Hickory ram rods

[squirehawk1774]

Here is a hickory rod I made for a rifle that I'm working on right now. I never treat them with anything to make them more flexible. I just cut my own trees and split out sections to make rammers for my rifles. I know everyone doesn't have hickory trees to cut down but if you have a local saw mill or log yard you may be able to pick up some hickory. If you can get some you can make a superior ram rod that will take a lot more abuse without breaking.

 

[Rangefogger]

Wow, I’ll have to give that a try! Nothing worse than a broken ramrod.

 

[longcruise]

I make all of mine. We don't have hickory trees here but it's possible to track down straight grain at the lumber yards. I cut them into blanks and run them through a doweler.

They are also easily made with a grooved board and small plane.

 

[French Colonial]

TOTW has hickory ramrods, I usually order six or so at a time and use the best ones for ramrods and keep the rest for what nots. Usually end up using them all to make different things.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Nice! That’s the way they are supposed to be!

We have a lot of hickory growing in my area, but none where I can cut it. There are some little ones growing on my property but they are too crooked to use as saplings, and surprisingly, hickory is a very slow growing tree in my part of Florida. I made regular trips to the mountains, years ago, and hickory trees seemed to grow like weeds by comparison. The hickory that I have cut in Florida has had a twisting, intertwined grain described as “brash” grain by the old timers, so I content myself with “bought” rods. I bought a bundle of a dozen blanks in various sizes from the late Dan Putz before his untimely death. I haven’t needed to use any of them yet, but his rods were very highly regarded. RIP, Mr. Putz.

Notchy Bob

 

[Blackpowderart]

I have a hickory rod from TOTW .... I like it but I really want it to match my Pedersoli... I'm no wood worker so....does anyone know what I should do to make it happen? I'm
Capable of doing it, just don't know what "it" is

 

[squirehawk1774]

Not sure what kind of stain you used on the rod. I use Jim Kibler's stain which is like nitric acid. After staining I use some oil with soot mixed in it to darken it up more.

 

[Sam squanch]

You can’t just saw it out. You need to SPLIT it out to follow the grain , so it will bend like that and not snap. Not easy making a long rod this way.

 

[Blackpowderart]

Not sure what kind of stain you used on the rod. I use Jim Kibler's stain which is like nitric acid. After staining I use some oil with soot mixed in it to darken it up more.

It came this way. It was supposed to be a better rod for this gun.

 

[Notchy Bob]

That shotgun ramrod looks fine to me. I do like a little tarnish on the brass, but that will come with use.

It’s always good to have a spare. For shotguns, especially, you can just use a plain old dowel slightly under bore size that you carry in your hand. One of these full-diameter rods is actually easier to use for ramming than the reduced-diameter rod carried in the ramrod pipes. This works very well for multiple shots from one position, but may admittedly be awkward if you are walking a lot and taking snap shots, as in quail hunting.

If you want a really first-class job on a ramrod, get a good hickory rod that is oversized and work the body down to fit the thimbles, but with the driving end tapered up so you don’t need that bell-shaped brass tip. Some people will tell you hickory won’t absorb stain, but I’ve used Laurel Mountain and even Minwax stains on rods, and the results have been good enough for me. However, nitric acid gives hickory a beautiful color when used properly. It is more of a reagent than a stain.

There’s nothing wrong with the rod you have, though. Looks good to me!

Notchy Bob

 

[Ohio Rusty]

Hickory does absorb stain fairly well. I stain all my hickory hammer and tomahawk handles.
Ohio Rusty ><>

 

[Fatboyz]

Do you get them to round using a rasp or do you use some other method. I need to make one for my smoothbore project and thought I’d start with my dowel maker for arrows then narrow it from there with a rasp.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Do you get them to round using a rasp or do you use some other method. I need to make one for my smoothbore project and thought I’d start with my dowel maker for arrows then narrow it from there with a rasp.

You’ll get a lot of ideas on this from the fellows here. My technique is to clamp a piece of tongue-and-groove board in a bench vise with the groove up. I mark the dowel according to where wood needs to come off, lay it in the groove, and get after it with a sharp block plane, going in long, smooth strokes, rotating the dowel slightly with each pass so the diameter is reduced evenly. This is time consuming, but what’s time to a piece of wood? Seriously, I like working with hand tools and enjoy the process. Others here may suggest faster or more expedient techniques.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[Rifleman1776]

You can’t just saw it out. You need to SPLIT it out to follow the grain , so it will bend like that and not snap. Not easy making a long rod this way.

