Make your own

[imr4198]

Fellow Weathbyterians,
   Once upon a time, it wasn't common to use a petroleum product to oil firearms.  Sperm oil was often used, but that took hard cash to buy, and was hard to find back in the country.  What did the hunter do?  He made his own.
   The old timers say that bear oil was the best sort of animal oil.  It wouldn't turn rancid or gum after it was clarified, and didn't have any scent or salt which would be ruinous to a firearm.  If you didn't happen to have a dead bear handy, other animal fat would do. 
   When the animal was skinned, the fat would be removed.  Then it could be placed on something flat (and not too absorbent) and cut up fine with a knife.  Next the fat would be placed in a warm place next to the stove or in the sun.  Not enough to make it hot.  The fat would then be placed in a cloth which would be twisted until the oil ran out into a glass bottle.  Shavings whittled from a lead ball would be put into the oil, and the bottle placed into the sun.  When the cloudy part of the oil settled to the bottom you would pour off the top part and clarify it again.  The result would be a light lubricant.
    Bear oil sold to pharmacies at one time in our past at a high price.  Another good part about using a bear is the large amount of fat available.  A bear might render a gallon or more.  If you could find a nice fat squirrel, you could render about an ounce of clarified oil.  An ounce of oil doesn't sound like very much, but it would keep your muzzle-exploder from rusting when you didn't have any other oil or any way to get some.  Pork is unsuitable, but raccoons or other furbearers could be used.  I remember taking apart oil-filled shocks on Japanese motorcycles 40 years ago to find them filled with rendered oil.  An old mechanic told me they used fish oil, but I never believed it until I smelled the proof.  One sniff convinced me.  You could rub the oil between your fingers and see tiny fish scales.
   I'm sure Weatherby wouldn't approve of using bear oil on a Mark V, but you have to admit our ancestors were resourceful.   
your pal,
imr4198   

[zonie]

Imr:  Always interesting  I doubt if I will be rendering down bear anytime soon. 

[NIK SOKO]

Very interesting and something i have read about but i could never see any sump plugs on bears so now i know better,emu's have a lot of fat and produce golden oil which is supposed to have many medicinal purposes and was used by "native australians"for various things,i'm guessing it was also a lot easier to harvest than bear oil in the old days before guns
                                            Nik

[74Sharps]

imr,
I never really thought what was used in the old days. Just one little question, what were the lead shavings put in the oil for?
                                                                                         74

[zonie]

74 :  I'm kind of curious also on the lead in the oil ? I guess that's why I still use wintergreen oil to break rusted bolts loose.   Ron

[74Sharps]

Ron,
imr sure is keeping us in suspense. Don't you think?
                                                                          74

[imr4198]

The lead shavings (or lead shot) cause the heavy parts of the oil to precipitate out.  Only the clear part is left after the sludge sinks.
your pal,
imr4198

[74Sharps]

imr,
Thanks, the suspense was killing me.
                                                74