Corrosion concern: wood dowels rifle rod storage?

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

wiscoaster

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2019
Messages
3,634
Location
Nowhere
I was pretty impressed with the "rifle rods" storage system ability to increase rifle storage capacity, however I was unimpressed with the purchased plastic rods themselves as being too flimsy. So I thought: "why not use wood dowels?" A quarter-inch dowel fits a bore down to 6.5 mm. So I built myself a DIY rifle rods storage rack and found that, as planned, it increased my capacity in the same space available from 18 rifles to 24 rifles. (pic below w/ plastic rod far right)

However - after the project was done the thought occurred to me (a little on the late side): "wood contains moisture and wood absorbs moisture - so have I just created pathways to induce corrosion into my rifle bores?" The dowel wood seems pretty dry and I have lightly coated each dowel with gun oil. But they're going to be in place for a long, long time, so ....

Do you think it would be wise to just ditch this whole idea of using wood dowels?

View attachment 1073300
 
Some of your guns likely have wood stocks and handguards. The wood is a non-issue there because its finished, sealed.

You have already done that with your dowel rods. That light coat of oil on the dowels has accentually finished/sealed them and helps keeps them from absorbing moisture. Another good option would have been linseed oil or tung oil, both have been used at various times for wood firearm furniture with good success.

The only thing else would be to be sure to run some type of humidity control in you gun cabinet as additional protection from moisture.
 
mcb said:
.... That light coat of oil on the dowels has accentually finished/sealed them and helps keeps them from absorbing moisture. Another good option would have been linseed oil or tung oil, ....
Click to expand...
Thanks, I was hoping that would be the case, but needed some more experienced opinion. I think I'll go the gun oil one step further and seal each rod with BLO.
 
I think you are fine. If that is long term storage I'd consider finishing the dowels like was said or use grease on them. the bore is basically plugged so you're not likely to get any real oxidation anyway. maybe some acid from the wood or something could have an affect, so I'd seal them with poly.
 
I wouldn't leave a wooden dowel in a rifle bore for much longer than it takes to seat the ball against the powder.

I would consider HDPE as the material for the dowel in your design.
 
Last edited:
Bwana John said:
I wouldn't leave a wooden dowel in a rifle bore for much longer than it takes to seat the ball against the powder.

I would consider HDPE as the material for the dowel in your design.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks for your alternate opinion. Would you mind elaborating on your reasons for why not the dowels?

I don't know what kind of plastic the rifle rods are made from. The website just says "injection molded plastic"

https://www.storemoreguns.com/rifle-rods-gun-rack-system/

Thanks for all viewpoints ... I'm learning. ;)
 
Last edited:
wiscoaster said:
OK, thanks for your alternate opinion. Could you please explain the reasons for why? Thanks....
Click to expand...
Wood is hydrophilic, its water content will change with the ambient humidity. Water that sits in and/or contacts the bore will cause corrosion.

High Density Polyethylene is hydrophobic.
 
Would giving it a quick pass of some sort of primer get everything sorted or would that cause issues?
 
What about spraying them with something like black PlastiDip?
So what you essentially would have is a reinforced plastic dowel.
 
Plasti dip is a liquid rubber coating that you dip pliers handles in. It adds to the diameter some.

A coat of paste wax on a dowel will seal it. If you want the wood dried as much as possible, you can put it in the oven on the lowest setting for a few hours. Kiln dry it a bit more, then slather your paste wax or oil all over while it’s still hot. Heat opens the pours of wood. You could heat your current dowels to dry what moisture there is and reapply the oil.
 
OneFreeTexan said:
Plastic rods in many sizes are available from any good plastic supply company,
Click to expand...
I had the same notion.
Mind, acrylic dowels (probably best for the application) have a price point versus birch dowels which might be a budget buster.

Soaking birch, even sppruce, dowels could be soaked in BLO, BLO cut with beeswax might be just the ticket. Especially as we can presume there's at least some oil in the bores anyway.
SO, it would not be bare wood on bare metal.

The plastidip is an interesting notion--but you'd need a really long tube to decant the stuff into to get a sufficient enght of coverage on a muzzle dowel.

Now, another interesting notion could be in arrow shafts.
 
Bronco72 said:
Get some Delrin rods
Click to expand...
A capital notion there. May need inquiring at an industrial supply house, but they come in a wide range of diameters, and machine with common tools.

Delrin, though, is probably going to need epoxy to fit the knobs on, though. Acrylic is tough enough that with, say a HF die set, could be threaded. Maybe. Perhaps.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

M
  • Locked
Help requested with mounting new scope?
Replies
1
Views
561
hksw
H
Gary O
  • Locked
Gun Storage Rods!
Replies
0
Views
537
Gary O
Gary O
X
  • Locked
Dug myself into a bit of a hole... (Mauser K98)
Replies
23
Views
1K
byf43
B
L
  • Locked
Rifle Rods to increase storage space
Replies
16
Views
1K
Rio Laxas
R
Sundance1908
  • Locked
Safe Rebuild
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
Gone Hiking
Gone Hiking
Back
Top