Tar/Pitch to treat Butt ??

[netoleon]

I've seen or heard a couple times that some plain guns ( probably of a Southern origin ) had a tar or pitch treatment applied to the butt in lieu of a metal, or horn, buttplate. I've got a plain smoothbore/fowler that's accreting wear and tear in the butt area and I thought I might try this method.....if anyone can tell me how it's done ?

I know nothing about it beyond what I've indicated. Don't know what material (pine tar ?, fir pitch ?) to use, or how to treat it so that it hardens up appropriately. My major concern would be avoiding a terminal "sticky butt" condition ( sounds pretty rude, however...). Anyone done this, or even seen it done ?? Thanks in advance for any info you can offer.

 

[CrackStock]

I have seen some guns that had plain wooden butts, but I do not recall any that had this done to them.

What is your source for this information?

I am flipping through Jerry Noble's 3 editions of Notes on the Southern Long Rifles but see nothing like that.

CS

 

[Zonie]

I have not used either of them, except tar (actually asphalt) to keep my roof from leaking.

It seems to me it might take forever for either one of them to dry to a point that it wouldn't rub off on your nice shirt.

 

[Roy]

I wonder if it was a pitch and charcoal mix like what was used to set stone points in arrows? That can get pretty hard mixed right.
BTW I have never heard of this either, but theres lots of things that would fit into that category. :haha:

 

[netoleon]

Thanks for your replies thusfar Gentlemen.

I've got anecdotal evidence for this usage, and I'm not sure you could do more than speculate on the material used even if you had an extant example. To wit, a while back somebody was selling a piece that had a polymer treatment on the butt purportedly intended to replicate a tar/pitch treatment (Gee, did he maybe use a synthetic 'cause the real stuff was too much of a pain to use ?). I'm having a "senior moment" (even happens to my younger colleages) about the other place I read it in a list of possible butt configurations. It washes in terms of potential utility from what I've seen in period items using these materials for waterproofing, sealing, etc.

The charcoal mix sounds like it might be a workable compound. That polymer I mentioned was a blackish color, for what little insight that gives. So I guess what I'm really looking for is a natural drying and hardening agent that was readily available in the 18th cent., and could still be obtained today.

 

[hollandbriscoe]

Just some FYI to get a harder drying pitch you have to use a hard well dried piece of sap. When I have seen this done it was made using pine sap scraped off of trees and charcoal. melt the sap and add charcoal. As I said the harder the the sap you start with the harder the finished product.

Jack

 

[RedFeather]

I don't think I have ever seen that used in any old applications. Have you considered using horn for the buttplate? It was pretty popular in the 19th century and would look like hardened pitch if you found some that was very dark to start with. More durable, too.

RedFeather

 

[marmot]

I can't say I've ever seen it mentioned on a firearm, but true marine grade tar will harden to the consistency of cast iron over about 2 months, a bit less under ideal conditions. I've had friends who created copies of the canvas sailors' hats and tar them as per period descriptions - 5 coats of tar and two months later you could sit on them, no problem... so the idea does have some merit, if documented...

M

 

[Nifeman]

Just some FYI to get a harder drying pitch you have to use a hard well dried piece of sap. When I have seen this done it was made using pine sap scraped off of trees and charcoal. melt the sap and add charcoal. As I said the harder the the sap you start with the harder the finished product.

Jack

If you mix pinon pine pitch, beeswax, crushed toasted egg shells, and dried deer droppings you'll get a mixture that I use sometimes to fix tangs in handles on my knives. Don't use much beeswax, just enough to make it less brittle. This gets extemely hard and is sometimes referred to as cutlers resin. Be careful as you heat it as it is highly flammable. I use a small stainless container and heat it with a propane torch (just play it over the side of the container). Keep a metal cover to put out any flareups. Hope this helps a little...Bud

 

[netoleon]

Ahh, the real Tarheels are coming out of the woodwork now, so to speak.

There's a community of maritime historians up in Annapolis (40 minutes in the wrong direction from here) that could probably put me on to "real marine tar". As for Cutler's Resin, is there something special about Pinon Pine pitch ? I reckon I'd have to head out by Mssr. Zonie to lay hands on any of that.

Thanks and keep it comin', mes Amis.