Tow what is it

[Makoski4141]

"Tow" what exactly is it, was it issued, what are some common uses for it how available would it have been ect.

Andrew Birnbaum

[Spinster]

"Tow" is the short fibers produced when hackling flax. The long fibers are higher quality 'line linen'.

Tow fibers are roughly those under two inches in length. They were spun to produce lower quality fabrics--such as 'tow sacking'. Today, we'd be quite happy to get our hands on a tow sack--a rough spun linen sack, but during the period this fabric was fit only for feed sack or rough clothing.

For those folks in 1860 who could be expected to be versed in the use of flint and steel for firemaking (anyone over the age of 20, or of rural or lower class extraction) then tow was also a part of that kit--the fibers commonly used to catch the spark.

Interestingly, this same easily ignited material was also used as munitions packing for artillery items.

A bit more about flax production:
http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/flax-production-in-the-seventeenth-century.htm

[Vuhginyuh]

Tow field or crop bag, cotton strap. 25" X 34 ". ca 1860. Goldsboro/Mt Olive, Wayne County, North Carolina. Attributed to Aleck Buoy, a slave, later listed on the rolls of the 135th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry. Private collection.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

"From Rules for the Management and Cleaning of the Rifle Musket, Model 1861, for the Use of Soldiers (applies to the Springfield Models 1855, 1861, and 1863, and more generally to the Enfield Models 1853 and 1858), under "Rules for Cleaning":

It is not essential for the musket to be dismounted {disassembled} every time that it is cleaned; for, after firing it in fine weather, or when there has been no chance for the wet to get between the barrel and the stock, it can be perfectly cleaned in the following manner.

Put a piece of rag or soft leather on the top of the cone, and let the hammer down upon it; pour a gill of water into the muzzle carefully, so that it does not run down the outside; put a plug of wood into the muzzle, and shake the gun up and down, changing the water repeatedly until it comes out clear. When clear, withdraw the leather, and stand the musket on the muzzle for a few moments; then wipe out the barrel (as given in the second rule for cleaning {see below}), and also wipe the exterior of the lock and the outside of the barrel around the cone and cone-seat first with a damp rag, and then with a dry one, and lastly with a rag that has been slightly oiled. In this way, all the dirt due to the firing may be removed without taking out a screw.

2nd. Screw the wiper on to the end of the ramrod, and put a piece of dry cloth, or tow, round it, sufficient to keep it from chafing the grooves of the barrel; wipe the barrel quite dry, changing or drying the cloth two or three times.

3d. Put no oil into the vent, as it will clog the passage, and cause the first primer to miss fire; but, with a slightly oiled rag on the wiper, rub the bore of the barrel,... and immediately insert the tompion into the muzzle

Curt

[mboyce]

In earlier times, you would use a hank of tow to wipe your barrel. A tow worm that looks similar to a corkscrew, was attached to the end of you wiping stick, which is a different tool than your ramrod. You thenwound a hank of tow through the worm and cleaned your barrel. It works much better than a cloth rag because of the abrasive action.

[Makoski4141]

Thank you for your responses I just found "tow" for sale at DGW I think I will pick some up. It seems like it can be very useful to carry around.

Andrew Birnbaum

[KCLoewe]

When I did a earlier time period many moons ago, the unit I belonged to would clean our brown Bess's using tow instead of rags. It work quite well. A few nice things about it besides it being mildly abrasive to clean the barrel is that the first 1 or 2 "patches" of tow would be discarded, but the following few could be laid out somewhere to dry and then brush them off a bit with your hand and they were reusable. Also, any fibers that got left in the barrel were no problem as they would be burnt up with the first round fired from it. Then tow would come in handy to apply brick dust to the out side surfaces of the weapon to polish everything. This stuff was great to have in the field and it weighed nothing and could be compacted in a small poke sack and took up almost no room in your kit.
I would love to find CW references to the use of tow with cleaning rifles in the field.

[Rev]

I'm curious. How many of you use non woven tow fibre to clean with vs. how man use woven fibre. I've used both. Though I usually use non woven since I have it around from my fire kit.