Turning Strikers

[WillowRidgeCalls]

We all have a couple of favorite strikers that we that we reach for while running calls, because they play the best on any given call, and we can do any call on the call with them. Why is that? We own many strikers made of different woods, so why are those couple so much better? The answer to that is the Weight of the Striker, dencity of the wood has nothing to do with it, yes it creates a different tone as does the different kinds of wood does,  but it's all on the weight of the striker that fits your playing style, some strikers sound real high pitched and some have a flat dead sound to them. If you took ten different kinds of wood and turned them on a duplicator, so all ten strikers where the exactly the same size, length, and shape, you'd only find a couple that played good, because of the different weights of the woods. It's the same as asking which weighs more a pound of lead or a pound of feathers? they both weigh exactly the same, but the size of the pile is quite different.
So if your turning strikers for sales, then you need to pay attention to the weights of the woods your using in order to make a striker that will play on any call you play it on. Your diameter of the striker has to change accordingly to the weight of the woods your using, some may be thinner and some may be a lot thicker on the weighted end of the striker. Even though you have a style of striker that's all your own it still has to be different in size because of the wood weight differences.
Here are a few different woods, all cut exactly the same size, as you can see they all don't weigh the same. Lets say you make a purpleheart (.07) striker that just rocks, but a customer asks for a striker made of walnut (.04) the top end of the walnut striker would have to be almost twice the diameter of the purpleheart striker in order for it to sound right.
The woods I chose are Walnut, Shedua, Maple, Canary, Rosewood, Padauk, Yellowheart, Hickory, Granadillo, Bocote, Purpleheart. You can see the weight difference of each wood in oz.
These 4 strikers all weigh exactly the same, made of dymondwood,yellowheart, bloodwood, Birch laminate. But as you can see that each one has a bit of difference in the length and diameter of the ends, they all have a 4" peg, (they were getting sick of me at the post office weighing these until I had the within a gram of eachother  .

[magnoliagamecalls]

Same type of woods weigh different also (ex: one piece of maple cut the exact same size might weigh different). Other than say dymondwood, colorwood, or some type of laminate it would be hard to make each one weigh the same. I think some woods bite better on surfaces.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

That is very true, you can cut two pieces of wood from the same board that weighs two diffrent weights, because of the dencity of each piece. The point I'm trying to make is that each different kind of wood weighs differently, so if all your strikers are made exactly the same, shape, size, some will play better that others because of the weight differences. You have to adjust that accordingly, so some of the strikers may be thinner and some may be thicker even though they are all the same design.
You also mentioned that some woods skip more that others, that is true also, but more times than not it's your lighter woods that will skip more than a heavy wood will. It also depends on what your using to clean your striker tips. If you took a green scrub pad and used it to clean a Blackwood striker, it would smooth the tip so bad that all the striker would do is slip, were if you used say 100 grit sandpaper on it would grab the surface a lot better and play right. That's why most call companies all use a two piece striker, because it's easier to control the weight of a striker, say a birch top all weighs about the same just the pegs weight is different and that still allows that striker to play on any given surface. Where if they sold a turned striker with each call they would be very limited to what woods they could use with all their strikers being turned on a duplicator, each different wood would have to be adjusted in order to make that striker play on different surfaces, time spent on doing that is $$$ spent and would raise the price of calls.

[VanHelden Game Calls]

 

Great food for thought for us callmakers.

[stone road turkey calls]

 

[WillowRidgeCalls]

These are both a 4" purpleheart 5/16 peg size and the both weigh .7 oz. As you can see there is quite a difference in the diameter of the heavy end of the striker. One has a walnut end and the other has a purpleheart end, but the weight of these two are the same and they sound the same on any given surface. The walnut wood weighs a lot less so the diameter of it has to be a lot larger. If I would of turned the purpleheart end the same size as the walnut end, that striker wouldn't play worth a damn, it would be to heavy. That's why I'm saying that if you turne all your striker to the same shape and size, some would sound ok but most wouldn't. So lets say your favorite striker is the purpleheart striker and you wanted a striker made of walnut so you'd have a different sounding striker, if I tuned you a walnut striker it would have to be this size in order for it to sound any good, or you'd be sending it back because it sound crummy. With any Friction Call, weight is a very important part of it playing. No matter what call, pot calls, scratch boxes, box calls, push-pins, they all play by the weight of the striking surfaces.

[M Sharpe]

Where if they sold a turned striker with each call they would be very limited to what woods they could use with all their strikers being turned on a duplicator, each different wood would have to be adjusted in order to make that striker play on different surfaces, time spent on doing that is $$$ spent and would raise the price of calls.

Scott, this is the very reason I try to play the striker on the calls before buying them. Not on the calls the call maker has setting out, but my calls.

I know that probably 70% or more of the weight is in the head. Do you think it is overall weight or head weight that is critical ?
Probably one of the absolute best strikers I've ever played and owned was the Knight & Hale "Black Magic" striker. Some where there is probably a bunch sitting in a warehouse.
You need to get a reloaders scale with the weights.

Mark

[WillowRidgeCalls]

I'm leaning more towards the head weight being more critical, but it has a lot to do with the whole balanced weight of a striker. It's just like a Hammer, if you grab a hammer by the handle and pound a nail in, it would only take 5 hits, but if you grabbed the hammer by it head and tried to pound a nail in, it would take you 40 hits, even though you have the same weight of the hammer no matter how you pick it up.

[outdoors]

ME AS A PLAYER > head weight being more critical <  THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO USE
SOUND AND CONTROL.   

[M Sharpe]

Pretty much my thoughts too. But, I also believe there does need to be a balance point and I don't think that it has to be so heavy that it feels cumbersome or awkward. Like I said about the Knight & Hale striker, that striker isn't very big or heavy but it is balanced out to a tee. I've got some that the head is so light on, I'm thinking about drilling them out and dropping me a buckshot down in there.

[mmclain]

walnut sucks for strikers......jus' my   .02 ......no matter what the weight....

only thing they are ok for is cluck and purr....the walnut strikers are use specific......I have competition callers ask for them for cluck and purr....for stage use in the friction division....

Rhotodendron is also call/use specific.....is makes a great KeeKee striker....but that is about it....

[stone road turkey calls]

walnut sucks for strikers......jus' my   .02 ......no matter what the weight....

only thing they are ok for is cluck and purr....the walnut strikers are use specific......I have competition callers ask for them for cluck and purr....for stage use in the friction division....

Rhotodendron is also call/use specific.....is makes a great KeeKee striker....but that is about it....

I don't like walnut strikers, they are call/use specific. they are 1 click away from balsa wood, I will not send one out with a call.

Gary

[BKAart]

All these thoughts are solid, weight is the main factor. What I find however is how the weight is distributed. Being a archer I have checked the FOC of strikers the same as if a arrow shaft. The percentage of front of center weight runs close to the same on all the strikes that run consistant, no matter what the wood,shape,weight or size.

[M Sharpe]

walnut sucks for strikers......jus' my   .02 ......no matter what the weight....

only thing they are ok for is cluck and purr....the walnut strikers are use specific......I have competition callers ask for them for cluck and purr....for stage use in the friction division....

Rhotodendron is also call/use specific.....is makes a great KeeKee striker....but that is about it....

I agree! It makes a fine pot though!!!

[WillowRidgeCalls]

walnut sucks for strikers......jus' my   .02 ......no matter what the weight....

only thing they are ok for is cluck and purr....the walnut strikers are use specific......I have competition callers ask for them for cluck and purr....for stage use in the friction division....

Rhotodendron is also call/use specific.....is makes a great KeeKee striker....but that is about it....

I disagree with you, what your statement is telling me is that the weight balance distribution is way off  on those strikers. Granted walnut may not be a sound you like, but your walnut strikers should be able to play the same as any of your strikers if the weight is correct, it may have to be larger or smaller in diameter to obtain that? That's why I started this post, because you can't turn all your strikers to look exactly the same in shape and size with any type of wood and expect them to play the same as your favorite wood striker does. You have to adjust the size to get the center of balance to obtain a good sounding striker, no matter what woods your using. If you do that, your walnut strikers will yelp, cutt, keekee, put n purr the same as any of your strikers will. It's going against a 100 year old tradition, where at first everyone used a corn cob on a peg to play their calls, some woods played great and some didn't, because of the weight differences, those woods that play great where considered good woods for strikers, and those that didn't weren't. Now with being able to use all sorts of woods we have to adjust the weight differences according to what the wood weighs, and if you don't you'll end up with strikers/woods that suck.