chawbeef
40 Cal.
Hope this in the proper section. How do I go about making a vent pick for my flinter......Daniel
-
Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.
We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.
Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103
Vent pick
- Thread starter chawbeef
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
ohio ramrod
75 Cal.
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2008
- Messages
- 7,473
- Reaction score
- 2,208
You can easily work a copper wire down to proper size, or just epoxy a sewing pin into a horn tip. :idunno: :idunno:
- Joined
- May 6, 2014
- Messages
- 17,422
- Reaction score
- 16,413
Home Depot and Lowes sell "Black Iron" Wire in small rolls. The diameter is often big enough, but not too big for many/most vent holes. Not sure if this is actually straight Iron, but even if it is very low grade steel, the wire is plenty soft enough to make a vent pic from and not hurt your modern steel barrel.
Iron Wire was often used in the 18th century to make vent picks from, if available, though copper and even lead vent pics were known.
Gus
Iron Wire was often used in the 18th century to make vent picks from, if available, though copper and even lead vent pics were known.
Gus
Black Hand
Cannon
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,348
- Reaction score
- 896
A thin piece of iron, copper or brass wire filed to a point and a loop bent in the other end (so long as the wire is soft - don't use music/spring steel wire). People have used safety pins and paperclips with great success, so it really doesn't need to be complicated. Stay away from the forged square wire picks as they may be hardened and the edges can wear the touch hole....
dragnetbill
36 Cal.
I stripped a piece of discarded cable company cable and found the working center to be a solid copper wire that is easy to work with.......and the price was right.
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2005
- Messages
- 8,014
- Reaction score
- 1,021
free.
freee is good.
lets you use limited resources for other stuff. powder and shot, for example.
freee is good.
lets you use limited resources for other stuff. powder and shot, for example.
Paper clip??
chawbeef
40 Cal.
Thanks all. I kinda wanted sumpin that looked like it was a cupla hunnert years old. So I forged a piece of brass down to a taper and glued it into the tip of a deer antler. I made another and forged the back end flat and drilled a hole inter it to put on a leather thong. (not yer Missus undies)...................Chawbeef
Black Hand
Cannon
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,348
- Reaction score
- 896
A wire glued into a piece of antler screams MODERN not a cupla hunnert years old...Chawbeef said:
chawbeef
40 Cal.
Black Hand said:
LOL Okay okay, :surrender: The wire is a press fit and "glue" was an add on (in?). Hey, it "looks" old. :rotf: ..................Daniel
Black Hand
Cannon
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,348
- Reaction score
- 896
The objection is more about design rather than construction or technique. A wire glued, jammed, hammered, press-fit, etc into a piece of antler appears to be a modern approach... :wink:
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2007
- Messages
- 2,657
- Reaction score
- 11
Don't worry about the PC Police. If it works for you ...fine! I have two like yours on two different bags and they have been there for at least twenty plus years and I have never been challenged at any event for using them. Remembering now! I think one of 'em dates back to the early 70's!Rick
chawbeef
40 Cal.
horner75 said:
Rick
Thanks Horner, I was gettin a complex over them "button counters" lol No offense meant to Black Hand. :v .................Daniel
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
- Messages
- 5,341
- Reaction score
- 5,093
Black Hand said:
Appears to be a modern approach HOW? Because YOU don't care for it? Glue is not a recent invention; a quick search shows it being used over 20,000 YEARS AGO.
I don't think anyone can say that No One ever took a piece of metal and decided to attach it to a piece of antler.
I have a vent pick attached to a small piece of elk antler given to me by a friend. It was his first elk, he was very proud of it.
I imagine a hunter 200 years ago felt much the same way.
Last edited by a moderator:
I have a prick in my bags but don’t recall the last time I used one. I blow down the barrel between shots and that blows out blockage in the hole. Should you not want to blow because of the safety issues a swab between shots and the whoosh of air out of the touch hole will save you a lot of pricking.
Black Hand said:
I would note that the old timers don’t seem as taken by antler stuff as we are today. There is an antler charger known from the past stained to look like birds eye maple.
Black Hand
Cannon
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,348
- Reaction score
- 896
Before you get your knickers in a bind (too late it appears), look at period pieces. I have yet to see any pick from the period that is a wire attached to a piece of antler. If you happen to know of a period piece such as you describe, please share with the rest of us that are laboring under the yoke of facts. Since the description of this subforum specifically states Traditional Only - no modern designs, perhaps we should stick to documented artifacts.Eterry said:
BTW, I'm sure it was a nice gift, but the fact your friend jammed a wire into a piece of antler is irrelevant...
