Wood dowel species choice
Possibly an out of the ordinary question. I am a "folk" music drummer. For 20+ years I have made a particular kind of drumstick that is essentially a neatly assembled bunch of 1/8" wooden dowels bought from the local home improvement stores. These are also commercially available from a percussion company called ProMark with the product name "HotRods".
ProMarks' sticks are "closed" at one end. Mine are open at both ends and only confined in the middle.
Note: I only make these for myself. I'm not setup to make them for others.
As these are drumsticks, they hit stuff a lot and often. They are remarkably resilient, all things considered.
My first question is: what wood species would work well for this? I have read that ProMark uses Birch dowels. I use whatever is in the big box store.
Species that splinter easily are bad. Possibly fibrous species might fling off ... fibers. I've recently thought about trying bamboo but I know that long fibers can peel off.
I'm sure that anything that is not in the home improvement store in my little town will be a special order. Do you have recommendations for specialty dowel sources?