Striping ramrod?

[jtmattison]

How can I get a "barber pole" look on a ramrod? I thought I read something on here about wrapping it with string soaked in kerosene or something and burning it then finishing it?

HD

 

[Legionair]

Either that or (an idea I like better), wrap several layers of heavy wire around the rod and then brush it lightly with a propane torch.

Eaier to control than a flaming torch of a ramrod!!! :shocked2:

Legion

 

[silverfox]

Why the wire? Just use the torch just use the central flame and twist and move as your rod turns black. Or just stain it dark with and artists brush while you turn it. Then finish it.

Fox :thumbsup:

 

[Legionair]

With the wire candy-striped around the rod, you don't have to keep rolling the rod and moving the torch with precision, and you also will get nice crisp lines between the blackened area and the wire covered wood (which won't scorch under the wire).

You can pass the torch up and down the rod, turn it, then go up and down again. When it's dark enough, just unwind the wire and see the unmarked wood underneath.

Legion

 

Or you can fold aluminum foil to the width that you want the light wood to be and wrap it around the rod in a spiral. Then hit it with a propane torch to your liking. Then finish to your liking.Works like a champ. I think Fordney did it that way.

 

[dlocke]

Aluminum tape would work too, but the adhesive may cause issues with the look of the final finish. Don't mess with aluminum tape if you have been drinking, though. I made that mistake once. Cut you good, it will.
DJL

 

[Zonie]

I've used narrow black plastic electrical tape to mask the rod in a spiral pattern and then applied a water base Walnut stain to the exposed wood.
About 2 or 3 coats does a good job.
Then strip the tape and apply a coat of the Walnut stain to the whole rod.

The stain will bleed under the tape a little bit so keep the application of the stain "light" along the edges.

Finished with linseed oil.

Of course, this post will bring out the question about whether it is HC to stripe the rods, and I have seen evidence which says the practice goes back into the late 1700's but there is little doubt that it was rare in those days.

Personally, I like the striped rods and several of the guns I've built have them.

zonie

 

[Birddog6]

I take an old sheet, cut off a long strip about 3" wide & take that 3" strip & wet it well with water. Fold it lengthwise so you have a long strip about 1/2" wide. Take a nylon wire tie & tie the cloth to the RR tip & wind the wet cloth flat around the rod spacing the cloth as to how wide you want the stripes. Tie the other end with a Nylon tie. Take a propane torch & scorch the wood rotating the rod, take the wet cloth off, steel wool the rod & apply stain & finish.

No tape or glue to remove.

You may want to make a couple of practice runs on a dowel rod to get the stripes the width you want, then do the RR.

:thumbsup:

 

[reddogge]

I only striped one rod but it turned out great. I did it with a torch and I believe I used my vise opened slightly to cradle one end of the rod and supported the other end on my second movable bench support I use for building and held the torch on the rod at the vise end. Then I slowly rotated the rod and pushed it past the torch. I practiced with an old dowel and it worked like a charm and looks nice and traditional with soft edges unlike the tape and other methods discussed.

 

[AeroncaTAL]

I used the electrical tape and stain procedure to stripe the rod on my GPR. Zonie's correct in that you will get some bleeding through the tape. Didn't like the result too much, so I restained it solid color. Broke the rod last week, so now I'm in the process of making a new one. Was thinking of taping again and using vinegar stain to stripe, then linseed oil over that...
Scott

 

Yes sir, I have tried tapes with adhesive backings before and didn't care for the out come. One thing about the aluminum foil is that it slides down the rod as you scorch the wood. That makes it easier to get the full length of wood rod decorated with the same short pattern of foil. I have used AF on the wood rod before scorching the spiral so you do both chores at the same time. In other words, apply AF then put the aluminum foil spiral on there and then scorch the rod with the heat source. The heat then blushes the AF which is under the foil at the same time the stripe is being blackened. The blackened spiral comes out very soft edge and does not look like it was masked off. It looks a lot like the old spiral rods you see on the 19th c. longrifles.
IMHO, the hard edge masked off look that the adhesives give you does not look like the antique rods that you see on the original rifles. Another draw back to the adhesive masks is the adhesive is real hard to remove after the job is done.
As in any other art form, experimentation is your friend and is a lot of fun. Play with it and have fun with the journey. :thumbsup:

 

[Vaino]

To each his own taste but IMO,a ramrod isn't supposed to be the "highlight" of the rifle which if striped, it would become. Of course, if someone prefers the "gaudiness" of a striped ramrod, who can argue w/ such an eclectic esthetic?......Fred

 

[Birddog6]

I agree........ I have done them but don't really care for them myself. On mine that I striped & kept the rifles, I ended up going back to the solid color rod.

The wet cloth as I mentioned earlier doesn't seem to leave the sharp edges on the dark area like a tape will.

 

[jtmattison]

To each his own taste but IMO,a ramrod isn't supposed to be the "highlight" of the rifle which if striped, it would become. Of course, if someone prefers the "gaudiness" of a striped ramrod, who can argue w/ such an eclectic esthetic?......Fred

I don't see how a striped ramrod would be the highlight of a rifle. If the rifle is nicely finished the ramrod should serve to enhance the overall image of the piece, not steal the show.

HD

 

[Birddog6]

I guess that all depends on who is looking at it. When I look at a Longrifle, I like to go from tip to tip & want to see it flow together. When I see a striped RR, it disrupts that flow to me. I like to see natural grain & natural stripes & when I start at the buttplate & go forward, it is nice & natural & flowing & then all of a sudden I see fake stripes on a rod ? & it just takes away from the rifle "for me". Kinda like having a really nice chestnut horse & painting apaloosa spots on his rump....
For me to get natural looking stripes on the RR, the stripes would have to be naturally In the rod, and that just don't work well for a ramrod as you would have grain runout all over the place.

Lots of guys stripe them & that is fine & I have done allot of them for people & a couple for myself....... It is all in just what YOU like to see & what you are comfortable with....
:thumbsup:

 

[Stophel]

Striped ramrods are commonly seen on mid 19th century rifles...so there usually ain't much beauty there for the gaudy rod to take away from!!! :grin:

 

Striped ramrods are commonly seen on mid 19th century rifles...so there usually ain't much beauty there for the gaudy rod to take away from!!! :grin:

Which is in the eye of the beholder. There are a lot of mid 19th c. flint and perc. rifles in the Davis Gun Museum that I would trade a Cadillac for. Then, there are a lot of 18th c. rifles I wouldn't give a nickel for. There were ugly guns made in both periods and a lot fine art rifles done in both periods. Striped rods inhance the looks of many mid-nineteenth c. rifles such as Fordneys. Those are high art rifles IMHO. Putting a striped rod on a schimmel would be like putting a diamond in a goats nose.