, construction material, blow guns and darts, water pipes/plumbing, many decorative uses, food, now even clothing...
Just a short list off the top of my head in no particular order.

Thanks for the reminder about bamboo backing on bows. I had forgotten entirely about it.

One further bit of info on bamboo is that the outer layer, the enamel, is usually planed or sanded off of the final product. It protects the bamboo while it's growing but adds nothing to its resiliency or durability in a finished product where the bamboo will need to flex and return in use. They don't remove it for scaffolding but do for fly-rods. It also is where most of the cosmetic marks are and removing the enamel to expose the power fibers underneath results in a better looking product. Of course, you then have to varnish it with something like URAC-185 or the latest version of a polyurethane varnish to make it completely waterproof.

 

[JamesT]

Here are a couple of cane measures.

 

[Whizzy]

Lots of great uses for bamboo, but……whatever you do…..don’t plant it in your yard. It’s about as bad as kudzu.

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

firecrackers

 

[waksupi]

Fishin' pole.

That's all we ever used as kids.