Tow Worms

[Hermit]

A tow worm is the only thing I use, I made one for my 40 cal. and use it for all the others through 75 cal./ 11 gage.
Its 8/32 and fits all my rods, I use old socks etc. for cleaning.
Hermit

 

[wattlebuster]

I use warm water with a drop or 2 of dawn an dip tow worm with tow twisted around it in the soapy water. then pump it up an down the barrel 12-15 times an then wash out tow an repeat 4 or 5 times till the tow comes out fairly clean. I then flush out barrel with clean warm water an dry with clean tow. I follow that with some tow soaked in bear grease. Never had a barrel rust yet in 35 yrs. Its simple easy an works for me. Others mileage will of course vary. Try it an see :idunno:

 

[tenngun]

will give it a try :wink:

 

[Cruzatte]

I use tow for field cleaning. For example, if I'm at a week end long shoot, when I'm done for the day, I'll head back to camp and clean my smooth bore, or my rifle with tow. Nothing to it, really; simply take a hank of tow, twist it round the worm, dip worm, tow, and all in a bucket of water, pump it up and down the barrel several times, rinse and repeat. Dry with clean tow, grease the barrel, and Bob's yer uncle.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Bingo!... :thumbsup:

 

[Obi-Wan Cannoli]

what is tow? it looks like loose rope fiber. Where do you guys get your tow from? Is there anything to look for when buying tow that will differentiate between good quality tow and bad quality?

 

[coloradoclyde]

Tow is the waste fiber left over from carding flax to make linen.....in essence the same as rope fiber....in fact I use rope fiber instead of flax tow.....

 

[necchi]

Oh yeah, low grade tow comes as a matted wad of inconsistent sized fibers, short, broken and just a mat. Good enough for cleaning.
The high grade stuff is sold for spinning wheels to make into threads, looks like really long blonde hair brushed out fine,
You can kinda see the differences here; https://www.google.com/search?q=fl..._AUICCgC&biw=1280&bih=823#tbm=isch&q=flax+tow

 

[George]

You can also see it earlier in this thread.

In the day, the term tow wasn't just the discarded part, but included useable fibers which were coarse, short and broken. Cloth woven from that grade was just tall tow cloth, and there are a great number of ads for tow clothing items as well as in descriptions of runaways.

Spence

 

[Artificer]

I remember why I bought it now...it is a patch pulling worm, had to look it up. either way, can't think of a patch so tenacious that I would stick that horror show into my barrel. offer still stands.

I think you may not understand some things about a "Single Tine Spring Coil" type (my description and not the actual name) Worm.

The rounded "wire" from which the Worm is made, barely contacts the bore and slides over it, acting like a bearing surface. So there is not much of a chance it will damage your bore unless you deliberately bend the ramrod to force it to rub hard in the bore.

While one should keep the Tine Point sharp to work the best, there is no need of concern about that sharp point contacting the barrel bore and scratching or harming it, when the Worm is made properly and that sharp point winds up pointing inside the diameter of the Worm. A sharp point better pierces and grabs "stuff" better in the bore whether it be a wad of Tow or a modern cloth patch.

I remember one time that a "Double Tined" Wound Worm was vital in getting a cleaning patch out of a bore in a Repro Brown Bess Musket. A good friend was very anxious to find me when we were lining up before a battle reenactment. He had a patch stuck down in the breech of his Brown Bess and was VERY embarrassed by it. Now, this guy and I were both Senior Retired Marine Staff NCO's and we both took VERY good care of our Muskets. He had used the patch to ensure his bore was dry from oil before we began.

He had a Worm, but it was the wrong size and a little too small for his Bess. Now, he knew to keep the points sharp and they were, but they just did not "catch" the patch. I did not have a Worm with me that day. I tried using his Worm on his Rammer and could not get the patch out, either. So I suggested, "We HAVE to figure this out because as two Retired Marines, we will NEVER live this done if we don't get it fixed."

Took me a couple of minutes before I thought to try using a flash hole pick to hold the patch so the Worm point/s might grab it. Didn't work by myself, so I held the musket with the pick in the vent hole and he used the worm on the rammer. We got it on the second try, MUCH to our relief and then we laughed about how it must have looked like a couple of goobers.

Anyway, I suggest you keep that Worm if you have a ramrod that fits it or cut threads in the rod like Spence showed you. You may never get a patch stuck down at the bottom of the bore, but if you do, a good Worm will get it out and can be helped by using a Vent Hole Pick, if necessary.

Gus

 

[Obi-Wan Cannoli]

Thank you for the advice, I will definitely be holding on to it now :hatsoff:

My theory prior was, since I never got a patch that far down and jammed against the plug, to put a bronze cleaning brush at the end of a brass ramrod to skewer the patch, turn the ramrod once or twice, and then pull it out. Don't know if that would have worked, but now I don't need to with the advice I got here

 

[Artificer]

Some bronze/brushes come apart in a Muzzle Loading Rifle Bore and then you REALLY need a worm to get it out - or dismount the barrel, pull the breech plug and then push it out. That's why many folks advise against using a brush in a ML Rifle.

You are most welcome.

Gus

 

[Cruzatte]

what is tow? it looks like loose rope fiber. Where do you guys get your tow from? Is there anything to look for when buying tow that will differentiate between good quality tow and bad quality?

Tow is the unspun fiber of the flax plant, from which the finer fibers are used to make linen. I got a four ounce bag from Jas. Townsend & Son. That doesn't sound like much, but it is quite a lot, enough to last you through a number of cleaning sessions. I wouldn't worry about quality. Heck, it's otherwise waste material that's too coarse to make into cloth.

 

[Billnpatti]

That trick will work pretty well but be sure that you are using an undersized brush. If you use a brush the size of your bore, you stand a good chance of it getting caught in the breach of your barrel and if your fitting on the end of your rod is not cross pinned, you might well leave it down in there, too. Then you have what is called "One hell of a problem." :cursing:

While it is possible to safely use a full size brush in your bore providing you know the trick for retrieving it, (always keep turning it clockwise as you pull it out of the bore), it is just best to not do it. If you want to use a brass brush to retrieve a lost patch, just stick to using undersize brushes. They work quite well for that purpose.

BTW, the "secret" to retrieving a lost brush in your bore, especially when you have managed to pull off a rod fitting that wasn't cross pinned to the rod, is to get a piece of metal tubing of the largest diameter that will fit down your bore and push it down over the brush. This will collapse the bristles, force the brush safely up into the tubing and you can very easily remove it from your bore. You are welcome! :hatsoff: