i seen the pic of the patch knife below.....and saw them before.......i shot patch in ball alot.....but always precut prelubed patches.......what material do you use for the patches using a patch knife? i seen pics of a strip of material being used...starting the ball and cutting the piece?? looks interesting....what about lube? just spit is what im guessing? i know that this is probably how they did it back in the day.....but is accuracy generally better with precut and prelubed patches? or would learning to cut my own be a good thing to do?? thanx guys.....just wondering if there was any point for me to get interested in this.....love the fancy knives....love the mountain man look.....i carry a possibles bag with all kindsa gear even though i really dont need to.....i can take care of most any problem in the field......and have enough balls and powder on hand to fire 20-30shots easy....but anyone want to fill me in on the whole....cutting your own patches thing?? looks interesting........thanx

I go to Wal Mart. I purchase 100% cotton pillow tick in blue stripe for about $3.49 a yard. This will make a lot of shooting for you. I take the yard of material home and wash it in the washing machine. I then line dry it. That removes the sizing from the material. It will mic out between .015-.018 in thickness. You can tear the stuff real easy into strips.

I make a homemade moosemilk lube. I dunk a strip of the cloth in the lube and dry it on some old window screen. After it is dry I dunk it again and dry it a second time. It is now saturated with the oil but almost dry to the touch.

All you do is set the ball and cut the strip of cloth off the muzzle and after driving the ball home with the ramrod your ready to shoot. I personally think you get a better patch because your cutting them all centered to the ball and the barrel. Also I get better accuracy not to mention I save a lot of money....