moose snot ?

[scott k]

I made some moose snot yesterday and had some ?s. When it is done does it look like mashed potatoes? how much scum comes off the top when it is heated up and mixed. Thank you in advance.
Lehigh...

 

[Stumpkiller]

Mashed potatoes?

I'm guessing you stirred it up far into the time it was cooling. It will still work fine.

I have had batches that had very little skum, some that had much more. I am guessing it is some component of the beeswax. I used to leave it right in the lube and it worked just as well. A typical batch with filtered beeswax has less than a teaspoon full of lube. It might have something to do with proteins. I suspect the slower it comes to melt and the lower the heat the less they seperate out into scum. Too hot or a boil causes the wax to break down.

 

[scott k]

The mashed potato look happened when I did the TOP SECRET STEP. It was clear until I put in that last bit of Murphy's and stirred. As for the scum I Guess there wasn't much more than a teaspoon. Just worried I did some thing wrong. It looked like more than I was expecting
Can't wait to see how it works :thumbsup:

By the way how did you come up with your lubes. :hmm:
Lehigh...

 

[Stumpkiller]

By the way how did you come up with your lubes.

I liked Natural Lube 1K Plus/Bore Butter, but it smelled and looked "unauthentic." I try to keep everything in my shooting bag to items reasonally correct for the 1780's. No plastic, no pre-packaged. I had been transferring the Bore Butter to "tin" containers (i.e. shoe polish tins with the paint burned off) but in the summer it would ooze out and make a mess.

A hobby of mine is radio controlled airplanes, and after each flight I wipe them down to get the exhaust residue off the plane. They burn alcohol & castor oil for fuel. The castor oil does not burn, provides all the lubrication for a hot little engine, and makes an oily mess on the plane that you need Windex or alcohol to clean off. I had a little lightbulb moment.

So, I set about to make a lube based on castor oil. In the past I homebrewed "Old Zip" type of lubes (beeswax, Crisco and mutton tallow), so I started by swapping the castor oil for the Crisco. I've read and heard that petroleum products produce tars that add to fouling problems, so I tried to stick with natural and non-petroleum components. I also started to test the components for rust by smearing a steel plate with them, and then flashing half the plate with blackpowder, rinsing it off with a hose, re-applying the test substance and leaving it outdoors. I got some surprising results. Plain old Murphy's Oil Soap proved to be the best for protecting and cleaning up (the ONLY product that the flashed powder washed off with no rubbing), so I decided that had to be in whatever else I came up with.

I worked up the Moose Snot first, and then modified the ubiquitous moose milk solvent/lube to also use castor oil.

Here's a few links to the ongoing saga.

Lube War #1

Lube War Phase Two


The End - Lube War

Castor Oil

Home Brewed Lube

Dry(ed) Lube

 

[scott k]

Stumpkiller, I have a ? about caster oil. What kind do you use. Do You use the kind you use 2 stroke engines or the medicine kind? When you talk about caster oil I thought immediately of the stuff taken for your rear end but did think of the stuff used for the bottom end of a engine.
Lehigh..

 

[mike alexandre]

Thats a coincidence, I was going to ask the same question. I've been using MS and MM for about a month now and I'm very pleased with the results - thanks SK. When I went out to get the ingredients I shopped at a chemists(drug store) and ended up with pure virgin caster oil. The result is a creamy yellow paste, very smooth between the fingure tips a bit like shoe polish and dos'ent seem to be too temp sensitive ie it doesnt turn to mush in the sun. If the fouling makes loading a bit hard I just give the next patch a little thicker smear. The shot doesnt seem to be affected by being generous with the lube.

 

[brushbuster]

i'm going to give stumpy a break and answer this one
the castor oil in the recipe is the stuff your grandma used as a cure all that tasted real bad.
you can get castor oil at any pharmacy or drug store in the laxetive section. the funny thing about it is i can never find the large bottles like in the old movies ::

 

[x-terminator]

at the local rite-aid they have castor oil for $3.69 a 4oz bottle. I asked the pharmacist if he could get a larger bottle and he said "no problem, it'll be here tomorrow". It's a 16oz bottle for $12, thought that sounded pretty good. :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

They got it. The "fit for human consumption" kind.

From what I can tell there are at least two grades. The process first cold squeezes the beans - that's the good stuff - and then the squeezed beans are heated to get the second grade of oil - that's got a yellow/amber tinge to it and I believe is what you see in the motorcycle shops.

I believe either would work, but I've only ever used the drug store variety. I buy my airplane fuel pre-mixed.

 

[mike alexandre]

Thats because we have politicians to give us the S---- now, also your Grandma knew everything about you including how your bowels worked.

 

[scott k]

Thank you Stumpkiller! When I read your post about airplanes it reminded me of the caster oil I used in my dirt bike. Nothing like the sweat smell and blue smoke of it burning :: I found mine at a Giant food store for $1.34 for 4 ozs. Have to go back and get some more and make some milk :thumbsup:
Lehigh..

 

[peashooterJoe]

Try Wally world they have the best price, it is in the medical section,less than $2.00 for 4 oz bottle. What a deal so I bought 5 bottles all they had. The lady stocking said that was the most stock movement on castor oil seen since she had been there. I guess that, the price will go up now. :crackup: