Wondering where is a good source of hickory or ash kiln dried poles ?
Ideally they can come the right dia....but the center hole in my lathe is 2 inch, so it would be possible to turn something down a bit.
I have two tubes given in my inventory that were intended to be the poles, but I feel it would be more authentic to use wood.
Anybody using steel vs wood?
It was also suggested to fill the tubes with foam for sound deadening.

The original cars with their ash perch poles are still going strong with most of all of the poles still being original ash poles. The metal poles eventually break from the flexing. Most wood supply yards can order your ash perch poles to your specifications. To make a round pole out of a square pole, if you do not have a lathe, a router using the correct radius of cutting bit will do the job very nicely.

I found a place in Maine, Peavey Manufacturing Co.
PO Box 129
Eddington, ME 04428
that will make to order, so we will see what they say.
I will try to specify ash, they just say hardwood..... a bit vague.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2014 12:03AM by laheyth.

Ash has a long straight grain. Hickory will hardly ever have a straight grain. The long straight grain between the front and rear axles is where the strength and durability is needed.