Talk:Oakum

Vandals
This page was heavily vandalized, I had to go back quite a few versions to make it look acceptable.Vangemeren (talk) 05:06, 16 January 2008 (UTC) -- I'm not hip to Wiki..stuff, but wanted to mention a couple of things. Back in the 70's we used a fibrous ropelike material impregnated with a greasy wax, we called oakum, to pack around the WW2 era ship propellor shafts to keep the seawater from coming in. On a 12" diameter propellor shaft we would put a pound of grease in every 6 hour shift and tighten the bolts on the stuffing box. Damage to the naval destroyer USS Cole in Yemen brought out the oakum to pack in the cracks keeping the seawater out.

Up until the 1970's and 80's engine crankshaft seals were commonly oakum impregnated with wax and coated with graphite. We still use a much tougher modern version today. The great advantage to using "rope" seals is they can be packed in and made to fit in sloppy housings and will conform to a considerable variation of crankshaft journal diameter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.239.119.18 (talk) 22:56, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Smoke N'Oakum
Does anyone know what the origin or specific meaning of the term "Smoke N'Oakum" is? 71.231.47.23 (talk) 19:55, 30 August 2008
 * That particular spelling seems to derive from the Master and Commander series, being mentioned in Desolation Island and is a track on the movie soundtrack. However if you spell it as "Smokin' Oakum" the meaning is a bit more obvious - oakum is highly flammable so if it's smoking it's going to be on fire pretty soon and you need to get out! That's particular true if you're on a ship, where the watertightness of the ship depends on the integrity of the oakum. Le Deluge (talk) 02:36, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Amount picked
Punch for 7th sept 1867 (p.101) claims that a letter was written to the Times stating that an untrained person could be expected to pick about 1 pound of oakum a day while a skilled experienced picker could pick as much as 4 pounds. The letter was protesting the unfairness of expecting paupers to pick 2 pounds a day. Anyone got any more on this?Geni 12:28, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Now referenced in the article, you could get set 6lb on hard labour. Le Deluge (talk) 02:36, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Tar
I never saw any tar on oakum. What the heck are you guys talking about? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Longinus876 (talk • contribs) 22:08, 30 November 2016 (UTC)