Cleaning with Tow

[Smokey Plainsman]

Hey all

So I’ve been experimenting with cleaning my trade gun using tow and an original style coil gun worm.

I’ll have to say, you’ve got to try it! It works more or less like a heavy duty bore brush.

My method is to wrap some tow around the worm and wet it with creek water:

The tow naturally comes out filthy! But the neat thing is it can be swished around in water and wrung out to clean it for continual scrubbing. Just scrub, rinse the tow, and scrub again till the tow comes out clean.

Some dry tow can then be ran down followed by a greased or oiled piece. It’s remarkable how quickly and thoroughly this works. I’ve been very impressed with this method! You can clean the bore with just a few pieces and the tow can be washed out numerous times and reused.

Just a small hank in your shooting pouch is all that’s needed. There are also fancier threaded worms available that have been used for centuries on many types of guns, which threads into a ferrule on your ramrod.

If you aren’t hip to cleaning with tow “the old fashioned way” you need to try it. No more patches and jags for me. This period correct way works even better.

Thanks for reading and take care!

Dillon

 

[leadhoarder]

Yeah but does it "season" the bore?

In all seriousness the folks around back then knew what they were doing.

 

[IanH]

Someone else posted about this recently and I tried it with frayed-out hemp rope (what I had handy) and it worked fantastic, far better than patches, Nylon brushes, or cotton bore mops. It cleans the grooves in rifles and cleans pitted bores extremely well, too. Brilliant.

Now, where can a person get a wad of tow fibers for a reasonable price?

 

[Magungo1066]

This is kind of a silly question but, for the life of me, I have never been able to get the tow to stay on right when I have tried an old style worm and wooden cleaning stick. Do you have any tips? I always end up having to try to pull some out of the barrel.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

This is kind of a silly question but, for the life of me, I have never been able to get the tow to stay on right when I have tried an old style worm and wooden cleaning stick. Do you have any tips? I always end up having to try to pull some out of the barrel.

I just wind it on good and snug.

 

[Magungo1066]

I just wind it on the good and snug.

Simple enough haha. I will play around with it more.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Wind the tow through the tines of the tow worm and use about a golf ball sized ball of tow.

Keep this up and it will take @Smokey Plainsman 40 years to destroy this gun. Good job and good report.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Wind the tow through the tines of the tow worm and use about a golf ball sized ball of tow.

Keep this up and it will take @Smokey Plainsman 40 years to destroy this gun. Good job and good report.

Thanks! In 40 years I’ll probably be long dead.

 

[TDM]

I have a fair amount of Tow, but haven't used it for cleaning yet. Glad you gave it a try! But I haven't got use to your new aviator yet.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I have a fair amount of Tow, but haven't used it for cleaning yet. Glad you gave it a try! But I haven't got use to your new aviator yet.

I have a fair amount of Tow, but haven't used it for cleaning yet. Glad you gave it a try! But I haven't got use to your new aviator yet.

Me neither. It’s of a magic drinking bird.

 

[tenngun]

You can reuse it through several sessions and when done it makes great fluff for fire starting

 

[tenngun]

There is a you tube video of a boy picking the inner bark of juniper-cedar and it works just like tow
I haven’t tried it

 

[TDM]

Me neither. It’s of a magic drinking bird.

I remember those! Neat!

 

[Banjoman]

Hey all

So I’ve been experimenting with cleaning my trade gun using tow and an original style coil gun worm.

I’ll have to say, you’ve got to try it! It works more or less like a heavy duty bore brush.

View attachment 238682

My method is to wrap some tow around the worm and wet it with creek water:

View attachment 238684

The tow naturally comes out filthy! But the neat thing is it can be swished around in water and wrung out to clean it for continual scrubbing. Just scrub, rinse the tow, and scrub again till the tow comes out clean.

View attachment 238693

Some dry tow can then be ran down followed by a greased or oiled piece. It’s remarkable how quickly and thoroughly this works. I’ve been very impressed with this method! You can clean the bore with just a few pieces and the tow can be washed out numerous times and reused.

Just a small hank in your shooting pouch is all that’s needed. There are also fancier threaded worms available that have been used for centuries on many types of guns, which threads into a ferrule on your ramrod.

If you aren’t hip to cleaning with tow “the old fashioned way” you need to try it. No more patches and jags for me. This period correct way works even better.

Thanks for reading and take care!

Dillon

That looks good.

I use the same setup in mine too except I use rainwater from the barrel instead of creek water. That’s only because the nearest creek is a half mile away.

I don’t have a worm for my flintlock pistol ramrod so I just tie a piece of string to the wad of tow and push it down the barrel with the rod. Then pull it out with the string. Works just about as good.

 

[Banjoman]

Me neither. It’s of a magic drinking bird.

Hah! I thought it was a selfie!

 

[IanH]

There is a you tube video of a boy picking the inner bark of juniper-cedar and it works just like tow
I haven’t tried it

A couple of weeks ago I was peeling some green ashe juniper (cedar as we call it here, the whole area is covered in the stuff) and wondered about that. Same day I tried hemp fibers and a tow worm as a matter of fact.

When I was a kid my dad showed me how to pound out the white strips to separate the fibers and twist it into rope. I also found that the inner layer of cypress tree bark is just like ginger hair, I bet that would work too.

 

[Tumbledown]

Someone else posted about this recently and I tried it with frayed-out hemp rope (what I had handy) and it worked fantastic, far better than patches, Nylon brushes, or cotton bore mops. It cleans the grooves in rifles and cleans pitted bores extremely well, too. Brilliant.

Now, where can a person get a wad of tow fibers for a reasonable price?

I've read hemp or sisal rope can be a source. I have some old rope, but haven't tried it myself yet.

 

[toot]

You can reuse it through several sessions and when done it makes great fluff for fire starting

and also after it dries out, it can be used for wadding. over powder & shot or ball. repurpose it.

 

[Snapper Petta]

Someone asked about where you can source tow in an earlier post. To the best of my knowledge, JAS Townsend sells it. I think it's with their fire making supplies. Might be worth a check.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Cruzatte]

Now, where can a person get a wad of tow fibers for a reasonable price?

The Woolery sells it for 37.99/lb. And I'll tell you that you can clean many many guns with one pound of the stuff. So at that price, I'd say that's reasonable.

Don't want to buy it by the pound? I found this on Etsy; $5.90 for 4 oz. Even that seemingly small amount is quite sufficient and will last a long time. So it's out there. Google is your friend.