Tempered Ramrods??

[4570tc]

Back in the 70s (1970s) there was an older man that had a gun shop. he sold some hickory rods that he SOAKED in kerosene, said that they were less breakable, and more flexiable? I welded a piece of well pipe with a plug in one end and a hanging loop on the other. He said when he was a kid they used to do the same with AXE handles.

It did seem to make them last better?
Do you think this might help with TOW "RAMMIN RODS"

Any thoughts on this

 

[Black Hand]

Old-wives tale....

Nothing can help the ramin rods, stick with hickory.

 

[rich pierce]

+1. I don't know of any serious study showing that kerosene soaking actually makes a difference in anything but the smell of your gun. I'd believe it if someone took 40 ramrods, soaked half, and did destructive testing.

 

[Black Hand]

You need to look at the grain of the rod and find those without grain run-out. Nothing will improve a rod with bad grain....

 

I seem to remember reading that in an old Dixie gun works catalog. Don't know if it's true or not, but would make for an interesting experiment.

 

[BrownBear]

I'd like to see the experiment, too. I've seen wood go the heck both here in our wet Alaska climate and in the arid air at our place in the Southwest. Guns I'm using all the time get their ramrods greased pretty well simply from loading. But I could see ramrods that are sitting around doing nothing needing a little help.

I'm not sold at all about the need to "soak" them in kerosene or anything else, but simple good wood sense sezz to me they need a little protective oil now and then like anything else, just to keep them from drying and getting brittle. Good excuse for shooting them more often and greasing the rods, I guess.

 

[Birddog6]

Turner Kirkland (Dixie Gun Works) started all of that "soakin them in Kerosene like in the old days" hogwash as a joke, & it went absolutely nuts & he had lots of guys soakin there ramrods..... He thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Ditch the Ramin rods, buy good straight grained hickory. Best hickory RR's avail that I know of are from Steve Bailey. Se the Classifieds in Muzzleblast & he has a ad in there. I have bought well over a hundred of them from him & never been disappointed with them.

Keith Lisle

 

[Rifleman1776]

The kerosene thing has been around a long-long time. I do not believe it helps much except (maybe) in the first few weeks after the soaking. The kero does dry out and any lubricating qualities go with it.
I soak my new hickory rods in lemon oil for several weeks before use. I believe it helps and preserves.

 

What about Balistol oil? I use it a lot with my black powder guns and it's supposed to be great for wood too, and won't dry out. I've soaked leather in it and it makes it fairly soft and flexible.

 

[rich pierce]

I make primitive bows. Hickory is about the least likely wood to fail. Bowmakers do not use kerosene or any special immersions.

 

[Zonie]

I wonder how many people have read about soaking their ramrods and then done it only to then go out hunting with their doe urine sprinkled on themselves to attract bucks and to mask their scent?

Of course, to a deer they end up smelling like a doe in heat carrying a kerosene lantern. :rotf:

 

[tg]

I don't worry much about smell as I hunt alongside logging equipment often,I shot one nice Buck ten yatrds from a pile of empty fuel drums, I worry much more about the eyes and ears myself. I never found any noticable benifit from soaking rr's in anything I have during the later years put a light coat of the same finsish as the gunstock, it probably makes me feel better than the rr's

 

[Zonie]

Maybe a hunter could soak his ram rod in doe urine?

Now, I bet that hasn't been tried before. :grin:

 

[Paul R]

A bull moose, in rut, spends a lot of time getting his own urine,and any cows urine he finds, all over himself. When I got close enough to get a whiff of the first one I shot, my thought was 'Damn, I have to field dress this thing now.'

Paul

 

[paulvallandigham]

Soaking hickory rods in kerosene only makes them smell bad for about 2 months after you take the rods out of the Kerosene. The president of my local BP club did that experiment, soaking several rods in an iron pipe filled with kerosene, and end caps on both ends to keep them together. He left other hickory rods stay out in his garage, resting against that pipe in a corner, all winter long. In the spring, he brought them all down to the club for the ' unveiling", and to do some comparison testing. The rods were 3/8" diameter and approx. 4 feet long. He bought them all at the same time, from the same dealer at the Fall National shoot at Friendship. The rods that had soaked all winter were removed from the pipe, and the excess kerosene wiped off. The rods were then each tested for flexibility by trying to put the ends of each rod touching the other, forming a big loop. All the rods were able to do this- the "dry" ones and those soaked in Kerosene. The Kerosene rods were Not more flexible. He even tried to flex them turning the rods 90 degrees, to see if they flexed against the grain better than the dry rods did. No difference.

The Test was witnessed by about a dozen people from our club. Some had already attended classes to learn how to build their muzzleloaders, and we all had read this stuff in the Dixie Gun Works Catalog.

We were all surprised that the kerosene rods didn't work better. It was later that the President mentioned that the Kerosene rods continued to Off-fume in his garage and stink up the place for a couple of months. That alone was his reason for never soaking a wooden ramrod in Kerosene again! :rotf: :surrender: :thumbsup:

As to whether this might help those Ramin rods, I have my doubts. I believe this wood is made from a grass like plant, like bamboo, and not a true wood. It only grows in the tropics of Asia. It is not a wood that tolerates the low humidity that we experience over most of N. America, compared to what Southern Asia experiences. It begins to disintegrate over time. Soaking the Ramin rods in Kerosene would tend to speed the deterioration. :hmm:

 

[ODG34]

I was told to do this years ago when I first got into muzzleloaders. Of course I bought a few and made up a pvc pipe with 1 end sealed and the other end capped. After maybe a year later after breaking a few rods, I bought a synthetic rod. I have not loaded my guns with a wooden rod since. I made a wooden one for my Armstrong just for show but, I have never used it.
I still have a wooden rod or two that have been soaking for years if anybody needs one. :grin: