Crisco

Yep! Crisco,...Trex, Flora White or Cookeen.
Vegetable shortening...
Many of you may be familiar with it as a bullet lube...But, that's not what I'm going to talk about.
This summer I had a broken file that I used as a knife sharpener and flint striker for the camp fire...I also had a spoon lamp (grease lamp) near by. I was using old Crisco in the lamp. I coated the file with melted Crisco from the lamp to keep it from rusting, as I just let it sit on a picnic table all summer exposed to the elements.
I picked it up today and not one lick of rust... :shocked2:

Maybe we (or just me) have been over looking the potential of Crisco?

I used it for lube and in moccasin dressing for a few years.

It's suppose to work good on rough elbows and heels too! :rotf:

When I first got into the hobby, mid-1970s, Crisco was being used extensively for many things. I used it as patch lube, melted it and lubed the cushion wads in my shotguns, and for lots of other stuff for several years. It worked very well for anything I tried it on. The only problem I ever had with it was that it was messy. Because of its low melting point it got all over everything, especially in hot weather.

Spence

Ok guys....I was more focused on it's rust prevention properties....It's been outside for 6 months.

I use lard-based lube for rust prevention on my guns, never specifically did that with Crisco. Your file would seem to indicate Crisco would be good for that, but it's still messy. I wonder if a mix of beeswax and Crisco would work the same as with lard, stiffen it up, raise the melding point.

Get back to us in 6 months and let us know how it worked on your guns. I'm too well pleased with my lard to be seduced by an upstart impostor. :haha:

Spence

ff (as intended)

Only thing I ever used it for was "sealing" the chambers on the ROA. Now many of you know alot of my shooting is done from the seat of my car and using the door frame as a rest. Took 3 months to get the cr_p outta my mirror :redface: . Clean it up and it would drip out more crevasses.

I never went back.

Rust prevention? hey if it works, maybe "in a pinch?"

Well, yeah, but did your mirror ever get rusty? :hmm:

:shocked2: I never connected it! NO!, So Clyde is, right again! A can could last many many years folks, watch those grocery adds and getcha some :haha:

I probably wouldn't use it on my guns, but it would be fine for tools.
So as an alternative to lard you could cook with it, use it in a lamp as I did, use it in your gun or on it.....Sounds pretty versatile to me.

It comes to camp when fishin and rabbit huntin already so now "in a pinch" I will use some inside bore as well!

Keep in mind I applied it in a melted/ liquid state So as to only get a thin coat. And I warmed the file so it wouldn't pool and fill the grooves.

I haven't tried it in a barrel.

If any excess melts and pools in the breech, one could end up with a heck of a mess and a non-functioning gun....Just something to think about?

Colorado Clyde said:

Yep! Crisco,...Trex, Flora White or Cookeen.
Vegetable shortening...
Many of you may be familiar with it as a bullet lube...But, that's not what I'm going to talk about.
This summer I had a broken file that I used as a knife sharpener and flint striker for the camp fire...I also had a spoon lamp (grease lamp) near by. I was using old Crisco in the lamp. I coated the file with melted Crisco from the lamp to keep it from rusting, as I just let it sit on a picnic table all summer exposed to the elements.
I picked it up today and not one lick of rust... :shocked2:

Maybe we (or just me) have been over looking the potential of Crisco?

Click to expand...

This is just my personal feeling about this subject. Crisco is good for some things related to muzzleloaidng such as patch and bullet lubing but I just don't trust it to protect my expensive and beloved guns from rust. While a good machine oil is a good bit more expensive than Crisco, you use such a small quantity of it, a can will last a very long time. Any good machine oil or gun oil contains rust inhibitors that will prevent rust much more effectively than Crisco or other plain greases. Greases that do not contain an anti-rust ingredient prevent rust by simple occlusion. It seals out oxygen and moisture. If the occlusive coating is breached, rust will start because there is nothing else to prevent it. Our forefathers used simple greases and oils because that was all they had. Today, we have far better rust preventives and, personally, my rifles and other guns are worth the small additional cost to be sure that they have the best lubricants and rust preventives that I can use on them. However, I am one of those folks for whom historical correctness takes a back seat when it comes to the care and feeding of my guns. But that is just the opinion of a cranky old fart.

Billnpatti said:

Our forefathers used simple greases and oils because that was all they had. Today, we have far better rust preventives and, personally, my rifles and other guns are worth the small additional cost to be sure that they have the best lubricants and rust preventives that I can use on them. However, I am one of those folks for whom historical correctness takes a back seat when it comes to the care and feeding of my guns.

Click to expand...

Might I bring to your attention the number of guns that survived even though historically correct simple oils & greases were used in their care and feeding. Let's not dismiss these product having 400+ years of proven efficacy...

The only problem I ever had with it was that it was messy. Because of its low melting point it got all over everything, especially in hot weather.

Click to expand...

I have tried zillions of concoctions for patch and revolver lube. Crisco is, IMHO, the second wusstest stuff possible for those uses. Chicken fat worster. In cold weather Crisco is too hard for any use, hot weather messy is an understatement. :td:

Oil/grease protects by putting a line between the air and moisture and the steel. Iron/steel wants to rust. I like animal fats and oils, but crisco worked in my iron pots for years. I use mostly olive oil but crisco works.
So crisco protected your steel, that alone out weighs any argument.
It’s not hc and hc oils work well, no one can tell the difference from looking at it or feeling it or smelling it.

azmntman, i had a very similar experience, (way back in the long ago) after having been told by an expert that Crisco was the only thing to put over the round ball in my revolver.

i managed to get over being 'told' stuff, and approached self proclaimed 'experts' with more healthy skepticism.

it's OK for making biscuits, and i would suppose it would do for cosmoline in a pinch, but otherwise, well, not so much ... other products work better.

just one guy's observation -- free advice and douobtless well worth the price...

Make Good Smoke :grin:

Guys!, ....I'm not advocating for the use of Crisco.....Just sharing my experience using it as a tool rust preventative.....Yes! there are indeed better alternatives out there.

Well any oil is better than nun,
You left that thing outside day-in/day-out fully exposed to the elements for 6 months?