Bed sheet to patches?

[markinstettler]

Yesterday, inspired by discussion on this forum, my living room was used to transform three yards of fabric bought from Wally World to patches intended to hug a round ball and cleaning patches. I'm probably good for a year on those fronts.

This morning, my wife commented on our need to replace a torn fitted sheet on our bed. :shocked2:

Has anybody used bedsheets (hopefully retired) as patching material?

In any case, I'll be bringing my calipers home from work tomorrow. My worst case scenario is a huge supply of cleaning patches. The best case scenario is a lifetime supply of shooting patches.

I don't expect that the sheet material will be thick enough for patching roundballs, but using it as cleaning patches would sure be a more noble end than a trip to the composter... Of course, they'll make it to the composter either way.

 

[windwalker_au]

use it for cleaning patches.i by unbleached calaco
for shooting patches.
bernie :winking:

 

[roo shooter]

I cut up all our old flannel bed sheets for cleaning patches(and the good ones to if the wife's not looking).
And I also sneak as much calaco for patches as I can, I was told it's about .012 but dont know for sure.

 

[soggy]

:grin: Makes great "cleaning" patches, I doubt if it would be of much use as "shooting" patches.
I'm lucky as my wife is a quilter and she uses flannel for the backing of her quilts. There is always lots of pieces that are trimmed off.
Soggy

 

[George Holton]

GEt your micrometer handy, I have found that her side if the sheet id thinner :rotf:

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

I have tried bedsheets for patching. It makes a nice thin patch, and with a felt wad, you don't have to worry about burnout. Just be sure that the sheet is 100% cotton, and not some mix of synthetic fibers.

 

[Bob Riegl]

:hmm: I would personally suggest that you try to burn a piece of this sheet---just to check it's 100% cotton---if it isn'y you will know as the non-cotton starts to melt and gives off a bad odor. :thumbsup:

 

[Dale A. Cathell]

I have been using an old bed sheet for a year. I made sure it was all cotton (luckily the label was still there). I the use my mic and found it to be .001 thick. Started ripping and tearing and checking the thickness. So for my 32 and 45 love it. I figure I have at least a 10 yr. supply. Basically it works for me but do some checking and practice. Be safe. :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[renovato]

Bed sheets are generally too thin for adequate patching. I used to use them years ago to patch standard sized balls for my odd sized Corsair double barrel pistol. It wasn't an accurate gun anyway, so I didn't notice the sheet material ruining accuracy. But I bet it would spoil the groups of an accurate gun. Be sure the sheet is 100% natural fiber if you decide to try it though. You don't want synthetics melting into your bore!

 

[MercerLake]

I hunt up the estate sales for old linen (flax) napkins for really tough patch material. Most bed sheets have a very low thread count so they are not very dense and will often cut when shot. Flannel material works well for cleaning patches, put them in a pillow case or laundry bag and run them through the washing machine when the wife isn't home, recycle them over and over. :grin:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

You fellers are talking about being evasive around yer wife? You'uns don't trust her? :haha:

 

[Two Trails]

Word of caution. Watch what you get at fabric stores now since they are selling some stuff that looks like linen and feels like linen but it's called" Linen Look" and has a high % of plastic. My friend had a tough time getting the residue out of his barrel after only a few shots. Yard sales are always good if you can find an old table cloth. I got one for a quarter that had a stain. The dear lady looked at me in a strange way when I said that was OK since I would be tearing it up anyway. Guess she doesn't shot ML.
Two Trails

 

[playfarmers]

I picked up some sheets that where jut like new at a yard sale for a buck, and cut them up for cleaning patches. I will stick with pillow ticking for shooting patches.

 

[markinstettler]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up making cleaning patches out of the sheet. I won't be running out anytime soon.

Over the holidays, I visited a couple of fabric stores and found some twill that is about the right thickness (.018") for patches. There was some denim that would also have worked, but the twill was cheaper. Worked out to about .75 cents per patch.

With the free lead that I've been finding, the cheap patches, and tallow scavenged from Sunday dinners, and some softball sized pieces of chert headed my way, its only going to cost me about 20 cents to pull the trigger on my 54. That's less than a tenth of the cost of my typical center-fire cartridge. And if it became necessary, I could cut that back to about 8 cents by making my own powder. (I can see myself doing one batch just to satisfy my curiosity, but things would have to be pretty dire for me to make my own on a regular basis.)

I never thought that taking up traditional black powder rifles would save me money. That's the sort of surprise I like.

 

[Walker357]

Before you start making your own powder, could you change your will and leave your guns to me? :grin:

 

[markinstettler]

You know, I hear similar statements every time I mention making black powder. To some extent, I think they are right. Making black powder is not the sort of thing one would do willy-nilly and there is the legality issue. With that in mind I'll tow the forum line and not say more.

In any case, I consider myself warned and understand that making patches out of bed sheets is a far safer way to spend my time. :winking: