Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Lubing the beading strip

Hi Everyone,

Last weekend I shot at a few clays and as is my norm cleaned and oiled my shooting implement when I got home.
For years I’ve followed the same procedure ending with a light oiling of the metal bits and beeswax on the wood.
Now here’s the thing, I never get oil on the wood since eventually it will blacken and go soft.

So, what danger to our cars’ wood when lubing the beading strips?

None as far as I know

The Morgan wood is ash, not something used when crafting a fine shotgun, I feel. Wood for a gun stock is often walnut, or something similar.

The Morgan ash frame has already been soaked in cuprinol and white spirit.
I suspect that light machine oil will keep the wood waterproof and discourage corrosion in the adjacent metal. Even so, I use ACF 50 when I "oil the beading".

Peter

I've always been happy enough to carry out the instructions in the MMC car handbook to use a light machine oil and I choose 3 in 1 as it has a plastic not scratching spout and is a handy sized container.
No reason to doubt the factories wisdom on it's usage really.

This might cause some controversy. I used to use 3 in 1 oil on my beading, but got told to never ever ever use it as it rots rubber, a should be using a natural oil. I've switched to using Danish oil as I have a good amount of that. My handbook recommends a light oil as opposed to a light machine oil.

Danish oil, though good as a wood finish, is a hard drying oil so I question whether it is the right thing to use bearing in mind the flexibility of the Morgan chassis and tub. Think a better choice would be a silicon based oil which is produced by 3 in 1 and others.
As far as damage to rubber is concerned, it all depends on the formulation of the “rubber” component. Just try finding that out!

Natural rubber is affected by mineral oils. The self sealing tanks of spitfires etc had a natural latex rubber called Linatex in a layer around the fuel tank. If a leak occurred due to a bullet hole the latex expands and seals it.

htts://www.global.weir/newsroom/news-articles/five-unconventional-applications-where-linatex-rubber-stands-the-test-of-time/#:~:text=Famously%2C%20Linatex%20%C2%AE%20rubber%20was%20used%20to%20line,it%20prevented%20fuel%20leakages%20and%20the%20resulting%20fires.

The rubber beading on the mog will be a synthetic rubber that isn't affected by mineral oil.

ACF 15 is the stuff to use. It is supplied to the aviation industry so it is safe for Morgans. It's around £15.00 for an aerosol and avaiable from most motor bike shops.

On a similar note, does anyone actually lubricate their spoked wheels ?
Mine are stainless, but I recall seeing specialists apparently offering stove-enamelling and painting services, surely that locks the spokes solid ?
Everything you ever wanted to know about wire wheels is here: https://www.truespoke.com/frequent-wire-wheel-questions

I re-beaded our Caterham when I rebuilt it. Seem to recall it was a PVC like material. Car has gone now but I think I still have an offcut in the garage. If I can find it I will do a soak test on some samples to see if it’s affected.