TALLOW!!!

[Brill88]

Anyone remember the stuff or still use it I think plumbers may still use it but doesn’t anyone else have a tub in there tool box or ever made one of the nice wooden boxes to keep some in

 

[TRITON]

Was that tallow or was that wool grease..
Wool grease was used in things like boat prop shafts and other places to prevent water leaking through, so maybe if it is in use for a plumber its that and not tallow which is something edible.
I know they make soap from tallow and its used in the leather industry.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No, I have "Monument" brand tallow, which is advertised as being for plumbers, pulling cabling through conduits etc.

 

[bourbon]

Yes, got about a kilo of it in my workshop. It's used as a flux for plumbing, Use it as a lubricant for cutting threads in bar stock, But, the most unusual use for it. I cast pewter and it oxidizes very readily. Pop a little bit in the moulton metal and it clears all the rubbish off the top and there is a shiny clean surface left when you pour it into a mould. Brilliant stuff.

 

[gwaithcoed]

Had a tub in my shed until the mice found it

Alan

 

[Orraloon]

Got used a fair bit in boat building and on wooden boats/ships. Sealing leaks, sometimes in caulking, mixed with white lead as a protection for standing rigging and a general grease for blocks. Even the sounding lead got a dollop in the bottom to catch sand or small gravel so they knew what kind of sea bed was under them.
Regards
John

 

[julianf]

Tallow.....dont let the greenies and the woke brigade find out about it....

Why is that?

I'm quite "green" and used to collect about 300 ltrs at a time. I'd do some chemistry on it and then run our car off it.

 

[Jacob]

Tallow.....dont let the greenies and the woke brigade find out about it....

It's OK as long as it died from natural causes.

 

[Spectric]

Tallow, animal fat and as far as I am aware no longer used. In my early days we used it when threading electrical conduit on the stand with a manual threading tool, we also had brace and bits and yankee screwdrivers because there were no cordless drills so that puts tallow onto a timeline. Now there are threading lubricants that do not smell like tallow and work very well, along with powered pipe threading tools.

 

[Brill88]

No, I have "Monument" brand tallow, which is advertised as being for plumbers, pulling cabling through conduits etc.

Same stuff I’ve got plastic tubs but like a Chinese tub?

 

[Brill88]

Tallow.....dont let the greenies and the woke brigade find out about it....

Haha o lord can you imagine I think because it’s sortve lines to work they’ll never find about it lol

 

[Richard_C]

Didn't they use tallow, tons of tallow, on the slipways when launching big ships?

There were also tallow candles until the wax versions came along.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, got about a kilo of it in my workshop. It's used as a flux for plumbing, Use it as a lubricant for cutting threads in bar stock, But, the most unusual use for it. I cast pewter and it oxidizes very readily. Pop a little bit in the moulton metal and it clears all the rubbish off the top and there is a shiny clean surface left when you pour it into a mould. Brilliant stuff.

That's what mine was bought for.

 

[Inspector]

It also lubricated musket ball patches with it.

Pete

And telephones. Ring ring. Tallow. Tallow. Who is this? Slam! #*)^% telemarketers!!!

 

[JefL]

I have some in the garage, good for lubricating brass screws into hardwood, just wipe off the excess or it goes green. I got mine years ago from work, the jointers used to use it for wiped joints on power cables.
Still available from Toolstation.

 

[TheTiddles]

Why is that?

I'm quite "green" and used to collect about 300 ltrs at a time. I'd do some chemistry on it and then run our car off it.

He probably thinks “baa baa black sheep” has been banned and you can’t buy suet anymore too

 

[Johnwa]

Just a quicky for Spectric. The threading stand we called a pipe vice, the threading tools were stocks & dies and the conuit was always called tube and by the way threading the tube was called "screwing". I wish I had a pound for every time the spark I worked with marked the tube and said the immortal words "cut and screw there mate". I must have threaded yards of conduit over my apprenticeship. Do you remember the old rawlplug tool for the fibre plugs and even worse, star chisels for bigger holes. Try making a 5/8" hole in concrete with a star chise and 4lb hammer, such fun ! Sorry for the old f**t nostalgia, you triggered something in my head lol. Thanks be to the man who invented power tools
John

 

[Stevekane]

Just a quicky for Spectric. The threading stand we called a pipe vice, the threading tools were stocks & dies and the conuit was always called tube and by the way threading the tube was called "screwing". I wish I had a pound for every time the spark I worked with marked the tube and said the immortal words "cut and screw there mate". I must have threaded yards of conduit over my apprenticeship. Do you remember the old rawlplug tool for the fibre plugs and even worse, star chisels for bigger holes. Try making a 5/8" hole in concrete with a star chise and 4lb hammer, such fun ! Sorry for the old f**t nostalgia, you triggered something in my head lol. Thanks be to the man who invented power tools
John

My thoughts entirely whilst reading this thread, I did a few years as a pipe fitter (fitters mate) and cut and screwed miles of pipe for heating systems and plant, and Tallow was the lubricant, our standard stocks and dies were a small set that you could cut from 3/8 up to 2inch with, heavy enought when it was the Mate carrying it all on and off buses across London, and a larger set that did from 2 to 6inch. One job was a plant room at Shell Mex at Fulham, they had me cut and screw goodness knows how many 6inch threads to run across buildings and then a shut down of the plant to connect into a steam line,,weeks of hard work. When we finished some bloke turned up and showed us a ready prepared valve next door that had been put in for us to connect to months before, some balls up but we didnt mind because it was a great job and the subsidised canteen had Chefs wearing those tall chefs hats,,
Just around that time we started to see the Ridged (I cannot spell it) pipe threaded machines from america but the little sets of stocks and dies were still in constant use,,maybe still are?
Steve.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Do you remember the old rawlplug tool for the fibre plugs and even worse, star chisels for bigger holes. Try making a 5/8" hole in concrete with a star chise and 4lb hammer, such fun ! Sorry for the old f**t nostalgia, you triggered something in my head lol. Thanks be to the man who invented power tools
John

You were lucky. They were in granite where I live.

 

[redhunter350]

Great as a flux when lead casting [lead vice jaws] also as has been said excellent for plumbers solder as a flux. Also works well for tempering springs when blazing off after hardening.