Working On My Atlatl Darts

My friend has river cane growing by his house. He helped me gather it and then I had to let it dry.

Now I'm trying to straighten the shafts so I can make atlatl darts.

Heating them over flame makes them pliable enough to bend but they scorch easily.

Straightening river cane to make atlatl darts. It's challenging, that's for sure.

Making Atlatl Darts

My new friend Kate trying out the atlatl.

Tom Mills is our atlatl guru

Our campground at the Conejo Shoot a few weeks ago.

I spent the better part of the day working on my atlatl darts. I had straightened them initially and put the project on hold for too long. Now they are bent again or I didn't do that great of a job in the first place. I noticed the reeds had dried a lot more and all the ties were loose. So I did my best to restraighten them over a can of Sterno with disappointing results. I cut off some of the ends that had cracked and tied them all in a bundle again so they could keep each other straight. I had hoped to add feathers today, but I'm mentally done for now.

I'm also cleaning some feathers for earrings. I am refreshing them with a hit of Fabreeze. I laid them on a drop cloth, spritzed them, then put a piece of plastic needlepoint canvas on top to keep the breeze from stealing them away while they dry.