River Cane Uses

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

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?

 

[bubba.50]

Fishin' pole.

 

[64Springer]

What diameter is river cane?

 

[tenngun]

Split for baskets
Tripod for cooking
Lazyback or sleeping mat
Cross sticks

 

[earlwb]

Take a bunch strip it into flat strips, then laminate it into boards. Then you could carve out a stock with it. Maybe a pistol stick first and then a long gun stock. It would look pretty neat actually. I have seen counter tops, platters and cutting boards made like that.

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

What diameter is river cane?

Ranging from 5/8” to about 1”

 

[rich pierce]

I use cane for spouts of ball bags where I kept the node inside the leather neck. About 1.5x ball diameter is what I want for a ball bag. So fit a .50, a 3/4” “pipe” of cane.

Also measures of course.

And arrows.

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

I use cane for spouts of ball bags where I kept the node inside the leather neck. About 1.5x ball diameter is what I want for a ball bag. So fit a .50, a 3/4” “pipe” of cane.

Also measures of course.

And arrows.

Spouts for ball bags, that’s a great idea. I’ll give that a try when I make some bags again.

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

Fishin' pole.

That would be fun

 

[jdw276]

Ranging from 5/8” to about 1”

Powder flask. Made a smaller one about 1" diameter as well. Make em any height you want. Can be used for powder or shot. Different spout makes a priming flask possible.

 

[Tradbow]

I’ve used it for fifty or more years as arrow shafts. Very versatile material

 

[rich pierce]

Spouts for ball bags, that’s a great idea. I’ll give that a try when I make some bags again.

 

[FiremanBrad]

Atlatl darts!!!

 

[DuncNZ]

Duck calls

 

[LME]

I’ve used it for fifty or more years as arrow shafts. Very versatile material

I also use to make arrows from cane. I used switch cane. It made fine arrows. The long bows I made didn't look right with store bought arrows.

 

[Kentuckyjed]

They made a car with cane on Gilligan's Island. They made all kinds of goodies.

 

[wganz]

Powder flask. Made a smaller one about 1" diameter as well. Make em any height you want. Can be used for powder or shot. Different spout makes a priming flask possible.

HHHmmmm....
The neighbor right down the road has a stand of bamboo that is up about 20+' tall and some about 4" round at the base.
He said that we could take all that we want from that to try to keep it down.

 

[jdw276]

HHHmmmm....
The neighbor right down the road has a stand of bamboo that is up about 20+' tall and some about 4" round at the base.
He said that we could take all that we want from that to try to keep it down.

These were some old tiki torches I cut up to make them. Cut above the knuckle and the base is done. Top as you see fit.....fun litte project and easy.

 

[BillinOregon]

Heat-treated, straightened and sorted for spine, they can make very good atlatl dart shafts.
I also put them to a different use years ago when I was absorbed by the history of the Boers in South Africa, and in particular the Battle of Blood River against Dingane's Zulu multitudes in 1838. At the time, the Boers wielded distinctive, long-barrelled and very large-bore flintlocks, and one of its most fearsome projectiles was a small bunch of rough buckshot sewn into a neat antelope skin package that just fit down the bore.
I made one of these and for the buckshot, I poured molten lead down the hollow cavities of several pieces of river cane. Once it hardened and the cane was stripped away, it left an 8- or 9-inch length of lead "wire" about the diameter of a pencil. I chopped these into pieces about as long as wide, rolled them between two hard surfaces to round the edges and then sewed up a dozen or so in a scrap of leather.

https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/battle-blood-river

 

[BillinOregon]

Whoops. I see Fireman Brad beat me to it on the atlatl darts. I much prefer to work with red osier dogwood as dart shaft material, but I once swapped a flat-rate box of Oregon obsidian for a dozen river cane shafts over on Paleoplanet. Still have a couple of those shafts.