gtrgy888
Member
As I’ve cleaned my revolver, I’ve wondered about the wisdom of using modern dish soap after my first few cleanings, where the metal parts were developing surface rust within minutes of being dried. The steel would be blue when wet and literally dried brown. Great for inadvertently antiquing the gun and giving it some character, since it buffed off with light oiling, but concerning for long term care. I’ve also wondered about how much lubricant is too much. In order to prevent and clean off surface rust caused by cleaning with dish soap, I was forced to liberally coat the outside and inside of the cylinder and rest of the gun with bore butter within 5 minutes to rub off the brown and protect the steel. Something had to be wrong.
I got to thinking about dish soap versus historical soap. Modern dish soap is formulated to oxidize and strip all oil off a surface. By contrast, lye soap seems to replace oil with a thin layer of lard, hence why it is great for sensitive skin. It removes dirt and grime and leaves an alkaline oil layer. Rust thrives on oxygen exposed, oil free steel. Is it possible that modern dishsoap is too effective at removing oil and completely stripping all oil off the metal is not the right way to clean black powder guns?
The last straw for me ditching the dish soap + excessive lubricant method in favor of traditional lye soap was the power loss issue over extended loading. Does it stand to reason that men living in the sagebrush cleaning revolvers for life and death struggle in pots over a fire would have cleaned off all residue then proceeded to slather thick powder-ruining lubricant over every working part in a process that requires a full hour of careful attention? And what did they clean with anyway? Probably just water and good ole lye soap.
I decided to give plain ole soap a try. Sure enough, after cleaning and drying, the blued steel stayed blue! No surface rust at all. All parts were covered in an alkaline film of dried soap, no excessive oiling required. I got brave enough to try NOT oiling the cones, cone threads, or chambers of the cylinder. For good measure, I still slathered the lockwork, screws, and barrel with liberal quantities of bore butter which I melted over the parts after oven drying. I left the cylinder completely alone, although I did brush off the soap film that was left in the chambers with a pipe cleaner. After a few days of sitting, no surface rust was discernible, and I decided to load up. So far the empty chamber remains as rust free as the day I cleaned it, and the cone still unscrews without any effort. This could be the solution to weakening powder as well as surface rust. Lye soap is definitely worth a try and I’ll be keeping it as my only cleaner for black powder shooting.
I got to thinking about dish soap versus historical soap. Modern dish soap is formulated to oxidize and strip all oil off a surface. By contrast, lye soap seems to replace oil with a thin layer of lard, hence why it is great for sensitive skin. It removes dirt and grime and leaves an alkaline oil layer. Rust thrives on oxygen exposed, oil free steel. Is it possible that modern dishsoap is too effective at removing oil and completely stripping all oil off the metal is not the right way to clean black powder guns?
The last straw for me ditching the dish soap + excessive lubricant method in favor of traditional lye soap was the power loss issue over extended loading. Does it stand to reason that men living in the sagebrush cleaning revolvers for life and death struggle in pots over a fire would have cleaned off all residue then proceeded to slather thick powder-ruining lubricant over every working part in a process that requires a full hour of careful attention? And what did they clean with anyway? Probably just water and good ole lye soap.
I decided to give plain ole soap a try. Sure enough, after cleaning and drying, the blued steel stayed blue! No surface rust at all. All parts were covered in an alkaline film of dried soap, no excessive oiling required. I got brave enough to try NOT oiling the cones, cone threads, or chambers of the cylinder. For good measure, I still slathered the lockwork, screws, and barrel with liberal quantities of bore butter which I melted over the parts after oven drying. I left the cylinder completely alone, although I did brush off the soap film that was left in the chambers with a pipe cleaner. After a few days of sitting, no surface rust was discernible, and I decided to load up. So far the empty chamber remains as rust free as the day I cleaned it, and the cone still unscrews without any effort. This could be the solution to weakening powder as well as surface rust. Lye soap is definitely worth a try and I’ll be keeping it as my only cleaner for black powder shooting.