Ramrod needed
- Thread starter Sydney1942
- Start date
The best choice would be a good quality hickory blank. Track of the Wolf, Kibler's or one of the other supplies in the US would likely be your best source, but the shipping will be a killer. If you have a decent table saw and a well supplied hardwood supplier near you, you might be able to pick up a straight grained rough sawn hickory board and make your own. Ash can also make a good ramrod. A 1 x 6" rough sawn board will yield a lot of rod blanks. Just rip a square slightly over 3/8", then rip it into octagon and scrape/file/plane/sand it to size. Even a purchased rod blank will require final shaping. I find scraping, followed by sanding, works best.
The catch is that the wood needs to be straight grained. If blanks are split from the billet, you will know if they are straight grained. If sawn, inspect carefully. You don't want cross grain. Lee Valley sells 36" dowels in birch, cherry, maple, poplar, walnut and red oak. I just made a rod starting with one of the red oak dowels, and it should be good.
Also, look for unwanted hockey sticks and garden implement handles. Sometimes rod blanks can be split from these.
Also, look for unwanted hockey sticks and garden implement handles. Sometimes rod blanks can be split from these.
Hickory is unusual to come by in Canada - garden tools and hockey sticks are a good suggestion!
My order of preference would be Hickory, Ask, Oak ...
Your best bet would probably be finding someone ordering from a muzzleloader supply and asking to piggy back an order for some hickory rods on.
My order of preference would be Hickory, Ask, Oak ...
Your best bet would probably be finding someone ordering from a muzzleloader supply and asking to piggy back an order for some hickory rods on.
Cannot agree. You just need to locate a specialty hardwood supplier.
I recently picked up a rough sawn piece of 4/4 hickory with dead straight grain to turn into ramrods of varying diameters. As I recall, the price of the 4/4 x 6" x 4' was something like 20 bucks. With a little luck. that might work out to less than $1.00 per blank
Never gone looking for it - just have never seen any offhand. I'm just 45 minutes East of Toronto - There are probably a dozen or more shops that carry exotics within about 3 hours, 2 independent mills within an hour and an independent lumber/builders supply less than 2 minutes away plus another place in town that brings in giant slabs for BIG tables ... so am pretty lucky in that respect
Like I said - never looked, but have never actually seen a chunk. Whenever I order a barrel or something from the US I always get several extra hickory rods.
Huh - well look what I found, this place is 2 blocks from me:
https://www.peacocklumber.ca/p/44-hickory-prime/LHIR4P
That makes it about $1.00/rod if you are willing to make them from stock
Good to hear you found it. You pretty much need to pick through the lift to find the grain you want. The grain in the 8/4 appears to be the closest to what I would be looking for. As luck would have it, the stick I chose was darn near at the bottom of the stack
BTW, I think I misspoke. I believe the stick I got was actually 5/4. If not, it was a fat 4/4.
At any rate, it is nice to be able to make a rod in any diameter you need. Many fowler rods are quite plump at the muzzle end.
BTW, I think I misspoke. I believe the stick I got was actually 5/4. If not, it was a fat 4/4.
At any rate, it is nice to be able to make a rod in any diameter you need. Many fowler rods are quite plump at the muzzle end.
Good to hear you found it. You pretty much need to pick through the lift to find the grain you want. The grain in the 8/4 appears to be the closest to what I would be looking for. As luck would have it, the stick I chose was darn near at the bottom of the stack
BTW, I think I misspoke. I believe the stick I got was actually 5/4. If not, it was a fat 4/4.
At any rate, it is nice to be able to make a rod in any diameter you need. Many fowler rods are quite plump at the muzzle end.
Wasn't really looking, just curious - was there yesterday in fact, front porch reno .. at least I know where if I ever need any
Hi thanks for all the helpWasn't really looking, just curious - was there yesterday in fact, front porch reno .. at least I know where if I ever need any
Sydney
- Location
- Eastern Ontario
Sydney, FWIW, for years I made my own arrows (traditional wood). This involved a lot of experimentation with available and cheaper woods. One of the most robust woods and heaviest that I found were 3/8" dowels of a hardwood, called Ramin. This wood had absolutely no uniform grain pattern. In later years, when the black powder "bug" hit, I thought it best to have a backup ramrod, thus, Ramin. It has been great, mind you, my barrell is only 22" long so length might be a different situation. When this was arrow material, I never broke one.
