Question: Curls / Coils on a ramrod

[Enfield]

Can anyone please explain how to get these curls/coils (or how you would name it)  burned into a ramrod?

[smylee grouch]

I did that once in the late 60s but didnt burn them in I used Potassium Permanganate. I didnt think it looked authentic at the time so I dont remember doing it again.

[45-110]

I have always used tape, and all tape quality is not the same. Start with a real smooth whiskered rod. Do not flood the brush and brush away from the edge. Also have burned a few, with a real soft gentle flame from a real small torch between the tape, Then seal the rod.

[45-110]

I have a rod done in 1967 with potassium permanganate, and it still looks good, stock stain is just easier to work with.

[Eric Kettenburg]

There is some historical precedent for it.  In one of the JHAT booklets, Wallace dissected a Sheetz rifle with original rod done in this manner.  Whether you like it or not is preference, but it certainly does seem to have been done historically.

I don't like using dye.  I have done it with tape or ribbon wound around the rod, then hit the areas for the 'stripes' with aquafortis.  Then heat, preferably after oiling the rod with linseed oil so it's less likely to burn.  I suspect originals were probably 'striped' by hand, carefully, as I can;t really think of a historical equivalent to tape.

[Enfield]

But I guess you will not get the contrast so clear/sharp differentiated?

Here in this ramrod it is burned in... How ever it was done, maybe with a hot iron, but it is very uniform done

[Carl Young]

Back in the '70s I burned stripes on a rod by wrapping it with cannon fuse (cheap back then) and letting it burn briefly. I haven't striped a rod since, as I don't really care for the look unless it is very subtle  and my original flintlocks (European Jaegers) with a known original rods are not striped. My American guns may have had the rods replaced. I don't know how to tell an original rod from 1780 from a replacement made in 1812.

Just my thoughts. Regards,
Carl

[Martin S.]

There is some historical precedent for it.  In one of the JHAT booklets, Wallace dissected a Sheetz rifle with original rod done in this manner.  Whether you like it or not is preference, but it certainly does seem to have been done historically.

I don't like using dye.  I have done it with tape or ribbon wound around the rod, then hit the areas for the 'stripes' with aquafortis.  Then heat, preferably after oiling the rod with linseed oil so it's less likely to burn.  I suspect originals were probably 'striped' by hand, carefully, as I can;t really think of a historical equivalent to tape.

I did this once in the 80's.  I had a Santa Fe Hawken kit, and I finished the wood a light golden color, with the ramrod to match.  I then took leather, and wrapped the ramrod to cover the parts I didn't want burned, and held it over a flame until the spiral was consistently blackened.  It turned out well, but I can't show you pics as I sold the rifle when I was a poor graduate student.  Years later I ran into the guy who bought the rifle, and asked him to buy it back, but he said no, he had grown attached to it. 

So leather could have been a substitute for tape in the old days, with the leather tied down at each end of the ramrod.

[Top Jaw]

I used the 1/2” masking tape wrap and propane torch method on my TN rifle rod 20+ years ago. It allows you to get a good even tighter twist. And I think the burning leaves a little bit of a faded edge that looks better in my humble opinion than a hard stained edge. It will also melt the glue on the masking tape.  Which makes it a pain to remove, and will require oil and steel wool to rub all the traces of it off and back, prior to applying a finish.  (1/2” blue tape painters tape might be easier to remove). But the end result looks better than the hard edge.  At least in this mans opinion, FWIW. 

[Daryl]

Each to his/her own desires, just I prefer dark, waxed rods.

[Martin S.]

Top Jaw, mine had the same faded edge as yours, and the leather burned a little as well, but I wasn't planning on using the leather again anyway.  Yours looks just like how mine turned out.

I am wondering, for historical accuracy, which types of rifles actually used this style of decoration.

Does anybody know?

I always liked the look of it, but don't want to be historically incorrect.

[Seth Isaacson]

Might the originals have been done with string soaked in dye/stain/etc.?

[reddogge]

I did one for my son's rifle I built but did it in 1980. I wouldn't do another though. I just propped it on the vise and freehanded it with a propane torch.

[Steeltrap]

Not that it matters, and everyone has their likes and dislikes, but I think those make the firearm look like a barber's pole.

Just not my taste.

[flatsguide]

Is that the barber shop next to the cigar store Indian?
Richard

[45-110]

Might the originals have been done with string soaked in dye/stain/etc.?

most likely they would have used yarn.

[Steeltrap]

Is that the barber shop next to the cigar store Indian?
Richard

You've been there!!!

[Craig Wilcox]

You will need to add scissors and comb to your goodies bag.