hickory dowel

nope - been looking. I'd say you were better off making/buying a dowel maker/draw plate/whatever .... but I have not seen hickory in any of the specialty mills (in the GTA/Niagra)
 
Lee Valley has 36" hardwood dowels - but no hickory. Red oak, maple, cherry, walnut.
Even Dixie is sold out at present.
Might be worth searching dowelsondemand.com in US.
Dowels may or may not be suitable for ramrods because of cross grain.
Making them would be a possibility, if suitable boards could be found. Have to be really straight gained. I've split rod blanks out of long implement handles. If you split the rod blanks out, you will know that the grain is suitable.
 
I used to buy 1 inch ash boards from my local Windsor Plywood. I would pick very straight grained pieces, split them with the grain and then turn them in my lathe. I made pool cue tips of ash.
 
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tiriaq said:
Checked the website, they do list 3/8" hickory. US$6.59 each.
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Shipping isn’t cheap, If it were me I would order a couple, and anything else that looks tempting, My last order was for a 10 dollar item and ended up spending 600 to justify the shipping.
 
guntech said:
I used to buy 1 inch hickory boards from my local Windsor Plywood. I would pick very straight grained pieces, split them with the grain and then turn them in my lathe. I made pool cue tips of hickory.
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Probably the best way to get superior rods. Split out blanks then shape them, even if done by hand with a plane and shooting board.
 
Am I the only one horrified by the prospect of the rod breaking when seating a ball? The idea of impaling my hands on a sharp broken dowel has me using delrin or whatever the plastic resin is called. I use brass rods at the range of course.

I have wooden ramrods, but I don't use them for anything than maybe a wet patch cleaning swab (no resistance).

I'd also hazard a guess that the hickory available today is forest farm growth, rather than the old growth stuff that was being felled 100-200 years ago?
 
Painkillers said:
Am I the only one horrified by the prospect of the rod breaking when seating a ball? The idea of impaling my hands on a sharp broken dowel has me using delrin or whatever the plastic resin is called. I use brass rods at the range of course.

I have wooden ramrods, but I don't use them for anything than maybe a wet patch cleaning swab (no resistance).

I'd also hazard a guess that the hickory available today is forest farm growth, rather than the old growth stuff that was being felled 100-200 years ago?
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Sometimes the opposite is true
https://arivinghome.wordpress.com/2... hardwoods and semi,won't affect the strength.
 
Crap, I misspoke in my previous posting... the 1 inch boards I use to make pool cues was ASH no hickory... I had a brain fart when I said I used hickory. Ash is much better than hickory.
 
I use white ash for mine. Usually go to my local specialty hardwood supplier and have them run me a bundle of 5’ lengths of 3/8”and 1/2” dowel in white ash. 1/2” so I can turn tapered rods.
 
Shaping of rod blanks...
What I call a shooting board is a simple board with a groove cut along the edge. Clamp in vise. Supports the rod blank. A rectangular split can be worked round and tapered with plane or Surform rasp, or a round blank tapered
Clamp a "U" of coarse sandpaper in the vise, so that it is fairly tight on the rod. Spin the rod with an electric drill, running the rod back and forth through the "U" of sandpaper. Taper can be refined.
Finish by sanding lengthwise with finer grades of sandpaper.

Other techniques?
 
Does it need to be hickory? Maybe hickory has a proven track record but I think any similar wood could be used. The Janka Hardness scale is a useful metric on wood hardness. I would think that any wood with a similar hardness would work as a ram rod.

How many woods would a woodchuck chuck.
 
It is more than hardness - it must have a degree of flexibility as well. Brittleness can be problematic, and a tendency to split outright dangerous.
 
I have a couple hundred board feet of hickory stickered in my basement. I’ll check and see if there’s any extremely straight grained boards. Some pieces are 2 1/2” thick or more but lots of 1 1/4”. This is not planed lumber but rough cut on circular saw mill. It’s been down there for over ten years.
 
cooter303 said:
I just might have to break down and order some from track. Surprising no hickory doweling in Canada.
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Tracks are machine cut - but I have never had a problem with one - order a bunch, someone will want a few extras ;)

MadManMilla said:
Does it need to be hickory? Maybe hickory has a proven track record but I think any similar wood could be used. The Janka Hardness scale is a useful metric on wood hardness. I would think that any wood with a similar hardness would work as a ram rod.
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Ideally, yes - hardness is not really the prime quality, hickory has a lot of flex to it (elasticity I guess?) if you break a rod it will more or less "fray" rather than shatter into splinters - it's very tough as opposed to hard. Not to say you CANT use something else ... hickory just happens to be ideal.

Longstud said:
I have a couple hundred board feet of hickory stickered in my basement. I’ll check and see if there’s any extremely straight grained boards. Some pieces are 2 1/2” thick or more but lots of 1 1/4”. This is not planed lumber but rough cut on circular saw mill. It’s been down there for over ten years.
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Does not have to be particularly straight (hickory is like that anyway) you can split your rods off and straighten them like a fletcher would straighten an arrow. (a very long arrow that is...)




Here's one of the temu dowel makers - silly cheap.
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