Ramrod finishing process

[David Rase]

How do you guys finish your ramrods, nitric acid, stain, varnish, oil?  Just curious what process some of you use.  My results vary and sometimes I like what I get and other times I am disappointed with the end result.  Thanks.
David

[Daryl]

Stained then waxed.
 Osage

[Stophel]

I just wax them or put some linseed oil on them.  I don't go crazy with it, either.  Any kind of stain or varnish will just get scraped off anyway.

[smylee grouch]

On my last two I wanted the look of Ebony and used Watco walnut stain Danish oil. several coats over a weeks time and it turned the hickory rod very very dark brown.

[Greg Pennell]

The plain unstained hickory is just too stark for me...I usually hit mine with aqua fortis when I’m staining the stock, and finish with a couple coats of tung oil or the like. They do get scraped up in use, but I like the color of acid on hickory.

Daryl, where did you find Osage that was straight grained enough for rammers?

Greg

[Jim Chambers]

I keep a tube of burnt umber oil paint on hand for just this purpose.  I rub the rod down with the oil paint and then a good coat of linseed oil.

[Stophel]

If I was brave enough, I'd try heat browning the hickory rod, like I do with axe/tomahawk handles.  Kind of afraid to do it with such a thin piece of wood... but then, it's just a stick, might as well give it a try. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I made Daryl's rod.  Friend Ron had a faily straight grained board and ripped some blanks from it, and dowelled them.  Even so, I turned the rod in the lathe 2" at a time untilo I got close to the dia. I wanted, then sanded to size.  Sometimes I use AF and blush the rod, but mostly, stain them with Fiebing's alcohol leather dye, burnish and wax with good floor paste wax.  That's it.  They blonde out a bit in use, but adding more wax doesn't hurt them at all.

[rich pierce]

Aquafortis. Then if I want the rod to look old my sealing coat of finish has some ground soft homemade charcoal in it. Rub it in till it’s not taking much more then wipe it all off. The black sticks in the pores. A top coat can be used as desired.

[T*O*F]

I use CRO3 and haven't had one turn green yet.  Two coats and they are black.  Then I rub back with 4/0 wool or Scotchbrite pad until I get the grain look I want.  Then slick em up with paste wax.  This is also an easy way to spiral them if that's the look you're going for.

[smart dog]

Hi Dave,
It depends on my objectives but I am a bit reluctant to stain light colored hickory and ash very dark simply because it gets scraped off during use and the light wood underneath really shows up. I keep the hickory and ash rods fairly light with aniline dyes or sometimes dilute LMF stain.  I finish the rods with the same stuff I use on stocks, polymerized tung oil.  If I want a dark rod, I use a dark wood like rosewood or blackwood. 

dave

[Marcruger]

I've only done one, but it came out the way I wanted.  I stained and blushed the hickory with Aqua Fortis.  Got a tiny bit of charring in one spot, but no biggie.  Since that hickory seemed as hard a woodpecker lips, it didn't get as dark as I wanted after two coats.  I overstained it with walnut wood stained, wiped off fairly quickly.  That did the trick, and the color matched my rifle.  I used low-gloss Tung Oil for the top finish.  Considering the gradeau in a fired barrel, I don't like the idea of an open finish on a rod.  The Tung Oil at least puts a hard finish on top.  So far, the rod looks good.  God Bless,   Marc

[Ed Wenger]

A few coats of various LMF stains to achieve the color I want, then black spray paint, quickly rubbed off to fill all pores, and a slightly darker look.  I find the LMF stains penetrate very deeply, and even if they get scraped enough to show raw wood (which rarely happens), they can be easily touched up.  I don’t use varnish, just buff to a glossier look.  Best,

        Ed

[BJH]

I’m with Ed on this, Laurel Mt stains a thin coat of Formbys and a pass with flat black paint. Then I steel wool it bact to where I want it. And put another coat or two of finish on it. Usually I need to bone the heck out of the rod to get it to fit the thimbles and forestock hole. After finishing it I believe the wood permanently swells a bit. I just use a polished screwdriver shank to do my burnishing.

[moleeyes36]

I see many here wax the ramrod.  I thought about using dark brown Briwax.  Has anyone tried that when waxing the ramrod?  Seems to me it would work okay?

Mole Eyes

[Not English]

I don't usually do any staining to the rods. My usual procedure is to linseed oil the rods well and then take a propane torch to it until I have something that is not so blond. The linseed oil will protect the rod kind of from the  torch and the torch heats the oil and helps it penetrate. I don't do any more. After a few cleanings, it's going to look grubby anyways.

[Daryl]

The original (1986) hickory rod for that rifle, shown below the osage rod, was stained almost black by me 30 years ago with Minwax walnut stain.
 It still has some 'colour' after many thousands of 'rounds' loaded.

[LynnC]

Long ago I read somewhere that soaking hickory rods in a pipe full of linseed oil would make them really limber and keep them from breaking. It works but i haven't done it in years.

[flinchrocket]

I thought you were suppose to use coal oil ?

[Dennis Daigger]

Lockwood's aniline water soluble stains then MinWax tung oil for some protection against swelling from exposure to humidity.  KEDA's five color aniline kit is also a very good stain choice and with the five colors a wide array of colors can be mixed.

[rmnc3r]

If I'm inclined and/or a client requests the look, I wet sewing bias tape and wrap in a spiral, flash burn the exposed wood with a propane torch then finish with a couple coats of diluted Tru Oil, burnishing with steel wool between coats.

[Clint]

I split up a locust log last summer because I had it and made up thirty ramrods just over 3/8 " by 50 ".
People might say that a locust ramrod will chaff the muzzle so I wanted to know if that were true. I made up a 1/2 " locust square stick and tapered it to start into a wrought iron pistol barrel drilled to 1//2 ". I pushed the stick through the barrel with a half inch drill motor which took about fourty minutes and all I got was a hot barrel and a not so nice 1/2 " round stick. The terribly abrasive locust didn't touch the soft iron barrel, so I decided to use the ramrods. To stain locust, soak the finished sticks in a pvc pipe full of turpentine with a little Stockholm Tar added.

[rich pierce]

I’ve always thought that “ramrod wear” is overstated. I’ve freshed the rifling on lots of iron barrels. It’s hard work with a sharp cutter to get that 0.0007” or so per pass. And when lapping, 200 strokes with valve grinding compound will get you about 0.0005” or so.

[David Rase]

A lot of good information has been shared and I appreciate all who have contributed.  I was intrigued by Jim Chamber's burnt umber method and it just so happened that I had a tube of burnt umber so I am experimenting not only with using the burnt umber for my current projects ramrod but I am experimenting with a built up layered finish starting with a burnt umber oil paint base coat, then applying a coat of winsor red and then a top coat of ivory black.  I will then work it back hoping to expose the different colors.  We will see how it turns out on the scrap pieces before trying it on the actual pistol.
David.

[longcruise]

Guess I'm an outlyer.  I don't usually do anything.  Grimy greasy hands do the job.