Onojutta
45 Cal.
Can oak dowels be used for fowler ramrods, or does it have to be hickory?
Oak ramrod for Fowler?
- Thread starter Onojutta
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Oak is hard and brittle which will be prone to break.
Hickory is sturdy with flexibility. Not so likely to beak in normal usage.
Hickory is sturdy with flexibility. Not so likely to beak in normal usage.
longcruise
70 Cal.
Also depends on having straight grain. You would probably have to pick through the stock of dowels to come up with a good one. Durability would also depend on how you use it and how tight your load is.
Any rod can break. The secret is to use short strokes and and push near the muzzle.
Any side force can break a rod. Hickory is more resilient
I’ve used 7/16 and 1/2 inch wiping sticks without trouble. A 3/8 rod that’s found on so many guns is easy to break in oak. And in hickory you need use it right.
Any side force can break a rod. Hickory is more resilient
I’ve used 7/16 and 1/2 inch wiping sticks without trouble. A 3/8 rod that’s found on so many guns is easy to break in oak. And in hickory you need use it right.
ArmorerRoy
40 Cal
While it is tempting to get a dowel from Lowes/ Home Depot it won’t be as good as if you order one from Track of the Wolf.
A Fowler, using wads and shot, needs far less force to load than a rifle, so you might be fine with an Oak ramrod/wiping stick, if you haven’t access to a better hickory one.
(If however you plan on loading a patched round ball, the Oak might not work out as well unless you have one with a perfect grain.)
If you decide to order a good quality
ramrod then get a few. The extras may be needed somewhere down the road.
(If however you plan on loading a patched round ball, the Oak might not work out as well unless you have one with a perfect grain.)
If you decide to order a good quality
ramrod then get a few. The extras may be needed somewhere down the road.
FlinterNick
70 Cal.
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Oak is tricky.
Red Oak is the most common.
White Oak very good for a ramrod, I use white oak to make canteen frames.
Vs. Hickory White oak is more expensive and the quality isn’t as good as a hickory rod
Other types of good woods are Ash, Black Locust and Yew and Osage. Yew is the most flexible and was used on English long bows.
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Go to TOTW, buy about six hickory ramrods, use the straightest grained one you can for your ramrod. In about a year or so the rest will be used up on other projects that you need a good section of rod for. Short starters et. etc.
Might as well order six. Ask for straight grain. Any bundle less than six requires a backing board to prevent damage in shipping and the cost in postage almost equals the cost of the other 5 ramrods.
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My woodworking experience tells me oak is a brittle wood. My muzzleloading experience tells me a STRAIGHT grain ramrod will last for decades and thousands of rounds if you don't do stupid stuff with it.
longcruise
70 Cal.
This might seem like a big investment but if you are going to make a lot of ramrods it will pay for itself easily. https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/sho...9MC1jJJGIyVhKKnHhlJnlz-n2SH5KZ44aAjpAEALw_wcB
As a plus, if you are an archer it will make arrow shafts.
Select straight grained hickory for the rods. What we call "grain" is actually growth rings so just look for straight lines on the flat of the board and the edge. Rods are fragile when growth lines run.out on the edge off the dowel. Different woods vary in how much (many) run outs are fatal. Hickory has good tolerance of r run out due to the way it's cellular structure binds growth lines (rings) together. A very little run out is tolerable.
This is why splitting out blanks and then manually reducing them makes a good rod. If done correctly there's no run.out and if the growth lines are reasonably straight the rod will be equally straight.
@rich pierce did a topic on using straight growth shoots to make a ramrod. A shoot from a tree with tough wood is automatically straight grained. Think fruit woods.
As a plus, if you are an archer it will make arrow shafts.
Select straight grained hickory for the rods. What we call "grain" is actually growth rings so just look for straight lines on the flat of the board and the edge. Rods are fragile when growth lines run.out on the edge off the dowel. Different woods vary in how much (many) run outs are fatal. Hickory has good tolerance of r run out due to the way it's cellular structure binds growth lines (rings) together. A very little run out is tolerable.
This is why splitting out blanks and then manually reducing them makes a good rod. If done correctly there's no run.out and if the growth lines are reasonably straight the rod will be equally straight.
@rich pierce did a topic on using straight growth shoots to make a ramrod. A shoot from a tree with tough wood is automatically straight grained. Think fruit woods.
FlinterNick
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White oak is great, especially if you steam treat it. But it’s not worth the extra price over that of hickory or Ash. It’s not an indestructible wood.
The absolute best I’ve ever used is Yew, however good luck finding it.
I think OP is hoping to use an oak dowel easily purchased locally at a hardware store or a big-box home supplies store. My advice is "don't", and I agree with above to use hickory. Multiple online sources for hickory, but hard to beat what you can order from Kibler, IMO.
N.Y. Yankee
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Red oak will work fine if you know what you are doing, build and handle it the correct way. I've made several ramrods and "range rods" from red oak dowels I got from a wood shop supply store near me, not the crap that comes from the big box stores. That said, I dont use them anymore. Just order some good hickory rods from Track, etc.
Depends on the oak. White Oak is flexible enough to make baskets out of, and I have had success splitting ramrods out of White Oak billets. Red oak is brittle--unfortunately the oak you are buying in the big box home supply stores is red oak!
Red oak is great for picture frames. Ramrods not so much I don't think. Especially not when hickory available.
My shooting load is done with a range rod I bought from Kibler. Works great all the time.
https://kiblerslongrifles.com/products/range-rod?_pos=1&_sid=a972cc6a0&_ss=r
Unfortunately it's out of stock right now.
However, regardless, I want a rifle equipped with a ramrod that can actually be used, and isn't there merely for decoration.
My shooting load is done with a range rod I bought from Kibler. Works great all the time.
https://kiblerslongrifles.com/products/range-rod?_pos=1&_sid=a972cc6a0&_ss=r
Unfortunately it's out of stock right now.
However, regardless, I want a rifle equipped with a ramrod that can actually be used, and isn't there merely for decoration.
One thing is a smoothbore is not normally loaded with something as tight as a rifle, and less stress on a rod
