Hi folks, I need some help choosing striker woods for pot calls. I don't really know much about whether harder or softer woods are better, which striker sounds best on which surface, advantages of a one piece striker vs. a two piece, etc. Any and all opinions are greatly appreciated! What are your favorite woods for:
1. Crystal
2. Glass
3. Aluminum
4. Ceramic
5. Slate
Thanks in advance!
Get what ya think is going to work you will most likely start a collection anyways
Different strikers for different pots
My all around strikers are tulipwodd and Ipe I will not comment on all because I am still learning myself. Edit: as drk9988 mentioned, Rutland Diamondwood, I intended to post that one and forgot.
1. Crystal: Purple Heart
2. Glass
3. Aluminum
4. Ceramic
5. Slate Hickory, Persimmon
The one striker material I could grab and feel comfortable about any call would be Rutland Dymondwood.
There are a pile of good woods but several will play great on any surface. The following are just suggestions of my favorites:
Dymondwood, Brazilian Tulipwood, bloodwood, Yellowheart, Bubinga, Osage Orange, Macassar Ebony, snakewood, gaboon Ebony...............
JLH on here has every wood imaginable and makes fantastic strikers
Snakewood , Diamondwood , Black Locust, Mascassar ebony, frogwood , purpleheart , yellowheat, hickory , bloodwood, Tulipwood and waterproof striker is a good start .. I'm sure people will add some more to the list. most all call makers will send you a matching striker to the pot call.. but you can get Fowler striker, Clay Townsend , and Jeff with JLH on the forum...
I got a katalox (I think) from JLH on here last year and it had a huge impact on my crystal calls. I believe he told me it was similar to snakewood, but not as expensive. He's the man to talk to with all of your questions, he will definitely be able to give some good options.
Neal also makes some nice strikers and you can ask him and order from him on Old Gobbler as Neal.
I like strikers that are versatile for many surfaces. I do have a few that are surface specific and some run better on a few surfaces and not great on others. My top three striker choices would be Wenge, Snakewood, and Ipe
My top choices are rutland dymondwood , macassar , Ipe , bloodwood and hickory.
I have and normally carry several of the surfaces you are referring to. Personally, I play every call I have with multiple strikers and here is my opinion. Most of these surfaces like laminated strikers, dymondwood and laminated wood strikers are a couple. The harder the wood the higher the pitch will be and the softer woods will give you lower pitch. For me, carrying multiple strikers gives me more options when calling. I also like a heavy thicker striker vs a lighter slender one. Hickory plays well on most of these surfaces and I've recently started using a yellowheart a lot more. IMO experimenting with different woods will 1. Make your calling more diverse 2. Make you practice more 3. Give you more options in the woods, which are ALL good.
As far as versatility Rutland dymondwood,hickory,blood wood and pernambuco.
I'm also gonna day the dymondwood. Tulip wood, snake wood sound good on anything. Oh yea got an old Cody heavy hickory lights most calls up too but it's one of the old ones
FROG WOOD plays well on every surface I've put it to !!!
My Applewood striker and my laminated striker play well on all of my calls.
Thanks to all who replied, I appreciate it!
I decided to start my custom striker collection with a Rutland Dymondwood from John Sinclair!
While I was browsing his site, I also added a 3" Titanium walnut pot to my order.
I did not want the striker to feel lonely during shipping... ;D
Quote from: TonyTurk on February 28, 2020, 10:59:52 PM
Thanks to all who replied, I appreciate it!
I decided to start my custom striker collection with a Rutland Dymondwood from John Sinclair!
While I was browsing his site, I also added a 3" Titanium walnut pot to my order.
I did not want the striker to feel lonely during shipping... ;D
Good choice ...
Tulipwood plays well on my glass and slate