Pillow ticking ?

[Patch@Ball]

I bought some pillow ticking at a fabric store. My ? Is. Before I lube the pillow ticking material do I need to wash the fabric with laundry detergent and then put it in the dryer or do I just wet the material with water and then put it in the dryer? Thanks!

 

[tenngun]

Wash it three or four times, to get the fabric starches and finishing stuff ‘sizing’ out of it.
Cut off the ragged edges.

 

[BallBoy]

Wash and dry it multiple times to remove sizing and dry it to tighten up the weave. Then it should be ready to use. Best to lube as you use it cut at the barrel. Some lubes can deteriorate patch material so it doesn’t work as desired. Depends on lube. There are to many lubes available. You have to find what works best for you with accuracy, ease of loading and most importantly the cleaning of your rifle. I’m sure others will give you ideas too.

 

[Versanaut]

I wash and dry mine. I only use one cycle myself if using it for patch material. Remember, no softeners or additives.

If using it for bag liner or other craftwork I wash more to make sure about the sizing.

I cut into 1 1/2" to 2" wide rolls. Lube only RIGHT before loading and cut off at the barrel.

 

[Patch@Ball]

Thanks everyone!

 

[dave951]

Repeating for emphasis. Wash several times with plain detergent, no softeners. Tumble dry hot to tighten up the fabric.

 

[.36Rooster]

And put a micrometer on it and note its width so you can buy the same width next time. Patch width matters. Lol

 

[necchi]

Wash-n-dry once,
No Fabric softener, no dryer sheet.
An no cussin when yer trying to pull all those tangled end threads, don't worry,,just cut'm off,, it'll lay flat.

 

[tom_in_vt]

Wash and dry a few times. Lube as needed for use. I wouldn’t lube the entire thing initially.

 

[beardedhorse]

I used to buy pre cut .020" patches to work out patch/ball combinations. The blue and white pillow ticking mikes (micrometer) out to about .018" for me. 100% levi blue jeans from 100 per cent cotton mike out about .020" and run tighter than the blue pillow ticking. I guess you could find denim in the fabric store and mike it out.

 

[hanshi]

Denim is tough to beat as a patch material. I started with pillow ticking and later found mattress ticking which was thicker and a bit tighter weave. Then on to duck and finally to denim and heavy, unbleached canvas. Pillow ticking does work great in many rifles and I use it in my .54, still.

 

[ratpatrol]

Denim is tough to beat as a patch material. I started with pillow ticking and later found mattress ticking which was thicker and a bit tighter weave. Then on to duck and finally to denim and heavy, unbleached canvas. Pillow ticking does work great in many rifles and I use it in my .54, still.

Are you referring to drop cloth or tent canvas denim?

 

[4575wcf]

When I bought my first muzzle loader as a teenager in the '70's I used muslin from Mother's quilt material stash, usually the outside edges of bed sheets where they were not worn. I cut round patches to size, melted Crisco on the stove, dropped the patches in and fished them out with tweezers. They would dry in a nice tight stack that I could easily peel patches off of in the field. That first rifle had a very smooth rifled bore, and it worked very well with this combination. Later as I bought more rifles, some of the bores were rougher, so I went up to pillow ticking, laundered and treated the same way. Check your recovered patches they should show rifling steaks and a dark spot in center where the ball was. My mountain rifle burned patches something awful and I had to go with a progressively smaller ball and thicker linen patching before it began to wear in and shoot better. Each barrel is its own separate entity it seems.

 

[Crow-Feather]

The best that I ever found was Irish Linen. It worked extremely well. Just can't find it anymore.

 

[4575wcf]

When I lived in Western OR, there was a wonderful store in Milwaukee called "The Mill's End". They specialize(d)? in canvas, upholstery, ticking and all sorts of tough materials. I used to buy my linen there by the yard, the ladies always got a kick out of me bringing in my Starret 1 inch micrometer and getting the appropriate weave. That stuff will take a beating as a patch material, and that is no joke.

 

[rafterob]

I am of the one wash cycle school also. Have not seen a need to wash it more than once. There is only one fabric store left in my area. They used to carry 3 or 4 different striped tickings, now only one on a large roll. So I buy what they have. For my use they are similar enough so I don't worry about measuring the thickness.

 

[Stykbow]

I just came from the local Walmart where I went to buy some ticking. The navy stripe measured .0255 and the red was .0275! I did find some with no stripes that measured .0220 which I bought since it would compress down to roughly .0180. Just thought this was weird since I’ve not seen anyone mention finding any that thick. Hoping to see how it shoots this week.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I used to use pillow ticking right from the store unwashed. I started soaking it in plain cold water the dry out on the clothes line. It did help to make the ticking a little less stiff. However, I noticed no difference in accuracy over either method of use.

 

[4575wcf]

You do have to keep an eye on the labels these days and make sure the ticking is 100% natural fibers. When I joined the club in OR we were shooting ticking with a green teflon coating on one side that we were getting from a mail order vendor. One of the guys decided to replicate it himself, but he got ahold of a polyester blend that melted in our barrels, left a nasty deposit inside the bores hard to remove. I have been a fan of all natural greased linen every since, but it is getting a bit difficult to find. Sort of like percussion caps, black powder, etc. etc. I suppose cow horns, and leather will be next on the shortage list.

 

[COTNTOP]

Wal-Mart