Cutting Patches at the Muzzle

I am going to try cutting my patches at the muzzle when I load. But I am not sure what lube I should use. I could use some advice. :hmm:

Dixie Gun Works "Old Zip", Mink oil, Wonder Lube 1000, any of these.

As flintlock62 indicated, basically any lube you want.

I'll add one bit of unsolicited advice: Your knife needs to be sharper than sharp, unless you really like sawing on your patching for awhile.

BrownBear said:

As flintlock62 indicated, basically any lube you want.

I'll add one bit of unsolicited advice: Your knife needs to be sharper than sharp, unless you really like sawing on your patching for awhile.

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I agree with the sharp knife. Mine is final sharpened with a black Arkansas stone and then red jewelers rouge on a buffing wheel. Be careful of your fingers!

Crisco,spit. Crisco is cheap spit is free. Sharp knife, definitly. I like the old high carbon-non stainless blades. They take a real good edge and look old timey.

Worry more about the knife than the lube. You need as sharp of a knife as you can get. Many people like old straight razors.But what ever you use you want it razor sharp.

I keep a diamond sharpening plate, and a white sharpening stone in my range box..sharp is that important..Hank

Cut my pillow ticking into strips and placed in a small container with olive oil. I then take strips place on paper towels to dri some. I carry this in a diabetic strip contianer until I am ready to load. Use my pocket knife (very sharp and handy) to cut at bore. Ringo

I use a bronze knife made from some Thai 1960's tableware. The edge lasts and it won't do a thing to steel. Got it for a buck from the fork & spoon bin at a resale shop.

Reading some of these posts, I guess my idea of sharp is quite different from what others consider sharp.

I use a small neck knife with about a 2" blade to cut my patching. Even when it's as dull as I've ever let it get, it will still cut my patching with a single smooth swipe without pulling the ball out of the coned muzzle.

fyrfyter43 said:

Reading some of these posts, I guess my idea of sharp is quite different from what others consider sharp.

I use a small neck knife with about a 2" blade to cut my patching. Even when it's as dull as I've ever let it get, it will still cut my patching with a single smooth swipe without pulling the ball out of the coned muzzle.

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I think "sharp" can be a relative term. If your blade easily makes a clean cut, it's sharp (enough).

A Blade is "Sharp" if you can cut pillow ticking with a single stroke, and there is no "fuzz" left on the edge of the blade. If there is fuzz, or you have to use the blade as a Saw to cut the fabric, its NOT SHARP! :thumbsup:

Yep, even when I'm thinking "man, I really need to sharpen this knife!" it will still cut my pillow tick patching with a single smooth stroke. No fuzz on my blades!

I think I'm just a bit more anal about sharpening things than most folks. I'm friends with Ron Swartz, owner of KME Sharpeners. A few years ago Ron taught me what sharp really is (and taught me alot about how to achieve it).

I think most folks would consider one of my dull knives to be scary sharp.

I've never tried it with one of my blades, but here's Ron's idea of sharp. Notice the curls shaved up on these hairs (without cutting through the hair).

now that's what i'd call a hair cut :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: how dose one get a knife that sharp, been try'n never could get past shave sharp. i'm 44 BTW. teach an old dog new trick's?

You can find a book on Amazon, and other sites, titled, " The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening" by John Juranitch, that explains how to put a razor edge on any blade. He put a razor's edge on a double bit competition axe, and had his twin daughtersd shave off his beard with the axe, as a pulicity stunt at the Roleo held each year at Heyward, Wisconsin. His company is located at Ely, Minnesota. The Razor Edge Company. He has a website by the same name.

I have bought a lot of books on knife-making, and sharpening, trying to improve on my frustrating years in the school of "Trial and Error" as a knife maker back when I was a teen. I still have several books on knife-making on my bookshelf. The one I use as a constant reference is the Razor Edge Book of Sharpening.

bkovire said:

now that's what i'd call a hair cut :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: how dose one get a knife that sharp, been try'n never could get past shave sharp. i'm 44 BTW. teach an old dog new trick's?

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Personally, I use Ron's jig since I've never been that good at keeping a consistent angle when sharpening anything. The jig is similar to a Lansky, but with several MAJOR improvements. With each stone, I work both sides of the edge, raising a burr and then taking it off. Then I move to the next finer stone. When I've run through all the stones and I think it's sharp enough, I strop the blade on a piece of cardboard.

An old straight razor with a horn handle works great. That is if you don't have room for an Electric knife in your bag. :haha:

All rifles have a preference and your rifle will let you know what it likes. Mine seem to like either Bore Butter or straight Ballistol. You just have to try different lubes to see what your rifle prefers. :thumbsup: