Is a spiral striped ramrod correct?

[sleepingbulldog]

I’m finishing up my Kibler Colonial rifle and trying to decide what to do with the ramrod. I’m tossing around the idea of a spiral stripe. Would that be correct for a rifle of this type (1760-1770’s Virginia)?

 

[64Springer]

If you decide to do it, post up exactly how you did it. With pictures of course. Kicking this idea around myself.

I read about a jar filled with aqua fortis. With twine in the jar. The twine was wrapped wet in a spiral. The AF was allowed to seep in. The twine was removed and heat was applied. Sounds like it would work.

 

[deerstalkert]

Just my own feelings.
I feel that the spiral stripped rods distract from the overall look of the rifle. draws your eye to the rod and not the rifle so's to speak.
that said, it may have a purpose in being able to find if it's dropped or laid down in brush.

 

[deerstalkert]

if anyone has luck with AF on a hickory rod please post the results. i have not had any satisfactory results.

 

[Pete G]

Spiral stripe rods are more in the mid1800’s or so.

 

[Stykbow]

The twine idea above is pretty cool, but if it were me I’d just burn it on with a torch.

 

[Greg_E]

Use a soldering iron to burn the pattern? Or splurge on a wood burning kit?

To the aqua fortis question, are you using straight acid, acid and iron you made yourself, or ferric nitrate crystals in water? Hickory is a tight grain and may not let the iron get very deep. I've used the ferric nitrate on walnut and beech so far with decent luck. If I had a piece of hickory I'd give it a try for you, but nothing on hand. Closest I have is Oak to replace the plastic ramrod in my recent kit.

 

[tenngun]

On a colonial rifle we would be hard pressed to find any depiction or description of this.
I have it on my SMR.
Rr did break and got replaced I doubt that we have any colonial guns with the original rod,, and it’s impossible to say when done. But I would hesitate to do it on any eighteenth century gun.

 

[nchawkeye]

Nope, not during the Colonial period...

 

[sleepingbulldog]

Thanks, I’m just going to go with aquafortis all over the entire rod and then oil it.

 

[64Springer]

I applied AF all over a red oak dowel to see what the effects would be. The color was very nice. Lighter and darker shades because oak has a lot of varying grain densities.

That dowel snapped like glass when I tried to flex it. The AF took the pliability out of the wood. No flex at all.

Will this happen with hickory? I don't know. But some testing may be in order.

 

[Oberst]

I applied AF all over a red oak dowel to see what the effects would be. The color was very nice. Lighter and darker shades because oak has a lot of varying grain densities.

That dowel snapped like glass when I tried to flex it. The AF took the pliability out of the wood. No flex at all.

Will this happen with hickory? I don't know. But some testing may be in order.

I hope not! I did the hickory on my Colonial with aqua fortis.

 

[sleepingbulldog]

I ended up with a nice color on my ramrod using AF. It still seems to flex nicely, but I also applied a coat of Tried & True oil varnish right after blushing so maybe that restored the wood if it got dried out.

 

[Greg_E]

I'll have to make a couple to test flexibility. The oak dowels at Lowes are only a couple $ each for 3 foot pieces, I do have an extra and have one that's a slight amount short.

But the question kind if remains aqua fortis or ferric nitrate? The acid stuff carries a lot of free acid, the crystals are supposed to be all balanced.

The striped rod could be considered partly camo, like stripes on a zebra. If the rest of the stock had strips in a similar direction, it might look good

 

[LME]

Use a good brand of electrical tape, not the cheap stuff and wrap it around your ram rod spaped as you like then use a propane torch to char lightly the exposed wood. I have good results with this method.
I tried the cheap tape but it wasn't as heat resistant as tape like
"3-M".

 

[Greg_E]

Here is a rifle that has stripes FOR SALE - BEAUTIFUL Custom. 50 Longrifle

 

[sleepingbulldog]

I'll have to make a couple to test flexibility. The oak dowels at Lowes are only a couple $ each for 3 foot pieces, I do have an extra and have one that's a slight amount short.

But the question kind if remains aqua fortis or ferric nitrate? The acid stuff carries a lot of free acid, the crystals are supposed to be all balanced.

The striped rod could be considered partly camo, like stripes on a zebra. If the rest of the stock had strips in a similar direction, it might look good

I used the aquafortis that Kibler sells. No adverse effects that I’ve seen…but it’s only been a couple hours.

 

[Greg_E]

I'm fairly sure Kiblers uses the crystals and mix with distilled water. I bought the cheapest container of crystals on Amazon, boy do I have a lot of leftover crystals. 4 ounces of mixed product goes a long way, I'm two stocks worth and still most of the bottle left.

I have about 15 ounces of tannic acid mix too.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

Was told 30 some years ago by John Schipper during his gun making class at Conner Prairie that striped ramrods were not original they were a Friendship creation from the 60's.

 

[rchas]

I think striped ramrods look great on southern mountain rifles, but not on earlier guns.

Red oak is a poor choice for ramrods, it is far too brittle. If you have to use oak, look for white oak - it's often used to make baskets so it is plenty pliable enough for a ramrod.