treating unstained ramrods

4

4V50 Gary

Staff
Can anyone confirm that before putting an unstained ramrod to use, to soak it in a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil and turpentine? This is supposed to make it more flexible.
 
Should work !!!

50/50 mixture of linseed oil and turpentine?
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Gary,
Although I see no to doubt that this wouldn't work, I have not heard of this method. I have read about the following methods. ..... ;

1) Soak the rod for three days, in "Kerosene"' then I have to ask about availabilty, back then; ... :confused:

2) Soak the rod in "Coal-Oil". That sounds better to me. ..... ;)

I think you have to follow the spirit and I'll bet there is more than one way, to skin this cat!!!

"Because kerosene was first derived from cannel coal, classified as terrestrial type of oil shale,[2] it continued to be popularly referred to as "coal oil" even after production shifted to petroleum as a feedstock.[3][4][5] Refined hydrocarbons of the alkane series with 10 to 16 carbon atoms are the same thing whether taken from coal or petroleum."
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Be Safe !!!
 
In my limited experience of about 55 years of shooting building and repairing ram rods and wiping rods ( used in cartridge guns) I haven’t found anyone to have a tested way to make wood significantly more flexible. I used a tube filled with kerosene to soak rods in and had one snap with out undue mishandling. Seems to me selection of grain run out and how you use it has the greatest effect.
 
Soaking wooden rods does work but to a point

In my limited experience of about 55 years of shooting building and repairing ram rods. Seems to me selection of grain run out and how you use it has the greatest effect.
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Your experience may be limited but I have seen your work and you should give yourself, more credit. I do restoration work and replace broken rods on a regular basis. Mostly good old American Hickory but have done some exotic woods like Ebony and Rosewood. I buy my Hickory stock in lots of 100 and hand select the straightest for the longer rods. I coat my rods with Watco Deep Penetrating oils, three to four passes. .... :)

Sadly, too many Traditional owners, overwork their rods that even the straightest grains will break and can hurt you. They are good for loading and "swabbing" but not for clearing dry-balls. The 3-day soaks do work provide more flex, to a point.

Be Safe !!!
 
Dixie Gun Works catalogs used to have a picture of Turner Kirkland holding a hickory rod bent almost double after soaking in kerosene. I think it was three months instead of three days but I could be wrong. That was a long time ago. I doubt it would take a stain afterwards and would probably smell like kerosene for a long time.
 
I used a piece of 2" PVC pipe capped off to soak hickory ramrods in - after fitting them to the rifle (I used hickory dowels at times and sometimes made my own from hickory using a spokeshave and scrapers I made for the task). The blanks were ripped from straight grain hickory that was air dried for at least 10 years that I had cut off the farm. I believe that I also learned about the soaking in coal oil from a very early DGW catalog.

The smallest one I ever made was 5/16" for a Virginia style .36 cal flint long rifl - 40" barrel. I can honestly saw I never gave my ramrods a "bend test", but never had one snap on me.

After soaking in the coal oil, I would I would wipe them off and let them air dry for a few days - then use boiled linseed oil thinned with turpentine (real turpentine) and rub repeated coats into them. And who doesn't enjoy the fragrance of turpentine? Done in this manner, they "seemed" to resemble the appearance of many of the hickory ramrods seen on original rifles and shotguns.

Gary - I'm guessing your talking about a ramrod for your squirrel rifle build? For a .30 cal - about a 1/4" rod or so? I remember talking with a fellow down at Friendship years ago who showed me a Vincent Rifle he had built - a beautiful small caliber rifle with a 1/4" rifle. He told me that shooting it had been a learning experience as with such a small diameter rod, he had had to learn when ramming the patched ball down the barrel, he learned after snapping several rods not to choke up on the rod so far and to use a series of pushes to get the ball down the barrel to seat it. Made sense!
 
Thanks bedbugbilly. I'll pass the word onto the owner. I've only wood stained the rod and as it would take several months, will pass the word onto the owner to soak it himself (and to use a synthetic rod in the field).

Got the hickory ramrod from The Log Cabin Shoppe (had to order a frizzen spring anyway) and it needed some sanding to fit.
 
Yes Sir !!!

(and to use a synthetic rod in the field).
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For hunting use, I make a Delrin rods and don't worry about soaking the wooden rods. For range use, I retain the wooden rod and use a Poly range-rod. Some folks have learned, the hard way about using fibreglass rods. ....... :cool:

Be Safe !!!
 
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I like hickory!

My formula is the old 56% mineral spirits, 33% indoor poly varnish, 11% linseed oil

This stuff really soaks in deep and I don't apologize for the plastic varnish, it works well. You can use old style varnish too. It might even be a bit too thin, but you can always thicken it up with a little more linseed oil at the expense of drying time.
 
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