Boiling water causes "flash rust"?

[Jack]

Red, the patches in your pics look like they have Bore Butter on them, not rust.

[bounce]

After you use your gun, if it's a long time till it's used again, I say clean it again with just patches then lube 103 again in 3 months. Your lube will mosten and make lose any small little bit that may be left behind. But lubed it does no damage. so in two or three monthes one more swabing & then lubing again just does one heack of a nice job till the next shooting. Your bore is ready and seasiond to give you a good seasion hunt.

[Purebred Redneck]

Dec 14, 2008 17:19:51 GMT -5 twomoons said:

You need to remember that a muzzleloading barrel is like a cast iron frying pan. You need a lube that seasons the bore.

I agree with that 100% but I'm having a hard time convincing others on another forum

So how would you respond to
"NO, they are NOT like a cast iron pan. That propaganda is left over from the days when barrels were made of iron-rich porous metal of mostly unknown quality. Modern steel does not "season". Break-in, yes. "

[bounce]

It seasions Red. Just does it quiker and easer now. The main thing with nice modern steel is to keep it coated all the time with a good lube. I my self do not consider most bore butters a good lube. Crisco is better than most. To me 103 lube is the only comercal lube to use. I use it allso on all patching if not I use spit only.

[twomoons]

Gee I don't know, maybe because Bill Large told me so and he knew more about barrels than any one else i've ever dealt with! It's only worked for me since 1972 so it just may be a fable!

[twomoons]

Another thought comes to mind, a buddy of mine makes what he call a breakfast wok from old disk blades. These are mead to sub for either a griddle or a frying pan on an open fire. He SEASONS then and gives instructions with each on on keeping it seasoned. Now what steel is denser or harder than a disk blade? But it SEASONS and turns dark, but it DOES,NT RUST!!!! By the way I cook with bear grease and use it on my patches too. Makes the eggs taste right smooth.

[Jack]

Twomoons, that's an interesting observation.
Woks, which are made of sheet steel (commercial ones, anyway), season just like cast iron cookware does. I expect a commercially sold wok is not as hard as your friends' one made from a disk, but either wok is made of steel, not cast iron.

[klsm54]

I'm no expert on barrel steel, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Expr..... no wait, that's not what I meant to say.... ;D ;D

I did spend 20 years in the welding supply business. Over that time, with both customers and suppliers, I was exposed to the study of metallurgy quite regularly. From that I can tell you that all steel, just like cast iron, is porous. Believe me, contaminants in those pores can wreak havoc with the welding process. On many occasions we solved welding problems by either "cooking" or chemically removing, those contaminants from steel that resisted welding, even though it's surface had been ground to what appeared to be "bare" metal.

If one looks at photos of the micro structure of steel and cast iron you will see that both are porous, thus able to hold a "curing" compound.

Here are pictures of steel, different alloys, in their, furnace cooled, (FC) air cooled (AC), and oil quenched (OQ) states........

Link to steel microstructure photos

Here are pictures of cast iron.......maybe more technical than I'd like, but it will make the point anyway.

Link to cast iron microstructure photos

While steel has a smoother, more homogeneous, structure than cast iron, there is still porosity present.....even in high alloyed and heat treated steels.

Red, to those who say you break in a barrel, not season it, I'd say it is a very similar process. When you break in a centerfire barrel the pores get filled with gilding metal, or moly. When you season a barrel the pores are also filled, just with lube instead of jacket material.

Of course in your case, Red, the barrel is seasoned with lube.....and plastic....from those damn sabots... ;D ;D

[jimiowa]

Dec 17, 2008 22:24:24 GMT -5 twomoons said:

Another thought comes to mind, a buddy of mine makes what he call a breakfast wok from old disk blades. These are mead to sub for either a griddle or a frying pan on an open fire. He SEASONS then and gives instructions with each on on keeping it seasoned. Now what steel is denser or harder than a disk blade? But it SEASONS and turns dark, but it DOES,NT RUST!!!! By the way I cook with bear grease and use it on my patches too. Makes the eggs taste right smooth.

Interesting! I have seen pictures of the Cowboy Woks or as one guy called it a Mexican Wok( said he was married to a mexican gal who would fight to the death before giving up hers). And it has been on my list of things to make. Now that I have my welder hooked up I'm running out of excuses?
They are heavy enough they are not likely to ever wear out.

Two questions come to mind, that hard steel.
Is he welding a plug in the axle hole, or just welding it shut?
Is he using anything special for filler rod?

[klsm54]

I would guess that plow discs are made from high carbon steel, something like 1045, maybe 1060. As such you should use a low hydrogen electrode, like 7018, to weld them.

It would be a good idea to preheat to 500°-550°F, and cool slowly. You can either keep a decreasing amount of heat on it with a propane torch, or blanket it good with insulation, to keep it from cooling too fast.

I don't know what the diameter of the hole is, I'm guessing 1"- 1½". It may work well to plug and weld rather than just welding, especially if the hole is relatively large. Same procedure either way.

[deputydon]

I just had the local repair man weld a piece of flat iron in the bottom using a wire welder and weld two handles on. Then shined the whole thing up w/ a grinding wirewheel, then got it good and hot over a fire w/ oil in it and started the seasoning process. Not hard at all. And works great!!!!!

[jimiowa]

DD What kind of handles did you have put on yours??

I saw pictures of one with Horseshoe handles welded on.
Looked pretty neat, but I wondered if they would not transfer too much heat to the hands???