Ramrods Revisited

[Keith]

I am slowly working on a longrifle kit from Cambers. I have been trying to decide what is the best way to finish the rod so it is strong and least likely to break. Any comments?

 

[TwoShadows]

As I look back over this post, I am beginning to wonder if we are trying to re-invent the ramrod. At the risk of being flamed I have to ask....why? If we keep trying to replace the tried and true hickory ramrod with various metals and synthetic replacements, arent we heading toward inventing the in-line mind set? When we start trying to upgrade the traditional wood ramrod are we in truth saying that we cant cope with using the correct items to make it more user friendly with our 21st century mentality? I cant be content with a nice copy of a traditional flinter with the synthetic or metal attachment. If I am going to use such practices, why not go ahead and install a laser sighting system? I thought we built and shot the old styles for the pleasure of doing something the old way. I feel that the handicap of staying with traditional equipage is what the idea of the whole thing was. I suppose it is natural for us to "build a better mousetrap", but I just cant see an aluminum ramrod hanging under the barrel of a Bucks County flinter. If we simply cant tolerate the use of hickory, I suppose we could just go find us a length of Lignum Vitae and be done with it...after all, that is the hardest natural wood available. Sorry to be so hard nosed this morning....guess it is just a result of some bad news from the doctors yesterday.....dont suppose my being so hard nosed is good for the forum, but I had to speak my piece on this. I ain't gonna say that painting a barber pole stripe on a wooden ramrod is tatamount to putting pearl grips on George Patton's pistols...nope, I aint gonna say that.

 

[Stumpkiller]

:agree:

I use only the wood ramrod that comes on the gun for all shooting and most cleaning. One of my T/C (impregnated, granted) rods has been going since 1979. If, as in a Dixie Tennessee, it is a plain 'ol hickory, I keep a few extras. Even then, I have never (knock wood) broken a ramrod.

Choke up on it and treat it like it was wood. ::

(Sorry to hear you got a bad word from the Dr.)

 

Using an uncoated fiberglass rod is like loading with a long rat-tail file. If you don't believe me, run the rod back and forth agaist the barrel/under-rib joint. With only a 1/2 dozen strokes you will see several thousanths & up to 5 thousanths of steel filed off the steel of the barrel and rib. When loading with one, it doesn't take long to wear the muzzle, out-of-round.
; I used a fiberglass rod in a .38" twist .50 barrel & had to re-crown every 200 rounds. I'd get 2 range sessions between having to re-crown it. It didn't take long to convert to a steel rod.
; Nylon works well as a cleaning/range rod, IF it is 1/2" or larger in dia.
; Hickory or Ramin (Indonesian Hickory, I call it) work just fine. I see Ramin is fairly expensive at Track, however up here in the hardware stores, it's only $0.98 for 3/8" or 7/16" in 48" lengths, with the larger sizes going up to around $1.50 for sizes up around 1" in dia. for a 4 bore- HA! - in other words, it's cheap and although not as good as hickory- it's pretty good as a replacement, expecially in the larger sizes. Some can be found to be very nearly identical to hickory- you might have to go through a bundle of 200 or so, but there will to a dozen in there that are really good straigth-grained, whippy, tough ones.

 

Herb your right... that is some tuff wood. We have it here in northern wisconsin. Some claim to see sparks off the chain of their saws when they cut the stuff at dusk. I never have. If your going to do anything with ironwood you have to never give it a change to dry out.

We used to make clubs out of it. Once that club is dried, it is really strong. We used to make small throwing clubs out of the stuff too. Peel it and shape it, then throw it in the rafters of the garage and after a month you have one tuff chunk of wood.

Sounds a lot like the Hackaberry trees I use to cut down in the Lousiana delta lands. And you didn't have to wait to dusk to see sparks. I went through a lot of saw chains and machetes cutting those trees. Hit'em with an axe and the axe would jump out of your hands. I hit one with a British surplus army machete and saw sparks. Ended up with a bent blade. When out and bought a Japanese made machete, the blade bit deep into the tree. When I pulled back on it, it came back looking like a shark took a bite out of it. Then one day, late 1970's, at the local farm store in Algiers, Louisiana, I found a machete made in El Salvador. the blade look to thin to be of any use, but it had a $5 price tag. When I flexed the blade it felt like a leaf spring. But the real test came when I had 10 acres of briar and hackaberry brambles to clear. I swung at a young 4 inch hackaberry tree and thought I missed it when hardly any resistance was felt. The thin spring steel blade slipped through that tree, like a sharp knife through warm butter on a midsummer day in Louisiana. I still have that blade, its about as thick as a hand saw blade, and pretty much the same temper. :m2c: :results:

 

This is interesting. I've cut a lot of hackberry....lots of it, and I've never seen any sparks. Cut lots of hedge and ironwood too and never saw any sparks that couldn't be explained by the chain dragging on the bar or rubbing on the tip of the bar and lubricaiton being less than it should be, or the bar being canted and the followers of the chain dragging against the side of the bar. Black Jack oak is hard as nails too and the only sparks that come off it can be explained by the gravel it picks up in the bark as it grows then gets hit with the chain as it's cut, or canting the bar or off the tip as described above. I never knew wood to spark. But....what the heck, I've only been cutting and heating with wood for 40 years so I'm a relative newcomer. Of course, when I was a kid helping Dad our crosscut saw never did throw any sparks.

Vic

 

[roundball]

Using a crosscut saw is hard work...hated it as a kid...now have one mounted on the wall in my den

 

roundball.....I'm pretty much with you!!! I have Dads saw and I put new handles on it...the old ones were pretty much shot and the teeth have been filed beyond the joiner. It will hang on my new office wall at our house when it's finished. I'm confident it will never cut wood again. I hated it back then but from this time and distance I'm grateful for the experience. How many among us can honestly say they cut their winters wood with a crosscut? Indeed, how many today can say they cut their winters wood with any kind of saw? How many actually need a winters worth of wood? Last winter was the first time in more than 30 years we didn't heat with wood. As soon as our new house is finished that will be rectified for as long as God grants me time on this earth, I hope.

Vic

 

Not to get off topic.....as far as reamrods are concerned I'll stick with hickory, no matter how crooked it may be.

Vic

 

[roundball]

roundball.....I'm pretty much with you!!! I have Dads saw and I put new handles on it...the old ones were pretty much shot and the teeth have been filed beyond the joiner. It will hang on my new office wall at our house when it's finished. I'm confident it will never cut wood again. I hated it back then but from this time and distance I'm grateful for the experience. How many among us can honestly say they cut their winters wood with a crosscut? Indeed, how many today can say they cut their winters wood with any kind of saw? How many actually need a winters worth of wood? Last winter was the first time in more than 30 years we didn't heat with wood. As soon as our new house is finished that will be rectified for as long as God grants me time on this earth, I hope.

Vic

I can't shake my love of burning wood...we don't heat with wood but we use a couple cords each winter here in NC on the weekends for enjoying the fire...tried gas logs in other houses and while you can't beat their convenience, (flip of a switch) there's no sound, no smell, etc.
Two Decembers ago we had a freak ice storm over the mid atlantic states and had a state of emergency for a week.
Everything encased in an inch of ice, no power, no heat, etc...me and the missus we cozy as a bug in a rug cause I had an emergency 2 cords under tarps out back...closed off the rest of the house, lived in the den and kitchen, sleeping bags and the fire going all night...(had a small generator running the fridge, and a few outlets for the TV, coffee pot, etc...heated up water on the gas stove to wash up...it was actually a memorable few days together...
Uhmmm...guess I drifted oiff topic...sorry :yakyak: