making Ram rod and woods to make them out of.

[agaboric]

I was wondering what type of wood do most use to make ram rods with, I have a gun that I am tinkering with and is missing its ramrod and I want to make one for this gun but was not sure what is the best wood to make them out of. I did a search in the forums but nothing really turned up on making rods so I thought I would throw this out there and see what you guys had to say about this, also what types of finishes are used on ram rods?

[chiefs50]

The best wooden ramrods are made from split Hickory.  Some advocate soaking them in kerosene to make them more limber.  I finish mine with Linseed and Tung oils.

Mike

[Stophel]

Whatever you do, don't make them from "Ramin wood".  Utterly useless junk wood, good only for kindling.

Hickory is best.  I would imagine that very straight sugar maple might do OK (?), as would ash or elm, if you could find it.

I have no idea what European wood rods are usually made of.  They didn't have hickory....anyone know?

[The other DWS]

for a ramrod you want a tough, strong, flexible wood---flexible in the sense that it would not age and become brittle---
 but not noodle-y.
Another important criteria is something with relatively straight grain that can be split down and worked into a smooth surface with basic hand tools.

We think of hickory as the most common ramrod wood but I suspect that ash and some species of elm were also used; specially in arms of European origin.  I'd think that Black Locust and Beech might work well too
However rosewood as well as ebony were used, probably most commonly on pistols but also on some very high end elaborate "presentation-grade arms".    I have see it portrayed in photos of the really fancy schuetzen/target rifles.

[Joe S]

Has anyone ever tried chokecherry for a ramrod? 

[dannybb55]

Whatever you do, don't make them from "Ramin wood".  Utterly useless junk wood, good only for kindling.

Hickory is best.  I would imagine that very straight sugar maple might do OK (?), as would ash or elm, if you could find it.

I have no idea what European wood rods are usually made of.  They didn't have hickory....anyone know?

Ash was used in Europe for tool hafts, helves, what's that word???..... Handles. Both are very much like oak. They split well and have long fibers. If a wood makes easy splitting firewood or is popular for baskets then someone probably stuffed it down a barrel.
                                          Danny

[wbgv]

black locust is good..splits easy and long grained

[Pete G.]

Hickory, but stain first if you are going to saok it in coal oil. It won't stain well afterwards. The only rod I ever broke had not been tempered so I soak mine and have never broken one since. May or may not be significant. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

[g.pennell]

I'd think white oak would make passin' fair ramrods.  Personally, I'd steer clear of beech.  Osage orange would make very tough rods, but the trouble is finding a knot-free piece long enough.

Greg

[Dphariss]

I was wondering what type of wood do most use to make ram rods with, I have a gun that I am tinkering with and is missing its ramrod and I want to make one for this gun but was not sure what is the best wood to make them out of. I did a search in the forums but nothing really turned up on making rods so I thought I would throw this out there and see what you guys had to say about this, also what types of finishes are used on ram rods?

Hickory. Grain must run straight with the rod. Cross grain is useless and actually dangerous.
I would not bother with the kerosene treatment. For one thing you want the rod fairly stiff.
And its petroleum and in general not good for wood.

Dan

[Long John]

I make mine out of hickory.  Mockernut, pignut and bittternut hickories are the best.  These are smooth-bark hickories.  The grain of the shagbark hickory is coarser and not as fine for ramrods.  Hickories are related to the pecans but I have never worked pecan wood so I don't know if it would be a viable substitute.

I try to cut my rod tree before the end of March around here (NJ and southern NY southern PA).  Hicks are one of the last trees to green-up so you can cut them much later than something like maple which should be cut before the sap run begins.  You have to debark the hickory right away.  Otherwise it gets worm eaten.  I rive the logs down into sections about 2 inches wide with a froe and mallet, paint the ends and let dry for a year before riving them down to smaller stocks.

I have heard about soaking the rod in kerosene but the logic behind doing so is completely at odds with everthing I know about the chemistry of wood.  The key to keeping a piece of wood bendy is keeping enough moisture in it.  The moisture allows teh cellulose fiber to slide past eachother some.  In this respect ramrods differ from bow staves. Bow staves must be dry enough not to take a set and follow the string after being unstrung.  Ramrods just have to be willing to bend without breaking.  For that you want about 10% moisture content.  I suspect (I don't know for certain) that the soaking in kerosen forms a moisture barrier at the surface of the stick, preventing the further loss of moisture.  I just finish mine with a mixture of tallow and beeswax.  I want a flexible, water resistant coating.

I hope this helps.  It about all I now on the topic.

Best Regards,

JMC

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

I don't think it would be such a good thing to soak the stock of my rifle in kerosene..........so why would I do that to a ramrod?? Kerosene will weaken the wood fibers over time...... Sounds like a story to tell the FNG in the club.........See if he will do it

[rich pierce]

I don't know if there is any truth to the rumor that some woods are more abrasive than others because of higher silica content.  I've heard osage orange dulls tools because of that.  I think it's just because it is hard.

