Having gotten away from black powder shooting many years ago (about the time pyrodex came out) i'm getting back into it now & while i'm still using the same patch lube i used way back when (though changing it a little) i'm just curious, what does everyone use? Now as memory serves, one important function of a lubed patch (or greased slug) was help keep fouling soft for easier removal.
Being close to a small town, the local sporting goods store has a very small inventory of any bp supplys hence prime interest is in mix it yerself.
for many years ive used crisco, beeswax mix & just recently started adding a bit of olive oil all heated in a dbl boiler & allowed to cool. at room temps 75 to 80 (love our wood stove lol) its solid but soft enough to be worked with fingers if necessary.
4 oz crisco by weight
1/4 oz beeswax
1 or 2 tsp olive oil
Then to lube patch's i lay out a piece of plexiglas i use, & smear enough of the lube on a hunk of my patch material with a plastic scraper, to penetrate the material well yet not be messy. fold the material in several layers and smooth it with said scraper and lay it in the freezer for a few minutes before using my patch cutting punch to punch out my patch's. 4 or 5 raps on 6 layers laid on a hardwood scrap and the patch's come out clean as a whistle.
Being the cheap errr uhhhhh frugal
person that i am, ive come up with a nifty patch cutter too, found a piece of hard steel, thin wall pipe 1 1/8 id, laying around in the shop, cut off about 6 inches, beveled one end at about 45, & sharpened it with a dremel & welded a plug in the other end, to add some weight and give a hammer surface to strike without mushrooming the pipe end. it works like a charm.
Anyway, back to the initial topic of my post i'm curious about what everyone else makes for both patches and lead slugs & how they work.