English Ramrod ideas

[flatsguide]

Just finished adding a horn end on the ramrod to match the horn forend. I have a nice long piece of Ebony that I want to make a traditional ramrod for this rifle. I’m not sure but I think the end that fits into the forend is capped with brass and pinned into the wood. It also includes a threaded cap that unscrews to reveal a woodscrew like screw used as a bullet puller. I have no idea what the exposed end of the Ebony ramrod looks like. I’m sure there are variations on the theme. Any ideas or better yet photos of English Ebony ends would be appreciated very much.
Thanks!
Cheers Richard

[Curtis]

No good info for you Richard, but I just gotta say that looks fantastic!


Curtis

[smart dog]

Hi Richard,
That's a great looking rifle muzzle.  I can't wait to see the whole thing when done. For that period gun (1740s-1760s) I don't think ramrods were fitted with the ball screw and cap end.  I believe they usually had a long iron ferule with a tow worm.  The screw and cap was more a 19th century thing.  The photos below are ramrods used on fowlers.  I am not sure if rifle rods were mounted differently.





Ebony is very strong but it is also brittle and I've never seen an ebony ramrod on a long gun.  Dark rods that looked like ebony likely were made from baleen, which is very strong but also flexible.

dave

[Bill Raby]

I made an ebony ramrod. Looks great and works.

[Bob Roller]

If it's a Whitworth the rod may have to be hexagon instead of round
Bob Roller

[Dave B]

You could concider purple heart. There are several english pieces that have used it for their ramrod and tipped with ebony end sections bored through and the end grain or the purple heart notched  with a long wedge then a cross piece of ebony to snug it all up after its all glued in place with tightbond

[Daryl]

I thought Greenheart was used for English Sporting rifles, but don't know the period, likely 1850's?
I've heard it was stained to darken it.

I found this:
"Is Greenheart hard or soft wood?
A very stiff wood (perhaps the stiffest) it is used in boat building, docks, decking, pool cues, fishing rods and similar items that require strength."

[flatsguide]

Thanks for the nice words and information folks.
Curtis, thanks, I’m an admirer of your work including your engraving.

 I was under the impression, false I guess, that a lot of English rifles used Ebony ramrods.
Dave (smart.  dog) thanks you for information and photos  Interesting ,all of the stuff that baleen was used for. That RR with the tulip tip looks like your graceful work.

Bob, funny one! That would really be a fun one to make if the Whitworth had a gain twist.

Bill post a pic of your rifle showing your Ebony RR

Daryl, Dave B., Thanks for the info on Greenheart and Purple Heart looks like either wood. Would be a good choice.
      I think I’m just going to stay with the hickory RR. I’ll stain it darker so it has less contrast with the stock and make a worm for tow like the one in Dave’s photo.
Cheers Richard

[Pukka Bundook]

I have a couple of original sporting guns, (fowling pieces ) with ebony rods, but a lot of original rods were purple heart, baleen, and Ebonised wood, likely ash or hickory.
Some look like rosewood but may be purple heart.

[James Rogers]

I have a couple of original sporting guns, (fowling pieces ) with ebony rods, but a lot of original rods were purple heart, baleen, and Ebonised wood, likely ash or hickory.
Some look like rosewood but may be purple heart.

In the 18th century some of those ebonized hickory ramrods were actually sourced from Virginia. They were shipping hogsheads of splits from the James River in VA to England specifically for the purpose of making ramrods.

[davec2]

Richard,

I don't know any historically correct information about English rifles but I did build one from a Chambers kit (and I think I had recently stayed at a Holiday Inn Express..... ).  I was intending to make an ebony ramrod but the piece of ebony I had was so brittle, even as I was working on it, that I abandon the idea and went with a hickory rod.  However, not wanting to abandon the look, I did "ebonize" the hickory rod with tannic acid and iron nitrate.  I just treated the rod twice with both solutions to get it as black as possible.  Seemed to work great and when I finished the rod (with polymerized tung oil) it went jet black.  Here are a couple of pictures and the original post link.






Original thread        https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=34719.0

[Daryl]

I have a Folder on that build Dave, as well as several others of your work. Beautiful!

[flatsguide]

 Buggy whips and ramrods, there’s two industries that failed to make it but they had a long run.
Back in the ‘70’s I had a beautiful Sam’l Nock 14 gage SxS percussion gun Circa 1857. It had a dark ramrod (RR) but never thought to determine what the wood(or material) was. It brings back lots of pleasant memories afield, many Doves and Pheasants fell to her in the few seasons we hunted, unfortunately it was stolen.
On a tangent about the care and feeding of a muzzle loading shotgun taught to me by my dad when I was 14, I’m 84 now so that makes it 70 years ago...wow Tempus fugit! He was a pretty talented guy who enjoyed working on guns and did some repair and restoration work for a few small museums mainly on British muzzle loading guns and rifles. Anyway after charging with powder the over powder wad, a dense fibrous material bore size, was pushed down the barrel with the RR. After it was seated the RR was gripped between the thumb and the side of the index finger in order to throw it down upon the over powder numerous times until the RR almost bounced out of the barrel. “Whanging it” was the term I recall, he said that “it made the powder burn cleaner and hit harder”. I’ve never seen that mentioned before but I know my Nock shot and patterned very well using that “whanging” method. He did not load like that using round balls or slugs.
Bit long winded thanks for hanging in there.
Richard

[flatsguide]

James, thanks for that information. I know from experience that Ebony is very brittle and if one made a ramrod from it would need careful handling to prevent its splitting and running a large splinter from your palm and out ones finger. :'(. Maybe all the ‘Ebony’ ramrods were “Ebonized” Hickory.
Davec2, your ‘Ebony’ ramrod turned out swell and thanks for the ebonizing method. Your entrypipe is a doozy.
Cheers Richard