AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: Mauser06 on March 20, 2018, 09:03:15 AM
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On my last build, I used a normal hickory ramrod. I didn't know what to finish it with...so I used Kibler's iron nitrate like I did on the stock and Chamber's oil finish.
I want a huge fan of the color. Wine red. Didn't really match the rifle...
Curious as how you guys finish them. The finish I'm shooting for will probably be on the darker side. I was thinking maybe a dark stain would look better?
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I use home brew iron saturated AQF and get a warm brown on hickory.
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Rarely will the RR look the same as the rifle if the same stain is used. Hickory stains differently than maple ...usually lighter. I go w/ a darker stain and apply a few coats and then rub back w/ alcohol if needed. When the stain is dry, wet w/ water and that's the color when the finish is applied. I don't care if the RR's color doesn't quite match that of the rifle.....just so it doesn't stand out.....Fred
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I use home brew iron saturated AQF and get a warm brown on hickory.
I do the same as Rich and occasionally I will use my propane torch to purposely burn a few areas that, in my opinion, look pretty good on finished product.
Dennis
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Thanx guys!
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Once a rod is fitted to a rifle/gun, I polish it to 320 grit, stain it with a mix of Fiebing's leather dye to get the colour I want, burnish it again with steel wool, and finish with Circa 1850 floor wax. The colour fades on a rod like that, and takes on its own warm colour. I reapply wax from time to time, and it keeps the rod like new. Other finishes, such as varnishes and oils, scrap off and look bad to my eye. The wax is good protection for the rod, repairs easily, and is very quick to finish.
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I used tannic acid then AQ, blushed with heat and seemed to come out darker. Still put some stain on it though and it came out pretty close.
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Way back when, many shooters, and builders, soaked their ramrods to make them more flexible, and less likely to break. I can’t remember what the recipe was now, but the ramrods took on quite a shine with use. I think the original recipe might have been published in the Buckskin Report.
Hungry Horse
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Hungry Horse,
Are you possibly thinking the recipe is soaking ramrods in kerosene for a few weeks? Some old timers thought the kerosene lubercated the wood fibers and reduced breakage!
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I think you are right Dave, but I seem to remember adding a little BLO to the mix. I don’t remember why I quit soaking ramrods, but I think is was because the pipe I was using leaked the mixture all over the shop floor.
Hungry Horse
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Hungry Horse,
The main reason for NOT soaking a ram rod in kerosene is the STINK on you, your clothes, and everything else that comes in contact with it.
I am not sure whether it ( kerosene ) makes a hickory ram rod more elastic or not, but it was a common application to make the ram rod more durable???
Now does that really answer your question.
I have done it before, and have several stinky ram rods that don't break.
Fred
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(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.ibb.co%2FcucTqH%2FDSCF0027.jpg&hash=e2eba0f4cda7764a62b42c819c2f4d716c4cdb0f) (http://ibb.co/iS8ZVH)
I stained it and finished it with oil in 1986 - maybe it's time to re-do it.
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On soaking a ramrod, seems to me Bevel Up and Bevel Down the Gard? Brothers did a test some years ago in Muzzle Blasts and found no benefit? Anyone else remember that?
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Based on what I heard from some old timers about 30 years ago I tried soaking the ramrods in lamp oil for a few weeks. No strong smell but I didn’t notice any benefit from doing it so I stopped.
Mole Eyes
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Interesting stuff. I'm not really concerned about breakage on this one...strictly a shotgun. Id just like it to look like it belongs to the gun. Maybe finish the gun and see what colors I get on it then decide on the rod. I just looked at my last one again and it's OK but really looked out of place on the gun.
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A friend soaked several of my ramrods in Kerosene for a few weeks. After several days in the open air there was no smell whatsoever. My thought is that kerosene evaporates fairly quickly, certainly within a couple-three weeks. I don't soak them now since I don't think it helps, either. A problem with soaking is that it makes hickory even more difficult to stain.
