Coal oil pre kerosene

[Tumbledown]

Coal oil is not the same as kerosene.
Just south of Moundsville West Virginia back in the early 1970's consolidated coal had a cracking refinery where they were making gasoline out of coal for 11 cents a gallon.

Actually, it is. Coal oil was marketed under the brand name of Kerosene before it was ever made from petroleum.

But here's the kicker: the "coal" for coal oil was actually what we today call oil shale, which is a petroleum-bearing rock.

All we did was trade the source of the petroleum.

More HERE.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Is it?
Maybe it is for all the other purposes of coal oil/kerosene, but that doesn't mean it is the same for wood treatment. One being a petroleum product and the other not.

I seem to recall someone,,, or more than one someone,,,, debunking the whole, "soak your ramrods in kerosene," thing some years ago.
Could be misremembering, but something seems off in the theory....
Kind of like keeping ones spare flints in water or whatever fluid people used to think made their flints better at one time.

Keeping flints in water works very well: ask professional knappers...

 

[cjgregory]

Well cj, I admire your forbearance and appreciate the discussion. This is what can happen on the forum when the full moon comes into conjunction with the cranks. You shouldn't have brought up the Nazis, though. Next thing, you will be called the new Hitler for trying to initiate a discussion on coal oil. Per Murphy, no good deed goes unpunished. SW

Really? Oh for crying out loud. I won’t do it again. Thanks for the heads up Steve. I like discussions about our common interests. Especially flint locks. It has developed into some sort of passion for me.
I know about this stuff because I’ve worker up at the Carter Creek plant in Gillette, Wyoming. My old stomping grounds.

 

[cjgregory]

Actually, it is. Coal oil was marketed under the brand name of Kerosene before it was ever made from petroleum.

But here's the kicker: the "coal" for coal oil was actually what we today call oil shale, which is a petroleum-bearing rock.

All we did was trade the source of the petroleum.

More HERE.

Yep. I worked the shale oil project in Parachute, Colorado early in my career. Union oil never really got the Retort to work correctly.

 

[nkbj]

Grandad and his brothers called it coal oil so we did too. As in a "coal oil stove" and other uses such as doctoring wounds. Took a while later in life to realize what kerosene versus coal oil was even about.

 

[LRB]

The scent of either coal oil or kerosene is going to picked up by deer and other critters.

 

[LRB]

Keeping flints in water works very well: ask professional knappers...

What do you think it does to the flint? It surely does not get absorbed.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

What do you think it does to the flint? It surely does not get absorbed.

Stone does absorb moisture. It's why you don't make a fire with stones from a creek, and why serious knappers prefer using fresh dug stone.

 

[LRB]

Stone does absorb moisture. It's why you don't make a fire with stones from a creek, and why serious knappers prefer using fresh dug stone.

I stand corrected! You are correct.

 

[Brokennock]

Stone does absorb moisture. It's why you don't make a fire with stones from a creek, and why serious knappers prefer using fresh dug stone.

How long have those stones been wet compared to how long your gun flint will be in a jar of water?

Keeping flints in water works very well: ask professional knappers...

Yeah? Great! Makes it better to knapp (let's see an actual scientifically dine study on that )
Which is not what I want from the flint in my gun. I want it to hold up, not break easier.

 

[Brokennock]

So let's see some evidence that soaking your ramrod in some foul smelling oil, that isn't what was originally used no matter how much folks try to play with language and spin it,,,, actually "makes the rod more limber and harder to break."

I'm surprised some of you don't carry a fleem or two and some leaches in your 1st Aid kit, probably in the Shot Pouch at that.

Welcome to the, "old wife's tales, myths, and legends forum"

 

[cjgregory]

So let's see some evidence that soaking your ramrod in some foul smelling oil, that isn't what was originally used no matter how much folks try to play with language and spin it,,,, actually "makes the rod more limber and harder to break."

I'm surprised some of you don't carry a fleem or two and some leaches in your 1st Aid kit, probably in the Shot Pouch at that.

Welcome to the, "old wife's tales, myths, and legends forum"

Hahaha. So what do you use on your ramrod? Or do you use a range rod?
Please educate me. My post was just an interesting post. That’s what the forum is for.

So where are you getting your coal oil? How are you retorting in from the shale? Have you ever used either? Bear fat and urine? The urine making it thin enough to penetrate the wood of course.

Did you think coal oil was odorless? Being petroleum product of course.
Producing a period reference might be difficult. Just say, “In my opinion”. When you disagree this vehemently.

 

[longcruise]

Well, if keeping flints in water is a good thing, then I'm gonna try it with caps!

 

[Trev]

I'm sure the deer and other creatures can smell Kerosene (which my parents and all their generation called Coal Oil) and it's close kin diesel as well, but when night hunting with a kerosene lantern, I've had a deer stand less that 25' from me for ten minutes or so, watching that flickering light before walking slowly off. And with diesel fuel on all my work clothes and shoes, I have set fox and coyote traps and had same night catches, so although they can surely smell the oils that smell does not alarm them in the least.
Much more concern about the lingering scent of your breakfast or the soap you used to clean the gun.
If the deer smelling you is of concern make sure you stay downwind of them.

 

[longcruise]

@Trev you should bottle some of that up real fancy like and sell as a super attractant scent. Be a big seller in Cabelas.

 

[Trev]

Scents sold in Cabelas and other such places are meant to attract money not critters. Fact is the critters can't read the advertisements or the warnings, so they never know that diesel smell indicates a predator with rifle.
With the wind on your face they will never smell you anyway.

 

[Brokennock]

Hahaha. So what do you use on your ramrod? Or do you use a range rod?
Please educate me. My post was just an interesting post. That’s what the forum is for.

So where are you getting your coal oil? How are you retorting in from the shale? Have you ever used either? Bear fat and urine? The urine making it thin enough to penetrate the wood of course.

Did you think coal oil was odorless? Being petroleum product of course.
Producing a period reference might be difficult. Just say, “In my opinion”.

No range rod. Straight hickory, linseed oil based finish. No gimmicks, no voodoo.
No breakage.

 

[Tumbledown]

So let's see some evidence that soaking your ramrod in some foul smelling oil, that isn't what was originally used no matter how much folks try to play with language and spin it,,,, actually "makes the rod more limber and harder to break."

I'm surprised some of you don't carry a fleem or two and some leaches in your 1st Aid kit, probably in the Shot Pouch at that.

Welcome to the, "old wife's tales, myths, and legends forum"

Coal oil and modern kerosene are essentially the same.

Coal oil is a shale oil obtained from the destructive distillation of cannel coal, mineral wax, or bituminous shale, once used widely for illumination.[1]

Cannel coal of the Pennsylvanian subperiod from NE Ohio used to produce coal oil
Chemically similar to the more refined, petroleum-derived kerosene, it consists mainly of several hydrocarbons of the alkane series, with 10 to 16 carbon atoms in each molecule, with a boiling point of 175 to 325 °C (347 to 617 °F), higher than gasoline or the petroleum ethers, and lower than the oils.

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.

 

[Richard$58]

I found this interesting quote on wooden axe handles and ramrods of the 18th &19th centuries.

“Kerosene is the modern version of coal oil. Coal oil was commonly used for tool handles during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was also used for soaking ramrods in. Not only does it waterproof, but it greatly aids in the flexability of the wood preventing breakage. This is especially true with Hickory. Also, a small dose of coal oil/kerosene was drunk to kill GI parasites, usually picked up from bad water.”

I found it in a book on early axe and tomahawk handles.

I had a girlfriend from Guyana who told me how she and all local kids got worms. Dad gave a spoon of kerosene causing violent diarreah with very long, very dead, worms exiting .

 

[Richard$58]

Coal oil and modern kerosene are essentially the same.

Extracted by confining, heating, and distilling out. The dry coal now being safe to store because if not roasted out the fumes in a coal hopper were problematic. Anyway that’s what a guy at the rail museum said.