blue and red pillow tacking?

[waltcowan]

green and brown? i need .15 thickness but, that color thing is interesting. :hmm:

 

[Walker357]

My .015 is passionate pink with green vines and white flowers. I works and I don't think the balls care. :grin:

 

[hanshi]

I went to Joann's today and carried my caliper. They had ticking on sale and I'm out. I bought some red that measured .016" and the blue measured .025". This blue is the thickest ticking I've ever measured or bought. It even feels much thicker than the blue patches I have left. The red feels some thinner than any ticking I ever bought. I bought some of both as the thicker blue is perfect for certain of my rifles while the red works well for my .32.

Usually the blue measures .018" to .020". This new stuff is really thick.

 

[erhunter]

I'v read that the blue ticking was used for mattresses and the red was pillow ticking. The blue or mattress was usually thicker.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Here latley all I use is red tick, have soured on blue if you know what I mean.

 

[smo]

When this thread started I shot blue ticking .018..
Now,10 years later I shoot red ticking.016 others mileage may vary….

 

[Kansas Jake]

In my experience in the past you are correct on the blue being thicker than the red. If I were buying today I would at least use a feel test to see if there is a relative difference in thickness and ideally use a micrometer to measure before buying.

 

[Grenadier1758]

You can have mattress ticking or pillow ticking in blue, red or floral patterns. I've also seen ticking with tan stripes. The color will be no indication of mattress or pillow ticking.

The difference in thickness is more related to the manufacturer of the fabric.

That's why you take your micrometer of calipers to the fabric store.

 

[doubleset]

You can have mattress ticking or pillow ticking in blue, red or floral patterns. I've also seen ticking with tan stripes. The color will be no indication of mattress or pillow ticking.

The difference in thickness is more related to the manufacturer of the fabric.

That's why you take your micrometer of calipers to the fabric store.

Absolutely. No point in even going to look for patch material without my digital calipers. JoAnn's, for example, had a big range of thicknesses in blue, red, gray, and black. Same with Walmart. No correspondence between color and thickness. Some multiple thicknesses in the same color. So you always have to measure. Some had obvious sizing in them, some didn't. Different locations of manufacture. The stuff I'm using now I have not bothered to wash and have had no problems. My sister is a highly competent seamstress and quilt maker. She says she will use Chinese fabric as a last resort and prefers Indian. The ticking I got both from JoAnn's and Walmart is Indian and seems great for patches.

For making patches, I cut the ticking into strips along a straightedge. Then by eye I cut it into squares. That's it. For the cutting, my sister pointed me to this: OLFA Rotary Cutter. It's wonderful.

 

[smo]

I have bought ticking for several years , usually buying 3 or more yards x 60” wide never once have I carried a micrometer with me… Not downing those who do. But I’ve always just gone buy feel and holding the material up to a good light source.. If you can see much light through the material it’s probably too thin.. At least for what I use..

Here’s some old ticking that came off of a mattress I’m almost certain…Could have just been a cover for a 4” pad.. maybe.

This things been around my Family home since I can remember…
I’ll be 65 this August, and it looked old when I first remember it as a child..

Note the corner stitching…

.024 After all these years..

 

[doubleset]

... never once have I carried a micrometer with me… Not downing those who do. But I’ve always just gone buy feel and holding the material up to a good light source.. If you can see much light through the material it’s probably too thin..

The caliper is an easy way for me to ensure that what I'm getting isn't too thick. 0.015 or 0.016 works great for me. 0.018 is a pain.

 

[Doc]

The thickness in any roll of ticking varies as much as .006. The weave (threads per inch) varies greatly from one roll to the next, even from each end of a roll.
For this reason I have changed to “Bridgers Best” store bought patches. The weave and thickness is very constant and does not change.
Therefore greater accuracy which for me is a win-win
Doc,

 

[doubleset]

The thickness in any roll of ticking varies as much as .006.

Where does this figure come from? I wouldn't be surprised, but it's an awfully general claim across a huge variety of ticking products.

When I measure in the store, I don't get that degree of variance on a single sample (unless I squeeze the calipers a lot harder on some samples than others!), and if I did I wouldn't buy it. Of course I don't do a full-out random sample of thickness across the whole roll. But think I'd notice that degree of difference in loading with patches showing that degree of variance. I'd also guess that compressibility can make a significant difference as well, but I have no way of measuring that, don't worry about it, and am just focused on what might be thought of as "grossly observable measurements and results". Right now, I can't shoot nearly as well as the rifle can -- and may never. Unfortunately, it's not the patches that result in that situation.

