Ames, original rod for this slim and lovely rifle does not appear to be of any standard diameter stock. Starts out at front end with a .340 diameter, slowly tapers to .325 just behind the end fitting. End fitting is .310 diameter. Appears to have been hand scraped to taper, has a few flattish spots. Fitted nicely in the ferrules, with just enough drag to stay in place.I have to ask why are you breaking your rods? 5/16ths? I don't come close to breaking any of my hickory rods.
Ahh. There it is. I couldn't understand good woo giving out like that.
Delryn?
Just because it is an old myth kero will make hickory rods very flexible. It will, for a few days. Then it dries out and you just have a stinky stick.
I do that. I have a piece of pipe 4 ft long capped at one end. Filled with kero; drop a new rod blank in, and leave it until needed. I have never had one break on me, and I use only wood rods. I have worn a couple to the point where I retired them because they got a bit thin from rubbing against the muzzles. I give away more than I use myself, but as soon as the tube gets vacated, I put in another stick. I always get my blanks from the local builders' supply; I select dowels with straight, little or no run-out grain. Don't use a rod for loading that has cracked or begun to split.
No you don't. Let it dry, then rub it down with any finishing oil. Kero treatment does not make them soft and whippy, but does render them very difficult to break in normal service.
Wonderful .. that confirms my old friend's recommendation. Someone said it would stink and the deer would smell it. I think if it sits out for a month or two that would then be no problem .. what is your take on that, Flintlokr? Polecat
I’m not sure I understand why... unfinished wood will dry to the ambient humidity and no further. Tool handles like axe handles, picks, shovels etc. are thoroughly miserable if finished with lacquer or poly.
Old Douglas fir, the fine grained variety sometimes seen but was once common, is very good split the same way. It also makes a fine, heavy arrow shaft.
You've never seen old dry rotted wooden handles? Oil helps prevent that. Inside furniture also.
Oil allows wood to breathe; paint, varnish etc, don’t. An old timer once told me “never paint a wooden ladder” because it will dryrot.
WHEN i take them out of the kero, I sit them outside in a sunny place for a week or two. The smell is usually gone by then, and totally disappears under a coat of tug or some such. The rods are still well tempered. If a deer isn't put off by smelling you, I doubt if a bit of kero perfume would make a difference. HUNT UPWIND.
