I received some "(_)wooden thimbles(wooden thimbles)":https://www.bonedrymusic.com/Thimble-Wooden-Maple-p/t-128-03-0100-16.5.htm, from Bone Dry Music"> thimbles made out of maple from Bone Dry Music last month and think they are pretty neat, especially for softer acoustic music in situations where you would like your washboard to be a tad more laid back and mellow.
The wood has a softer contact with the washboard’s surface which removes the bright “metal to metal attack” and accentuates the board’s lower frequencies. This makes a drastic difference on both my Columbus zinc and stainless steel washboards and a less obvious and more subtle difference on my brass boards and Zinc Kings. This is most likely due to the relative softness of brass and the fact that the Zinc King’s metal rubbing surface is in contact with it’s wood backing and also that mine have been repaired with two composite epoxy glue which already gave them a thicker sound.
They have a dome top perfectly shaped for washboard playing and they immediately felt smooth for both taping and rubbing, skimming over the washboard’s playing surface ribs; their top is a lot wider than on metal thimbles too.
(the picture shows my largest, #000 – 18mm, zinc plated brass versus a wooden maple thimble)
My biggest worry was that they would be relatively fragile and would easily break, but no, no sign of any distress so far, and they feel really solid. Measuring them with a sliding gauge put the wood at ~ 16th of an inch thick (just over a millimeter) and the good sized “bottom ring” certainly adds to their solidity. Unfortunately at 16.5 mm they’re not for small hands although I’m sure there are ways to work around that. A little ball of Tac Putafix a “blu-tack” type adhesive on the tip of my thinner ring finger was enough to keep them from falling off for instance. In any case size is the only drawback to these so if you’re looking for an alternative to the bright sound of metal they are certainly thimbles to try.