wetting the patch

[Bob B]

I woulld like to know what others use to wet the paper patch with,I use saliva but wonder if there is any danger in doing this? Bob B

[45 2.1]

Saliva..........works better than anything else i've tried. I use clean out of a sealed ream paper too. I would look for another way if I had to use anything that wasn't sealed before I got it.

[Buckshot]

..............I too think saliva works best but there is the issue of handling the lead boolits with your fingers, ditto the paper and it goes into your mouth. Whatever it is there's 'stuff' in your saliva that's slightly sticky and it helps the paper stick to itself when wrapping. It also aids as the paper dries and shrinks. Or so it seems to me.

A few years back I quit using spit due to the lead transfer issue, and was very unhappy as some of the patched slugs would have loose patches, having just been wetted with tap water. They'd shrunk for sure but the paper hadn't stuck to it'self as well it seemed. I also thought that possibly the few loose ones hadn't been stretched and wrapped on as tight as they could have been.

I had a friend suggest a dab of egg white in the dish of water. I never tried it. I just use water and make sure the paper is well wetted, and is stretched as it's rolled on. Those that come loose are few, and those that don't are well and truly stuck on!

.............Buckshot

[oso]

I wet a sponge with water in a small dish, dampen a rubber faced block on the sponge then lay a patch on the sponge and pick the patch up with the dampened block so the tip of the patch is just past the edge of the block (to ease starting the wrap.) Don't mind a pellet or two in a bite of meat but otherwise no fingers or food or patches in the mouth when handling lead. Guess I'm just not drooling fast enough yet to do the job with saliva.

[pdawg_shooter]

I dip my patches in a bowl of water. Been working fine for me for years.

[Red River Rick]

I agree with Buckshot & 45 2.1. Nothing beats good old saliva.

And yes, a bit of egg white added to water will definitely make it stick better. Ever tried to clean dried egg off a window or a plate, seems to make for a strong adhesive.

[Moose]

Got an old guy in our BP club who uses beer - try it, you might like it. Home brewed is best.

[The Dust Collector]

I used to use saliva and use to get a real bad taste in my mouth. I never considered the
potential lead transfer. Duh! Well, to get rid of that bad taste in my mouth, I'd have a
little shooter of vodka. Made my patching session pass a little quicker too! I was still
licking my patches when I noticed that the patches were adhering better and also dried
to a tighter shrink. Well to make a short story of this, I now use one of those sponges
with the Scotch-Brite bakings in a small tray that I made and soak it with vodka.
All you have to do is just lay a patch on to moisten and roll. Maybe it's the residual sugar
or the faster evaporization of the alcohol . Seeing that the vodka is handy, you still can
have a little shooter once in a while.

DUST

[oso]

Home brew and vodka, keep both handy, seem appealing to me right now!

[arkypete]

I agree with Buckshot & 45 2.1. Nothing beats good old saliva.

And yes, a bit of egg white added to water will definitely make it stick better. Ever tried to clean dried egg off a window or a plate, seems to make for a strong adhesive.

Hmmm
You suppose that I could convince wife to supply the salvia?
Jim

[MLR]

I have heard of folks using a little egg whites mixed in with their water. My question is does the patch release from the bullet at the muzzle properly?
Have any of you that use egg whites looked for evidence of the patch sticking?
I use plain water and all the patches are shredded and fall off at the muzzle.

I am interested in your findings on the egg whites.

Michael

[45 2.1]

Set your board up where you wet the patch and place it with your left hand, place the boolit with your right hand, use a pointy tool to raise the patch tip and place against the boolit, left hand seats it and starts rolling. Once rolled pick up by nose with right and roll the tail with the left, place in block to dry. Left hand never touches bare boolit and right hand never fouls area where the left hand touches. It will work that way.

[scrapcan]

I too have tried egg whites, beer, and sugar disolved in warm water. all seperately of course. Also used straight tap water. I have not patched enough to make a real test. I can say that all seemed to hold the patch on.

I had also thought about using water from boiling a potato. the starch (sugars) makes a pretty good binding agent. Not tried that though. And you could have boiled potato and beer to make a keck of a good potato soup to eat for lunch after a morning rolling on patches.

[ebner glocken]

I have been using a bowl of water and never thought of spit. I do chew around a can a day of copenhagen and do on occasion forget about a spit cup in the house. My wife finds this quite detestable. Now here's my idea, bottle up this trash and sell it as paper patch sticky water. I may well be sitting on a gold mine.....lol

[powderburnerr]

You might even try dry wrapping them and find it simplerand a whole lot simpler......Dean

[SharpsShooter]

You might even try dry wrapping them and find it simplerand a whole lot simpler......Dean

Yep, works dandy.


SS

[TNsailorman]

I use plain old warm water and dip the cut strips into a bowl of it and let soak about 5 minutes before wrapping the boolit. I started out using spit on my fingers but decided right away that lead doesn't taste all that good.

[TNsailorman]

Maybe this is a bit off the subject, but has anyone ever tried wrapping the boolit and then spraying with liquid alox like Lee's? I have thought about trying it but never got around to it. Might be just one of my hair-brained schemes.

[RBak]

Maybe this is a bit off the subject, but has anyone ever tried wrapping the boolit and then spraying with liquid alox like Lee's? I have thought about trying it but never got around to it. Might be just one of my hair-brained schemes.

I have heard good and bad about this, but pretty much like everything else...it all depends on who's doing the telling!

Russ...

[45 2.1]

Maybe this is a bit off the subject, but has anyone ever tried wrapping the boolit and then spraying with liquid alox like Lee's? I have thought about trying it but never got around to it. Might be just one of my hair-brained schemes.

I've rubbed LLA into a dried patched boolit before. It does partially waterproof the patch and does provide lubrication, but DOES NOT help with accuracy as the Matthews patch lube formula provides much better accuracy than LLA does.