Neatsfoot oil as a patch lube?

[william cook]

I was looking around my workbench and spied a bottle of Neatsfoot oil and wondered if it would make a good patch lube?Has any body tried it? Bill. :hmm:

 

[bpd303]

There are several members who use it and report good results. They mention it needs to be "pure". I have never tried it but see no reason it wouldn't work as well as Mink or some of the other oils.

 

[william cook]

On the bottle it says it is a mixture of oils,guess it is worth a try? Bill.

 

[eaglesnester]

all I can tell U is that my experience with neatsfoot oil was not productive. After the 2nd or 3rd shot or so I was unable to get a patched round ball down the bore. I think it fouled my barrel.

 

[dikman]

Watermoccasin, it's jolly decent of you to try it on our behalf :wink: . Be sure to let us know how it goes.

 

[nathan.davis]

In looking at the different manufacturers for neatsfoot oil, I found literally dozens of varieties that vary by the types of other oils in their formula. I think that traditionally neatfoot oil is made from lard, but many manufacturers include other types of oil in it, too. So it is difficult to classify all neatsfoot oil as the same product.

Regardless, if we make the broad and often erroneous assumption that it is made only from lard, then we see that the smoke point is around 400 degrees F. This is probably high enough to use in the barrel of an ML without it gunking up too much. All things equal (and they never are), the higher the smoke point and flash point, the better for reducing gunk in the barrel. If you are interested in comparing the smoke point for different oils, then you can find some comparisons at the goodeatsfanpage.com website and at many other websites. You will notice a wide range of heat tolerances based on the amount of refining involved.

Although I have not tried it yet, I'm leaning toward switching to refined peanut oil as a patch lube and cleaner. You will note that it has a smoke point around 440 degrees F. Several other listed oils show similar properties. Some show very high temperature tolerance. Almost all the listed oils will work, but as a general rule, the lower the smoke point the higher the gunk you should find in your barrel after firing it.

However, I find lots of negative comments on using petroleum based oils as a patch lube--they all seem to result in gunk.

I'm also shying away from using animal based oils for long-term storage because they tend to include lots of acid. However, the ones that tolerate high temperatures can still work great as a patch lube.

 

[william cook]

Thank you guys for the input,I don't know if I am ready to experiment too much as I would like to go with the tried and true(?) methods first. Bill.

 

[jamesthomas]

I have 2 bottles of neetsfoot oil I bought from Track ages ago, Haven't used much. I reckon I need to break it out and see how it does. I'll let ya'll know how it works out later this week.

 

[George]

I think that traditionally neatfoot oil is made from lard,

An old name for cattle was "neat". Neatsfoot oil was traditionally made from the leg and feet bones of cattle. As far as I know, lard is exclusively made from pigs.

I don't know what neatsfoot oil is made from today.

Spence

 

[longcruise]

There is neat's-foot oil and neat's-foot oil compound. The compound has some silicones in it.

If you want the pure stuff you will need to hunt for and kill about 250 neats and process 1000 feet to obtain 9 ounces of oil.

 

[william cook]

:rotf: I love it!! Bill.

 

[newtewsmoke]

I don't know what neatsfoot oil is made from today.

...bovine hooves, so i've been told.
...ever leave some in a dish out where the dog can get to it? :wink:

 

[Curt]

watermoccasin Spence has it right and its still made the same way accordin to our butcher shop .TSC or Farm and Fleet have it ,just get the pure stuff not the compound.I shot my 40 the other day ( 12 shot group) with it and it worked just fine .The smell is the worst part of it for me.But I hate the smell of Ballistol too.

Ilike a grease lube for all around shootin that way im always ready for huntin. Curt

 

[LaBonte]

I think that traditionally neatfoot oil is made from lard,

An old name for cattle was "neat". Neatsfoot oil was traditionally made from the leg and feet bones of cattle. As far as I know, lard is exclusively made from pigs.

I don't know what neatsfoot oil is made from today.

Spence

There are only a couple of makers - Fiebings is one - that use the traditional leg bone and feet of cattle to produce neat's foot oil. Originally it was made only from the forelegs of nests - young cattle - and it was not boiled but the legs were hung and the oil dripped out. By the Rev Wart period at least though there are references in the colonies of neat's foot oil being made by boiling the legs and feet of cattle.

Today the vast majority of neat's foot oil is made from hog lard and has been since the 1930's when the US Government set the standards - any oil fitting the standards is allowed to be called pure neat's foot oil. Neat's foot compound on the other hand can include other types of oil and/or silicone. To know for sure just search for the MSDS by manufacturer and it will give you the actual ingredients.

Anyway I believe Dan Phariss - DPhariss - has posted about using pure neat's oil as a patch lube, and frankly I don't see a problem using lard or lard based NF in fact the Lexol folks produce a non-greasy neat's foot oil using lard as a base and it is designed not to dehydrate (i.e. dry out) as fast as the regular oils. Never used it for patch lube, I've got a goodly supply of bear grease my favorite, plus a can of pure unsalted lard is cheap and I've used it successfully for over 40 years when I couldn't get bear grease. but I've been using it on leather gear now for over 15 years and it's good stuff.

 

[Rifleman1776]

all I can tell U is that my experience with neatsfoot oil was not productive. After the 2nd or 3rd shot or so I was unable to get a patched round ball down the bore. I think it fouled my barrel.

I'll betcha you were using the compound. That is Neatsfoot oil with silicone. You were coating the bore with silicone. Bad news. Needs to come out, probably with a solvent.