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I usually stain with LMF Walnut and then LMF Ebony with a steel wool buff between coats and a finish with Ebony Briwax and cloth buff.
Kevin
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Apparently I'm the only one, but I don't bother finishing ramrods much at all. Any finish I ever tried to put on one got scraped off pretty quickly. Straight grain hickory doesn't soak up anything very easily, including stain, so it doesn't go very deep. I just put some linseed oil on it (what little of that it will soak up) and call it good. ;)
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Apparently I'm the only one, but I don't bother finishing ramrods much at all. Any finish I ever tried to put on one got scraped off pretty quickly. Straight grain hickory doesn't soak up anything very easily, including stain, so it doesn't go very deep. I just put some linseed oil on it (what little of that it will soak up) and call it good. ;)
Same here.
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On soaking a ramrod, seems to me Bevel Up and Bevel Down the ??? Brothers did a test some years ago in Muzzle Blasts and found no benefit? Anyone else remember that?
No but I put several in a piece of PVC and forgot and left them there for well over a year. I used them later and did not see any benefit to the soaking at all. Waste of time and good kerosene oil
Dennis
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Apparently I'm the only one, but I don't bother finishing ramrods much at all. Any finish I ever tried to put on one got scraped off pretty quickly. Straight grain hickory doesn't soak up anything very easily, including stain, so it doesn't go very deep. I just put some linseed oil on it (what little of that it will soak up) and call it good. ;)
Same here.
X3. Mine are "finished" by my dirty oily hands. :)
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I like to stain mine with AF, then hit them with a heat gun and bees wax. A rod will soak up a great deal of hot wax, which is in the wood and won't just crape off. Just don't let it build up on the outside. It makes a good durable finish and is quick.
Curtis
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The beeswax (or any wax) makes sense...the last one basically refused to take much of anything. Feels kinda like a dry porus wood so that was surprising to me.
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I just finished a new hickory ram rod for my .40 and after a final sanding and whiskering I slopped on a few coats of Chambers oil finish to help seal the grain. Followed by a couple of coats of wax. This only adds a tiny amount of color but I'm counting on my dirty hands to add some color.
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My last rifle had an american walnut stock and I wanted to fill the pours so I made a thin slurry of the super fine walnut dust and some danish oil walnut color. it did a good job so I used the danish oil on the hickory rod and it really turned it a very dark brown.
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I just finish mine the way I finish the rest of the rifle; usually AF and an oil finish. Right now, I am using Tried and True over AF. However, like one of the other posters said, nothing holds up all that well. I may make my ramrods a little different that most; I scrape them into at taper from about 7/16" down to 5/16". The scraping process leaves them a good bit more crooked than they started. If they are a little rough, I hit them with some 100 grit sand paper. It is about the only place on a gun that I use sand paper.
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I have only finished one that Dave Crisalli sent me. I used AF, and indeed it takes lighter on hickory than maple. I then hit it with walnut stain and then low gloss tung oil. Matched the rifle finish very closely. Best wishes and God bless, Marc
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Year ago, my 14 bore's ram rod was very dark, almost black - I used an oil-based walnut stain from Minwax (yellow can) stains sold in the local hardware store.
Now, 30 years later, "the green's all wore off".
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A friend soaked several of my ramrods in Kerosene for a few weeks. After several days in the open air there was no smell whatsoever. My thought is that kerosene evaporates fairly quickly, certainly within a couple-three weeks. I don't soak them now since I don't think it helps, either. A problem with soaking is that it makes hickory even more difficult to stain.
I think the soaking idea came from a Dixie Gun Works catalog about '59. I thought it was "Gospel" so I did it. Piece of pipe with a chunk of firewood jammed in one end and filled with Kerosene. They came out kind of dark and I thought it worked well. Never tried to bend one in a circle but never had one break either, probably made 20 or 30 that way, ram rods, loading rods cleaning rods. In the early '60 I was shooting an original .36 percussion and parted together .32 flint both with hand split kerosene soaked RR'd. Still put all my to be rods in oil, old habit.
