Building the BP trade rifle from a TOTW kit

[Claven2]

Found some time today to make the ramrod. You can make this out of almost anything, but supposedly the best woods for this that are unlikely to break or splinter are ramin or hickory. Historically, I believe birch was also sometimes used. Find a piece with as little grain runout as possible with straight grain throughout to make it less likely to splinter in use. I ended up using ramin which I think is an asian hardwood. Most modern gun making kits use ramin as it is supposedly more flexible and less prone to breakage than hickory. It's my first ramin ramrod though, so I'll let you know if it breaks! lol... I sand the rod lightly to 150, then a very light going over with 400 grit to smooth it out.

Obviously, it needs to be small enough to fit into the ramrod pipes. Not too tightly. No matter how nice the ramrod, it will be a little warped and this warpage is more or less what keeps it in place coupled with a reasonably snug fir to the area that fits inside the forestock.

Original trade rifles had plain wood rods, but I like a brass tipped rod for practical reasons and it allows me to thread in accessories just in case. Steel tips can also be had, but I've often worried about scratching the bore. To fit the tip, I use a file to remove just enough wood to get a press fit. Original brass tipped rods would have been riveted in place, but this weakens the ramrod, so I cheat and pour cyano-acrylate glue into the threaded hole and allow it to cure to lock the tip to the rod itself. I know... I'm such a cheater.

There are lots of ways to finish the rod. You can decorate it, stain it, leave it as-sanded, etc. Many original long rifles had spiral-charred rods, so I went that route. You carefully play a flame in a spiral around the shaft. You want to char the wood, not burn it. go slowly and be careful. I use a propane plumbing torch for this. When done, rub BLO into the rod and then use a piece of steel wool soaked in steel wool to lightly burnish the exterior. This will take any black ash off the spiral and leave it a char-brown color. Put on a few more BLO coats and you're done.





That finished, I started browning a few of the iron fittings for the stock. You really only need to sand to 180, but I prefer the look if you go to 400. I like Laurel Mountain Forge for a browning solution, but there are a lot of different formulas out there, use whatever works for you. Worst case you can remove the finish and start over with a quick buff of 400 grit paper.

Solution applied 5 minutes ago. Will wait 3 hours and re-coat, then 3 hours later scale. Might need another 2-3 coats after that.