source for GOOD hickory ramrods

The gun works has them, in Oregon. Joe and Suzi are good people. They have a ton of stuff and website.

I agree with the ones from Steve Bailey. I see him at Friendship and always bring some home. Don't know why I keep buying more, I probably have a lifetime supply by now. They are good rods and I am sure if you called him, he would send you good rods as well.

I know you fellers are talking about hickory, but just the same, I wanted to say that I have real good luck with ramrod blanks at our hardware store. They have a bin of dowels that are 48" and made of good, hard and flexible maple. I look thru them and choose the straight grained ones and often find them with no run-out at all. As a bonus, I occasionally find one that is highly tiger stripped. Just an idea in case anyone else might want to try them.

Just lookd at Ace hdware store last week. All his stuff is labeled,"made in china". Some kind of very white, light wood. Unlike birch or maple.

Ginko?

we all did this a couple of mths ago and I cant find the thread
bought a few at Dixons, but you never have to many!
Roy cuts his own ...says there are crooked as heck but there you go.
Deutsch

My Lowe's carries dowels in ash and hickory and the "light white stuff" which is basswood (weaker than pine - stay away from it).

I've always gotten my rods at rendesvous. That way I can pick out what I want. A little bit of runout helps keep my ramrod in the pipes better, so I don't mind if it isn't excessive. Just a quirk of mine.

BigDeutscher said:

we all did this a couple of mths ago and I cant find the thread
bought a few at Dixons, but you never have to many!
Roy cuts his own ...says there are crooked as heck but there you go.
Deutsch

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I own several of Roys sticks. They aren't crooked as heck...they just have a strategically placed bow that helps keep em in place is all...

..... :grin:

sniper68 said:

..... :grin:

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I guess I had that coming. :wink:
I'll get off this thread :surrender: before I become too much of a prosletiser/preacher on ramrod safety.
I'll just say, not opin, that using hardware store dowels, or maple, or ramin or other mystery woods is raising your odds of crippling your hand by a 1000% or more.

Rifleman1776 said:

I'll just say, not opin, that using hardware store dowels, or maple, or ramin or other mystery woods is raising your odds of crippling your hand by a 1000% or more.

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As much as I've seen posted about ramrods, it seems to me that most don't understand grain runout and how to spot it. :idunno: Most seem to put straight at the top of the list. Although it has been a long time since I've bought or made a rod, I've never seen a "no runout" rod straight, some close but never hardware store straight. I believe that most look for the straightest rods and then check for the ones with the least or what they precieve to be no run out. My take is that a good hickory rod is esential part of a(any) rifle. To use anything else is in my opinion only, similar to using a CVA lock with a Rice or Getz barrel.. :nono: :barf:
:v

Seein' as how I've made many, many dozen arrows and quite a few self-bows as well as working as a gun stocker for a few years, I think I pretty much know what run-out is, and as maple is used for bow lams in laid up bows as well as for canoe paddles and such, together with the fact that I've used maple ramrods for years, I feel pretty secure using them. I've never broken one. I have broken and seen broken more than a few out of hickory though. Just saying, not opining. :wink: Btw, birch works pretty good too.

Hey Shortbow
I'm not sure I know exactly what 'runout' is or how much is acceptable? I always assumed it was the 'V' shaped grain on the side of the ramrod...is that correct? Out of a dozen new rods I have maybe 4 with little of this and a couple more not too bad .The rest have quite a bit.
Macon

Macon, that can sure 'nuff be a sign of run out but you can sometimes get by with a little bit of it, depending. Often if you see a bit of the diamond that's ok if you see the other end of it not too far away. What is bad is if you have a lot of it and it is pointy and just one side.

For a good ramrod, or arrow for that matter, you need to differentiate from any figure that might be present and the grain. If you know what growth rings look like, what you are looking for is wood that was sawn length wise, or with the grain. Look at the rod on the end and follow the growth rings along the length of the dowel. What you optimally want is for the growth rings or lines to run parallel up the whole length of the stick, just as if you'd drawn parallel lines on a 48" long piece of paper. When you find rods that look good in this way, you can further check the integrity of the wood by holding the dowel in your left fingers and bending the stick over the meat of thumb.

Rifleman's concern is well founded if using dowels for ramrods or arrows that have much run out. I've seen broken arrows sticking out of fellows' forearms and it ain't pretty. But just for myself, I don't believe that good hardwoods are any worse for it than hickory. Using birch arrows properly selected, I've been able to shoot them repeatedly against a barn without breaking.

Just examine the dowel carefully and do the bend test and you should be good to go. On the other hand, I won't trust any wood not to break if you work at it hard enough. I never get a hard loading ball down a half of the way and then lean on it with all my weight. It's one of the reason's I don't use prb combinations that are so tight a short starter is needed.

Luck to ya.

If these lines emerge on the side of the dowel much at all, you have run out and a place for the rod to break.

paulvallandigham said:

I would love to just SEE a 4' length of STRAIGHT grained Osage orange tree trunk. All the hedge rows around here, loaded with Osage orange trees show lots of twisting of the trunks as the trees grow. Hard at nails, but difficult to cut for any use beyond fence posts. All the self-bows I have seen using Osage orange have some different shapes to them- Anything but straight!

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Paul, there are several sources for OO billets large and long enough for making long bows. These could be split for ramrods. The billets are not cheap. e.g $70.00 to $100.00 plus (not cheap) shipping. But they are available. I'net searches will find these vendors. Most in Kansas, I believe.

shortbow
Thank you,I'll go recheck them all.
Macon