If caught out with a broken rod I'd use a flowering dogwood sapling whittled and scraped down to the right diameter.  Tends to be hard and tough and stiffer when green than a small green hickory sapling.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

HMMM, gotta give that a try. The hickory did OK in a .54...... I gotta believe there were alot of these sapling ramrods over the mountains in the last half of the 18th century

[The other DWS]

dogwood was often used as an arrow wood.    In a lot of ways traditional arrow woods share characteristics of requirement with ramrods---except for the modern target traditional archers desire for light weight.

 various ash woods and Wyche elm were used for heavy hard hitting "war bow" arrows in europe. the NA used a number of woods and canes including dogwood.

out of curiosity, in the study in the old originals, do the guys who wrote/write them up make note of the ramrod thimble diameters?

[Daryl]

What about green heart and purple heart?  Were not the early double handed fly-fishing rods (English) made of green heart? (or is it Hart?)

[The other DWS]

I wonder of there is any data on old english RR over on that gourmet shotgun site?

I just queried my FF'n buddy who has quite a reference library on the antique aspects of that sport.

I've seen Purple-heart in a local woodcrafting shop (Johnsons Workbench) I visit to get my sawdust & tooljunkie fix.  It might make good lathe turned RR for a fancy set of cased pistols,  like the colored ebony, rosewood etc;  but the stuff I've seen had a lot of exotic crazy grain and, while heavy, looked a bit brittle for a working ramrod for a long gun.

I'd think pushing a tight patched ball down a long, possible dirty, barrel mandated a pretty specific set of specs to do it well and safely.

[Jerry V Lape]

The english "Yew" as used for their longbows would probably be suitable.  And I think there is a similar wood available from NW USA? 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I wouldn't hesitate to make a good ramrod out of Osage Orange or Black Locust is I couldn't find Hickory.  Yew, though wonderfully flexible and springy, is too soft for a ramrod - it would wear quickly at the muzzle.  In fact, thinking about it further, Osage Orange may be preferable to any other wood.

That should start something...

[The other DWS]

I agree about Osage orange (Bois'd arc, or bodark--depending on your local)  It should make a heck of a good ramrod  IF  you could find a straight grained piece long enough.  If you found a good four foot long straight grain piece suitable for splitting down to ramrods, you'd have to beat off the primitive bow makers with a club

[keweenaw]

All you need to do to get that great piece of osage orange is to have a friend whose is a biologist with the fish and wildlife service in eastern Kansas, who also loves to hunt and makes his own bows and for whom you do gun work.  And no, I won't share the pieces I have!

As far as strength and resistance to breakage are concerned, elm would be great but then you can't split the stuff.  We should see is Steve Bailey would run a few elm pieces though his machine cut rods.

Tom

[The other DWS]

elm should work well but the grain is dang near braided.

 when I was a kid my granddad heated with wood and we worked every other sunday during the winter cutting splitting and hauling his firewood.  no hydraulic splitters back then.  the wood lot had a big wet area that had been filled with "swamp" elm that had been killed by dutch elm; and the only way to split it was to wait until after a hard freeze and even then we had to use pry bars after we had wedged it.  he had one great big trunk that we wound up splitting with small chunks of dynamite
(Brings back a lot of mostly good memories)

anyway it might be dense enough to use even if it was has some runout in the grain.  I doubt you'd have to worry too much about running it through your hand.  I'd give it a try if I can find some that is usable

[rich pierce]

I can offer osage ramrod blanks at about $50 apiece  .  Cuase splitting up clear staright osage would destroy some primo bow staves.  I also have some black locust- they would only be $25, LOL.  Just kidding guys, this is not a for sale post.

There's no doubt why hickory was chosen: it is hard to break by bending if it is straight grained.  That's why hickory was so often chosen for bows by Northeastern tribes.  It doesn;t make the fastest bows, sucks up moisture, etc- but it isn't going to snap.  The only way I have snapped a straight-grained hickory ramrod is when I have attached a brass end that required me to reduce the end of the wood to about 1/4".  The darn commercial brass or steel threaded ramrod tips are way thicker than they need to be.  Now I fold some sheet steel in kind of an elongated taper shape and silver solder it and the hole at the end, and thread it.  Works better.  I've never broken a rod elsewhere but the end.

[wormey]

I agree that hickory ( split) is the wood or choice, but I have made very serviceable ramrods for years out of white oak.  Again, preferably split rather than sawed.  I have used a number of other woods for shotgun ramrods on occasion as they are not under the same level of stress as a rifle.  I usually tip them with ebony or rosewood.  Again, split hickorly cannot be beat for strength and reliability.

[longcruise]

A good bow wood may or may not make a good ramrod wood, IMO.  

When hardware store dowells were birch, I used them and never broke one.  When they went to ramin wood, they were suitable as well.  Now, there are great variations in dowell woods with many of them being rather soft woods from China.

You can get oak dowells with fairly straight grain and they make a good rod.

These are the options in the Rocky Mountain states cause we don't have Exotic trees here like Hickory!<g>

Here's a totally non trad thought;  how about lamming up hardwood in 1/16 inch thick pieces to 5/16. 3/8 or 7/16 thick, cut into square blanks and plane?