Ramrod blanks

[Eric Krewson]

I am looking for straight grain hickory ramrod blanks, not finished ones. A search recommends October Country but $17 for a completed ramrod is not what I am looking for. Another search recommended Dunlap but they don't currently list ramrod blanks on their website. I am looking for a bulk purchase of blanks with no run out.

Anybody have a good source?

[Lobo74]

I got a nice hickory one from Stonewall Creek Outfitters.  It does not appear on their web pages, but they respond very well to phone orders.
http://www.stonewallcreekoutfitters.com

[WKevinD]

I usually buy ten at a time and try to talk to someone directly, I will pay extra  to have them hand picked but usually figure at least 3 out of 10 won't measure up.
If you really want the best get a good clear piece of hickory and split them out. This is what I have to do for long (over 48") ones it's a PIA but it's the way to try and control what you get.
Kevin

[little joe]

Who bought Steve Baily.s bussiness?

[Jim Chambers]

Finding anyone to make hickory ramrods these days is a real PITA, but Barbie did find a company that agreed to make a run of them for us.  We have plenty in stock.  Give Barbie a call and let her know how many you need. 828-667-8361

[David Rase]

Go to a hardwood store and buy a 1/2" od 3/4" plank of straight grained hickory.  Take your pencil and draw a line from end to end along the grain line giving yourself enough wood for your ramrod.  Use your band saw and cut down the line you just drew which will liberate your blank.  Now plane the square corners off your blank until the blank will fit into a ramrod scraper.  Tom Curran makes a dandy hardened steel scraper.  Scrape the blank until round and it fits into your pipes and thimbles.  Now complete the ramrod with a bit of sanding.  If you did the job correctly your ramrod will be a bit crooked due to following the grain.  This is desirable as the spring from the ramrod not being perfectly straight holds the rod in place and allows for swelling without getting stuck in the lower forestock.  Once you get proficient, you can knock out your own split hickory ramrod in about an hour.  By following the gain you will have a much stronger wiping stick.  If after you follow the grain your ramrod is too crooked you can straighten it out a bit using a heat gun to apply heat and straighten and hold the area.  I learned this method from Freddie Harrison and have not used a store bought ramrod in over 20 years.
David       

[rsells]

I used Steve's rods up until he closed his business, and just finished my search for a substitute.  I was told that Dunlap was selling hickory rods, but could not get them on the phone at the time I was looking for a source.  I have been purchasing parts from Track of the Wolf for many years, and thought I would call them and see if they could recommend someone who was sourcing hickory rods.  As it turned out, Track has them for sale.  I had never seen them in their catalog or on their computer site.  I purchased a dozen rods of different sizes from them and have just got them in house.  The look good to me.  They have a smoother finish than Steve's rods and are straighter.  I will be using my first one by the end of the week.  I can't find my order form now or I would give you the part numbers Track uses for their hickory rods, but you can give them a call and they will give you the info.  I think they also supply the rod with the tip attached, but I had rather do my own work.   Wayne's rods may be great as well.  I just haven't seen any of them yet.
                                                                                                   Roger Sells

[David R. Pennington]

I have split them out and worked them up but it is a good bit of work. I usually buy a handful of 1/2" ones when I am at a show and taper them. I don't worry much about being perfectly straight. A little crook helps keep it in place. I made this gadget to turn them. I have one for 5/16" and 3/8".

[Eric Krewson]

I had a friend who had a $50K  wood arrow shaft doweling machine, he tried to run hickory ramrods but got too many with runout, he gave me 48 of his culls.  I used them for various projects, found a few that would make a good full length ramrod, a few that would make a TC ramrod and gave away bunch of them.

I decided to make some into 5/16" arrow shafts so I ran the cull dowels through a Lee Valley dowel cutter which produced a really rough surface. I made a vee cut in a piece of scrap, chucked the dowel up in my drill and held the dowel down with the vee block on my belt sander and quickly reduced the dowel to a finished 5/16" size and could even adjust the shaft spine to an exact value.

I made a router shaft machine that worked well, it would probably be just the thing to produce ramrods from square stock. I quit using it for arrow shafts because my spines would be all over the place from the same board. Getting a matched set of shafts wasn't cost effective.