Black powder lube preservative

[arcticbreeze]

Has anyone used anything in there black powder (front stuffer) lube as a preservative to keep things like tallow from going rancid? Maybe something like peppermint oil or the likes?

[405]

Good topic!
One of our brothers from either UK or Australia brought this up on the forum quite a while back. CRS got me so no help on answers given. It is for sure a problem when making the stuff in quantity. I remember making a lot for muzzleloader use 30 or 40 years ago. Within a few months most had gone rancid. Since then I make smaller quantities of all my lube types. The bulk batches are poured into old plastic ice trays, cooled and dropped as lube "ingots". These are stored in ziplocks and kept in the fridge. A simple additive/preservative would be very handy.

[cajun shooter]

I use freezer bags then put that in tupper ware and finally into the freezer until ready to use. It has worked well for the last year.

[PatMarlin]

Interesting. Never thought bout' that.

[Larry Gibson]

That's why my BP lube contains only olive oil and beeswax.

Larry Gibson

[felix]

There are killer chemicals you can add, but I wouldn't because burning them could be worse when they are smelled in that state. Various creams/salves you have will contain something with 4 capitalised letters. Any of those is what I am talking about. If Olive oil does fine as Larry's says, that is the stuff to use. Any rancid smell is from the excrement left by the bugs that eat whatever they like. Best to use something that no local bug will eat. ... felix

[Ricochet]

I have some "Old Zip Patch Lube" (50/50 mutton tallow and beeswax) that has been stored unrefrigerated since 1980 and still looks, feels and smells like it did when first bought.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I have always rendered my own beef tallow from quality trimmings from a butcher shop that were perfectly edible in the raw state. Hell, it's what the fellows are grinding into our burger meat. I processed the tallow carefully and with good old fashioned "canning" hygiene into old, clean, gallon lard tins with tight fitting tin tops and it was always stored in the kitchen cupboard exactly as if it were canned goods.

The lube was made as needed with tallow from one of the tins and the needed amount of common brown beeswax which had been melted, strained, and cast in bread pans and then wrapped carefully for storage. I never had a problem with these efforts as the lube always worked well with BP and stayed fresh.

BvT

[beemer]

I was up at my Dad's helping him look for something, he had put it where he could find it again, we never did find what he was looking for. I did find a quart of beef tallow in the pantry that he had rendered out about 30 years ago, it was as fresh ever. I used the stuff for patch lube years ago but finally ran out,I guess I'll be using it again.

I have read that the Indians used tallow to coat large balls of pemmican and then wrap it in buffalo hides to preserve it. Seems that some has been found that had been buried for close to a 100 years and was still in fair shape.The pemmican was sealed off from the air and moisture by the tallow.

I don't how long tallow will last but if it is pure and prepaired properly it is a long time.

beemer

[jdgabbard]

I have some "Old Zip Patch Lube" (50/50 mutton tallow and beeswax) that has been stored unrefrigerated since 1980 and still looks, feels and smells like it did when first bought.

Seems like the Beeswax would help "lock" the tallow in away from the stuff that would eat it up. Since it does have a open crystaline structure. That would also explain why you might not smell the tallow that has gone bad. Who really cares as long as it works and isn't too hard on the nose???

[felix]

Your thinking on beeswax is correct and that is why we use it as the carrier of the real lube. The bugs are microscopic and some some are hard to kill by heating alone, especially using the temp-time curve used for cooking. Olive oil tends to break down the cell walls of beeswax over time, so lube made with that should get better over time. Luckily there seems to be no bugs that attack that before the lube is used, at least in this country. Don't know about the Olive growing areas in the world. Peanut oil, and lanolin, seems to get readily attacked here in the southern US. Mineral oil seems to be fairly safe. .... felix