RE: Does anybody make their own strikers?
I have used corncobs and dowel rods to make my strikers. I usually drill a hole in the corncob and stick a piece of aluminum arrow inside and put it in my drill and use a heavy piece of sandpaper to shape the cob. I do the same thing when making a wooden barrel for the striker. Then to make the actual striker part I just stick the dowel in the drill and sand that to get the shape I want. I use liquid nail glue to stick the pieces together. Works great. Sometimes I drill out the top of the barrel to get a better sound. I will post some pics of strikers I have made, I have used oak and poplar so far. They do take some tuning to ge them right. So don't make them a specific size right away, alow yourself some room to cut some material away during the tuning process.