Hello,
I’m in luck to be near a significant source of River cane, and I’ve collected about 24’ worth of it. There’s easily a thousand feet or more cane in one particular spot. I’m thinking of making a bunch of powder measures, pre-measured charges, and spice containers. What would y’all make out of River cane?
If you use them for Atlatl darts, you can straighten them pretty easily with heat. I used an alcohol lamp with "denatured" alcohol (because it flames at lower temperature than any other alcohol) to straighten bamboo. After a lot of practice with bamboo strips, I treated the the sets (permanent bends) in a 1930's split bamboo rod and working slowly and patiently straightened it right out. When you reach the right temperature with cane, it moves very easily. Then you just have to hold it in place while it cools off and it will stay the shape you moved it too. I wouldn't use flame to do this anymore, rather use a heat gun on it's lowest setting and use one of those fan-type nozzle extensions so it heats a wider area if needed. Heat and turn, heat and turn, heat and turn, so you heat it up evenly. When you get it to the right temperature it bends with almost no effort.
If you try to bend it too soon, you will hear some fibers crack...not as critical as with a fly rod, but you need to heat it up more before trying to bend and don't use as much force trying to bend it. Now...if you heat it up too much, it will become brittle and then it can break easily. So it's definitely the Goldilock's effect with the heat - not too little, but not too much.
Best way to do this is to clamp your heat gun in position so the nozzle is pointing up; turn it on low; and then use both hands to turn and move the cane, heating up the part between your hands typically 6" or less at a time. This way you can flex it slightly as you heat it and you will feel it immediately when it moves easily. Then sight down it and see where the next part that needs straightening is. Be sure to spin it on its axis to check for bends. If you're going to do a number of these, then set up a fan close by and while holding the cane in the position you want it to set in, put it in front of the fan to cool it off.
If you have a friend who hunts turkeys or geese, the wing quill feathers are great to use for fletching the atlatl dart. In a pinch, you can use....wait for it...Duct Tape as a temporary fletching. Lay about a 6" piece of duct tape face up, put the shaft of the dart in the middle of it at a 90° angle, and lay another piece of duct tape on top of that (adhesive sides together), pressing them together. Then trim to size It's only 2 fletchings instead of three and it looks pretty red-neck, but it works if you just have to throw that atlatl dart before fletching it with feathers...I've done that a couple of times because it's far more stable with fletchings for a longer distance than without them.