I do understand the attraction of commercially made patches, and thought a lot about that before going over to the dark side of self-imposed patch-cutting. I got tired of spending the hefty premium on store-bought ready-made patches. Not so much because they end up costing me about ten times as much as cutting my own, but because when you add the shipping to that, it just adds insult to injury. And I don't want to order 2,500 patches at a time (at a cost -- not counting shipping -- of about $100). That's a lot of powder or ball I could be buying -- and I can't (or choose not to) make those myself. It's just more convenient for me to walk into JoAnn's or Walmart with my little calipers and plunk down <$10 for enough material to make a boatload of patches. And I do find it relaxing to cut my own patches -- even if they don't come out to be exact squares and look a little goofy. The rifle doesn't seem to care.

 

[Doc]

Where does this figure come from? I wouldn't be surprised, but it's an awfully general claim across a huge variety of ticking products.

When I measure in the store, I don't get that degree of variance on a single sample (unless I squeeze the calipers a lot harder on some samples than others!), and if I did I wouldn't buy it. Of course I don't do a full-out random sample of thickness across the whole roll. But think I'd notice that degree of difference in loading with patches showing that degree of variance. I'd also guess that compressibility can make a significant difference as well, but I have no way of measuring that, don't worry about it, and am just focused on what might be thought of as "grossly observable measurements and results". Right now, I can't shoot nearly as well as the rifle can -- and may never. Unfortunately, it's not the patches that result in that situation.

I do understand the attraction of commercially made patches, and thought a lot about that before going over to the dark side of self-imposed patch-cutting. I got tired of spending the hefty premium on store-bought ready-made patches. Not so much because they end up costing me about ten times as much as cutting my own, but because when you add the shipping to that, it just adds insult to injury. And I don't want to order 2,500 patches at a time (at a cost -- not counting shipping -- of about $100). That's a lot of powder or ball I could be buying -- and I can't (or choose not to) make those myself. It's just more convenient for me to walk into JoAnn's or Walmart with my little calipers and plunk down <$10 for enough material to make a boatload of patches. And I do find it relaxing to cut my own patches -- even if they don't come out to be exact squares and look a little goofy. The rifle doesn't seem to care.

 

[Doc]

As for cost of ready made , at about.$4. a hundred at any Rhondy I don’t feel I have to worry. As for the .006 variant in ticking that came directly from the manufacturer. By purchasing Builders Best I can get .010 for my tradegun.015 for my 50 and .010 for my wife’s 50 and .020 for my 45. It works for me.
Doc,

 

[hanshi]

Over 55 years ago I started out patching with t-shirts. Over the years I worked my way through pillow ticking, cotton canvas duck, mattress ticking. For quite a few years I've had great results with heavy canvas (.024" compressed) and similar denim. I measure thickness by squeezing the caliper jaws with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands as hard as I can. I still use pillow ticking (.015") in the pistol, one rifle and smoothbore. Mattress ticking (.017" to .018") works pretty well in some guns but heavy canvas is superior in all other rifles I fire.

 

[doubleset]

I measure thickness by squeezing the caliper jaws with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands as hard as I can.

You must get some pretty strange looks in JoAnn's: "Put down the caliper sir, and step away from the fabric."

I get some strange looks myself. But when one of the clerks just curiously asked me what I was doing, she then got interested in my caliper and said she thought she'd need to get one for her husband. Luckily, since I get enough fabric at one time for about 2,500 patches, they can't identify a pattern (no pun intended). And since I buy the prepackaged stuff off the shelf at Walmart (and it's Walmart, after all), no one cares at all.

 

[flconch53]

Pillow ticking is just a form of twill woven fabric. Thickness can vary from 1 bolt to another. If you are buying patch material it is a good idea to measure before you buy.

 

[springfield art]

My blue is about .018 and red about .012 if that.

Yeah, I took a caliper to the cloth store to measure. Be sure to launder with no detergent to remove any processing chemicals.

 

[doubleset]

Yeah, I took a caliper to the cloth store to measure. Be sure to launder with no detergent to remove any processing chemicals.

I don't wash mine. I have no problems with it. It really depends on the particular fabric you buy.