To keep all sorts of Fire Arms and Steel from Rust

Submitted by Rex Ward

"To keep all sorts of Fire Arms and Steel from Rust Take a quarter of an ounce of camphire and half pound of hogs lard, disolve them together over a very slow fire, and take of the scum, then mix as much black-lead as will bring them to an iron colour, spread it over your arms, steel grates or fire-irons, let it lie 24 hours, then clean them as well as possible with a dry linen cloth, and they will keep six month..." from The Servants Directory, or House-Keepers Companion by H. Glass, 1762 (as quoted in Muzzleloader Magazine, Jan/Feb 1998, p. 51)

I made up a mess of this stuff the other day. As the MM article says, it is a little soft, but I prefer that to too hard, although I might add a little beeswax later on. The camphor is available at the drugstore. It comes in 1-oz. blocks, conveniently divided into 1/4-oz. squares. I went to the hardware store and bought a little tube of powdered graphite (a.k.a. black lead). I used a pound of lard and 1/2 an ounce of camphor. After the lard and camphor were dissolved, I ladled the mixture into tins and then added graphite until it looked like my idea of iron color (a very inexact science) and let them set overnight. I haven't used any yet, but will the next time I clean. Maybe this is how our forefathers kept their barrels bright!