I dropped my striker the other day going out to try for turkeys and didn't find it. What woods work well as strikers for slate and glass?
I have a big selection of woods. LOL
Mike
purpleheart and hickory are my two favorites!
purpleheart or rosewood, and laminated.
I tried a purple heart one and it was too sharp for my ear. I'll give hickory and rosewood a try.
I did make one from bocote that has a real nice tone.
Mike
Walnut works well for me...
Hickory is good.
I had a guy tell me cedar works good?? Never tried it but it's not hard coming up with short pieces.
X2 for walnut
Black locust, apple or make a striker and put a peice of carbon arrow on the end.
Dave
Better make two.lol
cedar with a corn cob on the top works.
Well I have four pot calls and only 3 strikers now. Usually have 5-6 strikers around here but can't find them. Will try some hickory and maybe walnut today.
Mike
I made one out of ERC a while back, works really good.
I have a huge collection of custom strikers....every imaginable wood or combination of woods and profiles one could think of....made by call makers all across the country. My wife even made a custom roll-up "sleeve" to house them all. Must be well over 50 in that sleeve.
Out of all those, I only use two: Both are somewhat plain looking as far as the lathe work goes, but they feel good in the hand and work the glass or slate like a violin bow.
One is Indian Rosewood made in MS and one is hickory made in AR. I have others made from the same woods...and they produce similar sounds more or less (a lot depends on the profile of the "tip" or "head").
I love walnut too....but I can't get a striker made from walnut to sound the way I want.
hickory or cocobola is my two faves. I make custom calls and the thing you ned to know if you gonna make your own is it needs to be balanced.
each type of wood will balance out diferently. what I mean by that is you got to get your weight right on top of your striker. to light and it will have a dull low, too heavy and it will be to high pitched. I like to use a heavy dense wood when turning strikers.
another thing is the shorter it is it will produce lower tones and the longer it is it will produce higher tones.
Kris
I like using a section of cedar arrow shafts. I crest them as well. :)
I have one made out of Bois D Arc that I really like.