Author Topic: 18th century patch lube (Read 4872 times)

MuskratMike · « **on:** March 18, 2020, 11:07:14 PM »

I am making some patch lube trying to create what they used in the late 1700's and early 1800's for patch lube. What is your opinion on how much bees wax they added to the bear oil?
I am not interested in what you use for patch lube we all use about the same and have beat that topic to death.
Bear oil and bees wax. What percentage of each?
I don't have any access to bear oil so unless there is someone out there who wants to message me and mail me a pint or quart I will probably be using Neatsfoot oil.
Just for the record I am very happy with the patch lube I use I just want to try this out and see how it shoots out of historical curiosity.

smallpatch · « **Reply #1 on:** March 19, 2020, 01:08:24 AM »

Mike,
Why do we assume they used beeswax and bear oil?
Is there historical reference for it? Just wondering.

recurve · « **Reply #2 on:** March 19, 2020, 01:31:36 AM »

The British used mutton tallow for over 200 yrs. tallow of any sort should be historically correct

smylee grouch · « **Reply #3 on:** March 19, 2020, 01:48:24 AM »

Bear oil, deer or mutton tallow. Forget the bees wax.

bob in the woods · « **Reply #4 on:** March 19, 2020, 01:52:16 AM »

Quote from: smylee grouch on March 19, 2020, 01:48:24 AM

Bear oil, deer or mutton tallow. Forget the bees wax.

Exactly. It's not bullet lube .

MuskratMike · « **Reply #5 on:** March 19, 2020, 03:36:43 AM »

I always heard that a small amount of beeswax was added to keep it in a grease form so it doesn't run out of grease holes espically in warm weather. I am thinking it was like 5-10%.
Am I wrong?

bob in the woods · « **Reply #6 on:** March 19, 2020, 04:54:24 AM »

My deer tallow is pretty hard ie not runny , even in the summer. Bear grease, however , is runny and slick as goose s**t. I tend to use it or bear oil in the cold months . If you want to store bear grease in a grease hole, you will definitely have to add some wax to it . I keep mine in a little bottle and don't add anything. I used to dip the ball end of my paper cartridges in a mix of bear oil and beeswax, but I don't do that anymore.

Daryl · « **Reply #7 on:** March 19, 2020, 08:56:56 AM »

Depends on the ambient temp of your location as well as the way the bear grease/oil was obtained. I have both bear grease and bears oil.
One is mostly solid while the other is gin clear and always liquid.

Smokey Plainsman · « **Reply #8 on:** March 19, 2020, 09:33:53 AM »

You’d probably need more than 5-10% to stiffen it.

Get a disposable muffin pan and melt some lube and try different ratios. Wouldn’t need much. Leave it outside in the warm weather (once it starts warming up) and see how it does.

alacran · « **Reply #9 on:** March 19, 2020, 03:16:31 PM »

I got to meet Smilee Grouch's bear killing partner a the AZWINS shoot . He showed me some grease he made made from raccoon fat. The stuff is is slicker than owl @#$%/!!. Can't get more historically correct than that. Road kill anyone?

Elnathan · « **Reply #10 on:** March 19, 2020, 03:24:52 PM »

I haven't messed around with it enough to confirm this myself, but I believe that there is a lot of variability in tallow and lard depending on which place in the animal the fat to make it came from and the condition of the animal itself. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the old timers took advantage of this when selecting tallow for particular uses - it was, after all, a widely used technology at the time.

stikshooter · « **Reply #11 on:** March 19, 2020, 03:25:13 PM »

Cant forget beaver oil as it is definitely slick and there"s lots on the beaver if you trap and was definitely in use back in the day !

Carney Pace · « **Reply #12 on:** March 19, 2020, 04:22:48 PM »

Sperm whale oil.
Used in lamps also.

kudu · « **Reply #13 on:** March 19, 2020, 10:27:29 PM »

Spit is Historically Correct.
And does work in cold weather - you just got to be quick!

MuskratMike · « **Reply #14 on:** March 19, 2020, 11:10:19 PM »

Thanks everybody. Just looking for oil to wax ratio.

smylee grouch · « **Reply #15 on:** March 20, 2020, 01:25:28 AM »

I don,t know if there is a ratio but if it were me I would melt the bear oil/tallow and add the bees wax a little at a time till you get the consistency you want. This is how I do it to make the pan sealer grease to water proof my locks.

Bob McBride · « **Reply #16 on:** March 20, 2020, 03:12:54 AM »

I don’t mix my grease but Mike Belliveu is always going on about his “2/3 lambs tallow and 1/3 bees wax”. Might be a good place to start. I’d work DOWN from there. Or UP to it if you want to be contrarian.

alacran · « **Reply #17 on:** March 20, 2020, 03:44:53 PM »

Mike last week I made a mix of 50/50 bear oil to bees wax by volume. I intended this to seal revolver cylinders. I used it last week and the temps stayed below 50 degrees all day. It was a little stiff, but workable. I will bring it in the house for a couple of hours to simulate summer temps.
I melted the bees wax in a mason jar that was placed in a pot of water. I added the bear oil to it. If you add more oil to the mix it will be more pliable. The temps you will predominately use it in should dictate the consistency you need.

OldMtnMan · « **Reply #18 on:** March 20, 2020, 03:59:11 PM »

Mike..........I don't know what's historical but i've used this lube before and it worked good. I asked him how much beeswax was in it and he said 10-15%.

http://www.octobercountry.com/bumblin-bear-grease-4-oz/

longcruise · « **Reply #19 on:** March 20, 2020, 06:03:19 PM »

Marmots will give up a good bit of oil. Good eating too.

Smokey Plainsman · « **Reply #20 on:** March 23, 2020, 01:21:38 AM »

I’ve used Mike’s recipe of mutton’s tallow and bee’s wax. It works great at 2/3.

Daryl · « **Reply #21 on:** March 23, 2020, 01:49:58 AM »

Yes - marmot oil is wonderful patch lube and boot waterproofer.

walks with gun · « **Reply #22 on:** April 05, 2020, 05:28:54 PM »

Something cheap, authentic and so far is working very well for me especially in real cold weather is plain old sweet oil, (olive oil). I'm leaving a rifle loaded for a couple days with a sqeezed out patch just to see if affects the charge, hasn't in the past but doing more testing.

sonny · « **Reply #23 on:** April 05, 2020, 07:12:33 PM »

Grease from a roasted turkey or chicken would lube it up pretty good,how about crisco lard? Heck when they slaughtered a pig they used everything but the “oink”.

stikshooter · « **Reply #24 on:** April 05, 2020, 07:39:28 PM »

Crisco works good just get the salt free version/Ed

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Author Topic: 18th century patch lube (Read 4872 times)

Smokey Plainsman

Smokey Plainsman