True. Good straight grain hickory is hard come by these days. A broken hickory rod can be a dangerous thing. Most (Yes, "most") ml shooters do not use their rods properly and risk injuring themselves very seriously. Yours is a very good rod. The rods a/ka/ wiping sticks I have seen in museums are not very pretty. They were split and often did not come out perfectly straight but they were usable.

 

[squirehawk1774]

I prefer crooked rods because they stay put in the pipes better.
I use a small block plane to rough my rods to a round shape. After that I'll use a rasp to refine it some more and finish up with a scraper.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I use a piece of 1/8" thick plate steel held in a vice.

1.). Cut them to a size sort of close to your finished size (like 1/2" square for a 7/16" RR).
2.). Knock the square corners part off with the flat part of the plate, or with a belt sander or pretty much anything.
3.). Then drill some holes through the plate steel (5/8", 1/2", 7/16", 3/8", 7/16"). Leave the burr on the back side of the holes.
4.). Run your RR through the largest hole first, then progressively smaller. The back side edge of the hole is used to shave things down.
5.). Move to a smaller hole when the whole thing fits through the larger hole.
6.). Repeat
7.). Use one of your dismounted RR pipes as a final size guide.

Of course, you can use small hand tools like a file or spokeshave during the process too.

 

[longcruise]

You can’t just saw it out. You need to SPLIT it out to follow the grain , so it will bend like that and not snap. Not easy making a long rod this way.

I saw the blanks with no issues. Straight grain is not that hard to find. And yes, it's likely that there will be one or even two growth rings running out but they need to be severely abused to break them. Might break if bent as in the picture but if there is an actual need to bend a rod like that I've yet to see it.

 

[Notchy Bob]

I saw the blanks with no issues. Straight grain is not that hard to find. And yes, it's likely that there will be one or even two growth rings running out but they need to be severely abused to break them. Might break if bent as in the picture but if there is an actual need to bend a rod like that I've yet to see it.

I would agree. The wood does not care if it is sawn or split, as long as the grain is running straight. I used to make white-oak baskets, long ago, and learned that even straight grained wood can "run out" during splitting. It required a certain technique to get the split to go straight.

Some English trade guns were fitted with ash ramrods. I bought a set of ash replacement wheelbarrow handles from Home Depot a few years ago that had remarkably straight grain. It seemed a shame to use them for such a prosaic function as wheelbarrow handles, but I needed them for that purpose and that's where they ended up. These could have been sawn up into straight-grained square dowels and made into dandy ramrods. I may be able to salvage a few short rods from them eventually, when the handles need replacement again.

Notchy Bob

 

[TC Tommy]

Are all hickory dowels created equal? The reason I ask is I found a place that sells 3/8 x 36" hickory dowels in lots
of 10 for $21.75, 2-4 lots for $16.75 per lot. I see TOW has hickory dowels for RR's and some for furniture, not to
be used for RR's.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Are all hickory dowels created equal? The reason I ask is I found a place that sells 3/8 x 36" hickory dowels in lots
of 10 for $21.75, 2-4 lots for $16.75 per lot. I see TOW has hickory dowels for RR's and some for furniture, not to
be used for RR's.

Respectfully, I think the answer to your question would be "no." Your best bet is to either examine the rods yourself, or buy them from a reputable seller of muzzleloading products, who understands what is required of a ramrod. The fact that Track offers "furniture grade" dowels indicates they do some of the sorting for you. There is the possibility that you could get ten good rods from the un-named source, in which case it would be a pretty good deal. It is also possible that you might get one or two good rods out of the lot, which would mean your good ramrod blanks would cost you $11-$20 apiece, and you would still have to work them into finished rods.

Looking at the TOTW website, I did not know the prices had gotten so high on ramrod blanks. I bought a quantity of assorted sizes some time back, so I've been a little out of touch with recent price increases. I have gotten good rods in the past from R.E. Davis, which I believe has been absorbed by the Log Cabin Shop in Lodi, Ohio. Their prices for hickory rod blanks are considerably less than Track, maybe because they are within the range of hickory trees. Minnesota is a bit north and west of their normal range. In any event, the people at the Log Cabin Shop are good folks, and they know muzzleloaders. Here is a link to their website: Hickory Ramrod Blanks

It's your money, and you are welcome to spend it as you like. However, if you are asking for opinions, I would pass on that deal you found, unless it is someplace you can actually visit and examine the rods before buying.

Good luck!

Notchy Bob