patching material

[Earle Varney]

This probaly has already been asked but I recently picked up some linen for paching material. It measures .014 in thick, what is the benifet of linen over cotton, if any. Picked up some Pillow ticking as well at .018 in thick anybody heard of thinner pillow ticking and avaiblity.

 

[saber]

linin is a very tight weave and I had some 14tho pillow ticking just need to take a mic when buying and mic all your cloth

 

[Bill Hall]

I just looked up info on linen on the net, then called my ex wife for more info. It turns out that true linen is made from flax, and I can't tell you if flax is any better, or worse, than cotton. However, most commercally available linen is made from cotton, but still carries the name of linen due to it's tight weave. Assuming the linen you have is actually cotton, and it has a tight weave, it should do very well for prb, especially at .014".

With that said, the only thing to do now is to try it. Could turn out to be the magic material for you rifle, or maybe your rifle likes thicker, or thinner material. Like what is stated freaquently around here, every rifle is different. Good luck, Bill

 

[Earle Varney]

The saleswomen at the fabric store said it was actually from flax, I did ask because they had some mixed with rayon and I did know if enough to not get anything with plastics in it. I was more curios than anything and also tired of buying precut patches, when a yard of material was only a little more than 100 patches. Thanks for the info

 

[BigDogg]

You could also try ome 40# Drill cloth. Its very tight weave, and all cotton. Its what they use for making pockets in blue jeans. Make sure you wash your material first, to get the sizing starch out of it. At the fabric store here, the drill cloth is in the same bin as the pillow ticking. Good luck! And good shootin!

 

[Stumpkiller]

Cotton, linen, linsey-woolsey, wool. All work fine for patching as they are natural materials and char rather than melt.

 

[longbow1]

Why don't you use silk it will give you another 40yds :rotf:

 

[ZUG]

Good one alabamaboy; and if the silk was worn by a virgin you might get another 20 yds out of it :grin:

 

[nchawkeye]

Yep, it works, been there...

 

[nkbj]

My better 2/3's has a box of cotton twill stuck back in the quiltatorium. Gonna give that a try in that tight little 36. Ya just never know.

 

[FPDoc]

You don't need round patches either, wash and dry it to get the sizing out (you might want to sew across the cut edges or it becomes a bit of a mess in the washer and you lose a couple inches, I think that you can get a little extra thickness if you really hot wash and dry it to shrink it as much as possible if you need to) then tear it into strips to cut at the muzzle or cut to square patches or fold back and forth like for paper dolls and trim the corners for tearing off one at a time. Bottom line is you sure can get a lot of patches for a very few bucks.

 

[hoochiepapa]

Could you tell me about paper dolls? I don't have much experience. :rotf:

 

[Dphar]

This probaly has already been asked but I recently picked up some linen for paching material. It measures .014 in thick, what is the benifet of linen over cotton, if any. Picked up some Pillow ticking as well at .018 in thick anybody heard of thinner pillow ticking and avaiblity.

Linen is tougher/stronger than cotton.
It has a higher ignition temp.
It also compresses less and for a given "fit" it will require a slightly thinner patch.

But a cotton ticking patch or denim patch will work just as well if the fit is correct. We have difficulty finding tight weave heavy linen today a problem our forefathers did not have.

Dan

 

[hoochiepapa]

No offense intended!

 

[Maven]

"...you might want to sew across the cut edges or it becomes a bit of a mess in the washer and you lose a couple inches...."

You can avoid the sewing and unraveling if you cut the material with a pinking shears. I use a $20 Fiskars that my wife got for me and am completely satisfied with it...and the absence of a stringy mass.

 

[longcruise]

I throw it in the washer, run two cycles on hot water with soap both times around then into the dryer on hot dry. Edges are all gnarly but I cut them off with plain ol scissors and the material is ready to go to the range.