Tim C.
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I burn mine with the touch and if it is too dark, I fine sand or steel wool it to take some of the dark off then finish with oil the same as the stock.
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I just don't care how long you soak it, they are always going to tend to split and fracture
when fired into the 50-yard backstop, if not closer.
:o :-[ ;)
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Wade brings up a good point and I have seen it happen more than once. But one of those times was from directly behind it going down range. :) :'(
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Wade brings up a good point and I have seen it happen more than once. But one of those times was from directly behind it going down range. :) :'(
As was I. ::)
Now the moral to the story is to go ahead make three and experiment with your finishes to get your best colors and style. And then you'll have a spare, plus one ready-to-sell/barter to the shooters who launch theirs. 8)
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I just don't care how long you soak it, they are always going to tend to split and fracture
when fired into the 50-yard backstop, if not closer.
:o :-[ ;)
Try that with a .58 mini and a steel rod, you only do it once. BTDT
Tim
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Based on what I heard from some old timers about 30 years ago I tried soaking the ramrods in lamp oil for a few weeks. No strong smell but I didn’t notice any benefit from doing it so I stopped.
Mole Eyes
I tried adding a little bit of an oil based stain to the kerosene and kept it in the mixture for about six weeks. It stained the rod somewhat and seemed to make it a bit more flexible, however that is sort of a subjective opinion. I will say that I have never broken a soaked rod and the only rod I have ever broken was not soaked, for what that is worth. Once the soaked rods dry they have no discernable smell.
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It amazes me that sometimes they make it to the target in one piece. i understand the gun really kicks.---so I'm told
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Definitely a good idea to make a couple.
Knock on wood...haven't shot one yet. Lol.
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If you want to soak a rod, try bear oil, lard, or raccoon oil. Raccoon oil is probably the best. The old timers said if you get one drop of it on a buffalo hide, it will eventually completely soak the hide. All will completely saturate the wood. Just wipe them down with a heavy layer, and leave them in the sun. Repeat until they soak up no more oil. Another good penetrator is automatic transmission fluid. Kerosene evaporates in a short time.
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If you want to soak a rod, try bear oil, lard, or raccoon oil. Raccoon oil is probably the best. The old timers said if you get one drop of it on a buffalo hide, it will eventually completely soak the hide. All will completely saturate the wood. Just wipe them down with a heavy layer, and leave them in the sun. Repeat until they soak up no more oil. Another good penetrator is automatic transmission fluid. Kerosene evaporates in a short time.
If you're going the route of petrol soaks, and like the idea of ATF, but not the red dye, use PSF. The red dye is simply to help sort out leaks in vehicles equipped with more than one hydraulic system.
I think somebuddy did a "study" and found that soaking didn't help with flexibility or breakage.
Myself is of the theory that FLEX is the last thing you want to encourage in a rod because flex will cause the rod to bear against the lands of your rifling-which could lead to wearing out a bbl and not at the muzzle end. That being said I believe that there's a lot of flexing going on anyway, and is why I try to keep my packin' stick wiped clean and free of excess grit and funk (to be perfectly untechnical about it).
I like mine scraped and hit with 220 if needed, but to maintain most the "character" of scraping. I forgot how I finished the last one, probably just finishing oils/varnish and zero stain or petrol.
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I char a lot of them and while hot rub a beeswax block on it. Very water prof and lubbed for entry. Have saw old Tenn. style rifles did this way.
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I use Tru-oil with no stain. I like to have the ramrod really light color. Give it good contrast with the rifle. If the color matches to closely it makes the forend look thicker. An ebony ramrod looks really nice, but it sure does get expensive.
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I char a lot of them and while hot rub a beeswax block on it. Very water prof and lubbed for entry. Have saw old Tenn. style rifles did this way.
That's something I might try. thanks.