Japanese Bamboo or River Cane? How do you tell the difference?

While in Florida, Bob Berg of Thunderbird Atlatl spent some time explaining the differences between Japanese Bamboo and River Cane. With the help of Florida Park Ranger George Royal and Greg Maurer, Bob put together a short video on the two plants.

Once you decide on what material you are going to use for your cane or bamboo dart, check out Bob’s You Tube video on making Cane Darts

Florida ISACs, contests held despite weather & location obstacles!

International Standard Accuracy Contests (ISACs) are always a draw for atlatlists but the Florida ISACS in February faced some challenges! The first ISACS at Letchworth Love State Park had to be moved to just outside the park gate when the state park did not have a safety officer available!

The hay bale target inside the park was moved to just outside the gates to county property and with the goodwill of the park’s neighboring property owner, the contest continued! Photo below: Thunderbird Atlatl’s set up at the Letchworth Love State Park.

In Silver Springs, the knapin (as was the Daytona 500) was cancelled because of rain! Yes, it did rain a lot! Greg Mauer found an alternate site at a local archery club and the ISAC went on Saturday morning before the heavy rains hit! Photos below: Greg Maurer, Donna McCracken and Bob Berg compete in an ISAC in Silver Springs, Florida.

In the photo below, Bob Berg straightens cane darts. Bob Berg with the help of Florida State Park Ranger George Royal and Greg Maurer on video put together a video on the differences between River Cane and Japanese Bamboo.

Silver River Knapin Cancelled!

The Silver River Knapin has been cancelled for 2024. We will try to set up an atlatl contest in the Gainesville, Florida area. Watch for updates.

Silver River sent out the following annoucement:

,”After a lot of consideration, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Silver River Knap-In and Prehistoric Arts festival this weekend due to the persistent rainy weather forecast on Saturday and Sunday. We know from experience this will result in a very low attendance. We rely on gate admission income to cover event expenses.
The event will not be rescheduled but we do plan to hold it as normal in 2025. We apologize for this but we wanted to notify everyone in advance so that plans could be changed.
There is another knap-in the following weekend near the Flint River in Georgia. For more information about that event please contact John Lane at flintriverknapin@gmail.com.
If you are from out of state and are in need of camping accommodations this weekend, please call me here at the museum so that we can discuss options with you (352) 236-5401.
Thank you all and we are sorry for any problems this causes.”
Ph. (352) 236-5401
www.SilverRiverMuseum.comThunderbird Atlatl will be at the Silver River Knapin at Silver River State Park February 17 & 18.

Happy Holidays from the Thunderbird Atlatl staff! Gift Certificates !

Happy Holidays to all our customers, friends and people who visit our webpage and Facebook page. We have sent the last packages out that will reach people in time for Christmas. It is always a crazy few weeks in December when we have to keep our production going constantly in order to fulfill all the holiday orders.

Now it is calm at the Thunderbird shop and the staff is taking a needed break. We can still email out gift certificates to any last minute shoppers.

Best Wishes from the Thunderbird Atlatl staff. Happy New Year 2024!

Busy Holiday Season. Shipping Services Setting Holiday Cut Offs. Order your atlatl sets!

The shipping services (UPS/Fed Ex and USPS) are sending out their holiday advisories for receiving packages before December 25. The post office has set December 15 for its ground advantage and priority mail shipping. UPS and Fed Ex have similar advice.

The Thunderbird Atlatl shop elves are busily working to get orders out as quickly as possible. Give us a call at 607-659-3854 or 1-800-836-4520 if you have a special request or need.

Gift certificates are also available if you are unsure of what to get. We can email or snail mail gift certificates to your recipient(s)

Happy Holidays from the Thunderbird Atlatl staff!

Our into everything shop/family cat, Molly, says she will gladly help send out gift certificates!
And so it begins. Packages going out this holiday season 2023!

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