making bear oil for patches

[sonny]

was wondering when making bear fat into bear oil,is there a secret to make the light oil instead of bear grease??when i made the bear fat in my cast iron pot with low flame,the fat mealted down an made a golden oil.Is this bear oil or do you take this grease an do another step???thanks........sonny

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I made bear oil from a particularly chubby fellow and the oil lasted me for over twenty years.  I think I used most of it for tea biscuits though.  Don't worry about the oil cooling into "fat".  The instant you touch it, it melts into oil.  Neatsfoot oil can be purchased by the gallon and is just as good without the long hours of rendering.  make sure you buy PURE NEATSFOOT OIL, not the compound, which is synthetic.

[sonny]

hummm i have neatsfoot oil an was wondering about patch lube with the stuff.Will neatsfoot oil make a buildup or leave anything in rifling when shooting.Makes cleaning barrel easier????when finished at days end???..sonny

[sonny]

tea biscuits....?

[Tony Clark]

After you have cooked it for a while and take it off the heat it will begin to clarify, the light oil will float to the surface and you can skim it off. If you have clean quality fat it is worth making some oil  and lard out of. One can improve the quality by washing it, when it reaches the fully liquid point and the solids settle to the bottom I will pour it into a 5gallon stainless steel pail about half full, then pour in a gallon or so of clean water and stir it well. Let it settle out and solidify. You can repeat the process to purify it further. The lard should be pure white and odorless. This is what I use for patches not the oil, also on my gun inside and out. I don't know about tea biscuits (would love to I am a big tea drinker myself) but when I use it to make chocolate chip cookies instead of butter "EVERYONE" agrees mine can't be beat! Regards, TC

[BrownBear]

tea biscuits....?

Haven't tried it yet, but would love the recipe.  Best donuts I've ever had are always fried in bear fat.  Best pie crusts are always made with bear fat, too.  Pure gourmet!

[Daryl]

Tracy's best pie crusts were made with my bear grease - it was fairly fresh though - no more than 5 or 6 years old , stored in coffee cans on the floor in the shop.

Just bought a 16 ounce bottle of neestfoot oil from the Feed & Tack Store.  I should have gone elsewhere for it, but am sick and didn't feel like it. Bloody $18.95 for 16 ounces. Well, that's about the same price as the last LHV I bought.

[sonny]

uuuuuuuuuuughhhhh!........i'd have to try it before i would say how good it is!.............I look around an can see what some guys think are good.....I mean cooking food with the stuff nothing else crossed my mind!?!?!?!...sonny

[BrownBear]

It's sweeter than butter. leaves donuts and pie crusts unbelievably good.  Yeah, it's a return to the days of lard rather than crisco or even today's canola products (anyone remember cooking with lard?).  But anyone who has grown up eating food prepped with lard will tell you what a step down crisco is, and canola is worse- both for texture and flavor.  My grandpap always said anyone who stooped to using lard was too sorry a hunter to deserve food made with bear fat.

[Dphariss]

hummm i have neatsfoot oil an was wondering about patch lube with the stuff.Will neatsfoot oil make a buildup or leave anything in rifling when shooting.Makes cleaning barrel easier????when finished at days end???..sonny

No buildup.
I have used it a lot.
Anything that builds up in the bore will harm accuracy.

Dan

[sonny]

bear oil stright uncut for patches???

[Daryl]

Yes, sonny- straight bear oil for hunting patches. In cold weather, the bear grease becomes quite stiff and hard, but the pure oil doesn't, which is why some guys separate it.

Fat from around the organs is the best for producing oil.  Marmot oil is even better than bear oil, it just takes a few marmots to get a gallon or so.  Fall is the best time to shoot them, if it's legal, that is.  The fat from around the innards of a marmot produces very few solids when 'tried 'out and virtually no grease - just pure clear oil - incredible stuff.

[Long John]

Daryl,

Is a marmot the same thing as a woodchuck?

I know where I can get lots of them!

JMC

[Dphariss]

bear oil stright uncut for patches???

Bear oil was considered one of the best gun oils/patch oils back in the day.
I need to find some, or kill a bear.

Dan

[Daryl]

Marmot is a high altitude, mountain chuck.  We have the Hoary Marmots up here, as well as Rock Chucks a bit South in the Williams Lake district. Unfortunately, they are all protected now.
  The Hoary Marmots on Hudson's Bay Mountain, high above Brian' Dancey's house, will run over 20 pounds & pretty close to 30.  The ones I shot in September 1978 were also very good eating. 
I suspect a late, bit wood chuck should yield a couple pounds of fat for oil.