Not sure what it is actually called, but we call it cane. It grows in abundance around here like bamboo. We have only used them to make fishing poles in the past (cane poles) or staking our tomato plants, but would like to find other uses for them. Perhaps for furniture or craft ideas. Anybody have some suggestions for us? It looks just like bamboo only it is much smaller, on average about 3/4 inch in diameter and it does get pretty slender toward the top which around here is 7-10 feet tall.
20 strikes with the "ROD"! :waa: Some of the crafts the Cherokee indians used cane for: Flute. Whistles. Injun recliner. Arrows. Spears. Crawdad gigs. Flute: Cut the cane about 3" in front of a joint and make a second cut almost to the next joint. You should have a piece about 12" long with one joint in it. (Cabin Fever, I'm not talking about a refer joint) Now drill two small holes straight in line with one hole on one side of the joint and the second hole on the other side of the joint. You will have to sand the joint down smooth to place a reed on it. Now make a piece of C reed out of cane. This reed will be placed over the 1st hole and will extend over the joint and stop just short of the second hole. It will need to be tied down with stringor sinew to keep in place. What happens is the when air is blown into the end of the flute, the air will not pass through the joint but is directed up through the 1st hole down the reed across the joint and then hits the second hole making a whistle sound. You will have to slide the reed front to back and back to front to tune the flute. Next drill 5 holes about 1" apart down the long end of the flute to make different sounding notes. Injun recliner: Cut cane in about 2' lengths and lash together to where it will hang down like a venician blind and be about 4 or 5 feet in lenght. Make a rope loop handle on top of the lashed cane. Next cut 3 sapling poles about 4 feet in lenght and lash them together to make a tripod. Erect the tropod and hang the cane curtain on the tripod. Placing it so that it will stretch across two of the sapling poles. It should be placed so that there is about a foot of the cane curtain laying on the ground to sit on and the rest of the curtain is upward to lean back on.
Thanks you all! Spankers!! I did some research and the cane we have around here are called River cane and also Switch cane!!! So, Qvrfullmidwife, it looks like you weren't the first to have that idea LOL!! (love your user name by the way) After doing some brainstorming and searching last night I did come up with these ideas. Flutes Blow Guns Arrows Baskets door mats hot pads placemats bird houses wind chimes garden trellis Does anyone here actually do anything with bamboo or cane? If so I wonder if you might share with me some hints or tips on working with it and preserving my work. Like for istance, what would I lash them together with? Thanks!
If you want it to look like authentic indian, lash it with deer sinew. However artificial sinew is cheaper and you can buy a big spool of it for around 6-8 dollars.
