Ramrod soaking

[como]

Need help!

I have a .32 cal flintlock and I am trying to find the ingredients and soak time to stabilize the ramrod.I have heard one can soak it in Kerosene and linseed oil but no one could tell me the amounts or the time.Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Ohio Rusty]

You only need kerosene. Get a length of PVC pipe, glue a cap on one end. Put your ramrod in and fill it with kerosene to just above the ramrod. Put a cap on the other end (don't glue that one) and leave it set for a month or two. That's all there is to it. I used a 1 inch pipe and soaked 5 different rods at one time. *NOTE - if you want to stripe a rod, and you plan on using the burning method to make the stripes, do your striping before soaking it or you'll end up with a nice 3 or 4 foot torch if you put flame to it. The sulpfur smell will disappear in a few weeks after removed from the kerosene. Some places are adding a red dye to kerosene so they don't have a mix up between kerosene and diesel gas (they look and smell similiar). Unless you want a ramrod that is bright red, make sure you get the clear kerosene ....
Ohio Rusty

 

[Stumpkiller]

I read somewhere a full year, but no-one in the 21st century has that much patience. You'd have to put it in a sealed pipe to keep the kerosene from evaporating out.

 

[jrdavis]

to s[eed up the process get an air valve from a tire shop drill a hole in the end cap install the air valve...after everything is loaded applt pressure...ten-fifteen pounds.don't forget the relieve the pressure when you take the cap off :results:

 

[jtmattison]

Having never heard of this, I have to ask what this is all for?

Huntin

 

[vradin]

Having never heard of this, I have to ask what this is all for?
Huntin

I know, I know... it's so that when you leave the rod in the barrel and accidentally shoot it, you can find it easier by following the flame trail. :haha:

Nope, that's not it... Oh wait... Now I got it- early version of tracer rounds? :crackup:

I'm glad someone asked first so I don't feel so unknowledgeable (is that even a word?)

vic

 

[Keith]

It is supposed to make the rod more flexible, so it is harder to break. No idea why it works though.

 

[54ball]

The theory behind soaking ramrods in coal oil or kerosene is the kerosene will act as a lubricant between the wood fibers making the rod more flexible. Some say you can almost bend the rod into a full circle after it has fully absorbed the oil. It could simply be that the kerosene pickles the rod. For example, compare a pickle and a raw cucumber. The pickle will have some flex the cucumber will not.

 

[Claude Mathis]

to s[eed up the process get an air valve from a tire shop drill a hole in the end cap install the air valve...after everything is loaded applt pressure...ten-fifteen pounds.don't forget the relieve the pressure when you take the cap off

It's my understanding that you can not pressurize a liquid. That's why when you pump up those child's water propelled rockets, you have to leave air in the chamber. If it was completely filled with water you couldn't preassurize it at all. ::

 

[RussB]

I read somewhere a full year, but no-one in the 21st century has that much patience. You'd have to put it in a sealed pipe to keep the kerosene from evaporating out.

Stumpy...I have done this in as little as a week or so in the summer when I could put the PVC pipe with the rods out in the sun.
It will certainly straighten the rod if the PVC pipe is laid flat. Rods treated with coal oil will "bow" or slump much faster that a regular rod should you forget and stand it on end leaned against something.
And, if the ends are not taped real good they won't stay on worth a nickle especially if they are pinned.

The effort we go through to save a buck!

I personally don't think that smell ever goes away....unless I have only used hi-test coal oil. That distinctive smell combined with Black Powder smoke will make a maggot hold his nose.
Some folks wrap the rods with electrical tape in a spiraling wrap for a pretty neat looking rod. I tried it and ended up with a gooey mess that had to be burned off :crackup:
I used a propane torch once to "stripe" a rod, and it turned out pretty good. Then I soaked it in coal oil and wasted another 8 bucks (I saved the tips). Guess I was saving money. :huh:

A good hickory rod is still hard to beat, in functionality, and looks. We pay $2.40 for a pine dowel rod, spend another $5.50 on rod tips, an hours labor in pinning the tips and sanding the rod, put it in .25 worth of coal oil and hope for the best. If we tried to buy a hickory dowel, it would cost as much as a complete rod from the store, perhaps we deserve what we get, after all...it is muzzleloaders way.

Russ

 

[tna]

to s[eed up the process get an air valve from a tire shop drill a hole in the end cap install the air valve...after everything is loaded applt pressure...ten-fifteen pounds.don't forget the relieve the pressure when you take the cap off

It's my understanding that you can not pressurize a liquid. That's why when you pump up those child's water propelled rockets, you have to leave air in the chamber. If it was completely filled with water you couldn't preassurize it at all. ::

actually you can't compress a liquid. if you couldn't pressurize a liquid hydraulic systems wouldn't work very well. but you do need something pushing against the liquid (compressed air, a pump, etc.) to keep it under pressure. i think the principle is forcing the oil into the wood by pushing it with the air pressure. and that ends the physics lesson for today.

 

[foxy]

If you compress the kerosene enough, you won't need a ramrod, you will need a house, as your current abode will become the interior of a diesel engine for a few seconds. ::

 

[vradin]

i think the principle is forcing the oil into the wood by pushing it with the air pressure. and that ends the physics lesson for today.

Since we all need a good physic now and again :haha: Seems like drawing a vacumn might work better, remove the air in the wood fibers and replace it with the liquid. Just a guess, but it still seems more cost effective to just buy a hickory or ash rod.

vic

 

[Ashelocoa]

I use neatsfoot oil. I also use the PVC pipe, and of course you must stain it first, or whatever you want to do to it. Neatsfoot oil also smells but not as bad and the smell departs once it's thoroughly dried. Same concept, different fluid. :m2c:

ashelocoa

FYI Neatsfoot oil is obtained by boiling the hooves(feet) of cows(neats).

 

[2172]

Vic, the old method of preparing telephone poles was as you suggest...the poles were first pressurized using steam, then the steam was vented and the pressure in the tank was reduced below outside pressure, creating a sorta vacumn...and then the preservative was put into the tank, so that the "semi-vacumn" was satisfied with the preservative...I soak my ramrods, using kerosene...lamp oil...I think I'm making 'em more flexible, but I mostly do it for the same reason I don't step on cracks in the side walk..superstition...Hank

 

[RussB]

...I soak my ramrods, using kerosene...lamp oil...I think I'm making 'em more flexible, but I mostly do it for the same reason I don't step on cracks in the side walk..superstition...Hank

There ya go Hank! Best yet IMHO. :redthumb:
Russ