6pdr cannon carriage

[Rivercat]

Just thought as a newbie I would post up some pictures of a cannon carriage I made that was used as part of a 21 gun cannon salute for the Royal wedding of Prince William.
This was the only Royal salute santioned by the Queen and Royal family which was a great honnor.

This was made from reclaimed English Oak to plans that would have been correct for the early 1800's

This is now based outside and is fired quite a bit during the summer months.
It is part of the collection of over 130no cannons and mortars that we have on site which we are restoring.
Thats for looking,
Rivercat

 

[Col. Batguano]

How did you finish it? Paint after that, or some other finish?

 

[KABAR2]

I'd say you are doing some fine work at Fort Amherst, also looks like you have your work cut out for you with the number of cannon there.... it's a pity some had their trunnions knocked off...
http://www.fortamherst.com/index.php/gallery/category/2-cannons

can you get me a photo of the breach on the breach loader shown in the gallery? is this based on the armstrong system?

 

[trent/OH]

What was the English Oak reclaimed from???

 

[Rivercat]

Yes it was finished as painted, we do have others on site that have been finished with Linseed oil but these are some what of a drama as linseeding these every other year is quite a messy operation. I will try and post some more pictures upin the next few days as I have quite a bit on with the 68pdr traversing carriage we are now building.

 

[Rivercat]

Thanks for your comments,Yes we do have our work cut out for us. As with the trunnions issue some of these they have had these repaired but it does cost a lot of money and this would only be done if it was worth it due to the history of the piece. A lot off these barrels once they were returned from ship were used in a lot of cases as traffic bollards so had the trunnions knocked off before the bottom end was buried in the ground. The open end of the barrel was then concreted up with a eye ring in place to take a length of chain.
In the link you posted up you can see a scrolling picture at the top when it gets to the re-enactors on Prince Williams Battery the two centre cannon carriages were the ones I made which as you can see were painted in the correct colour for the time that these would have been in use.
I will get yo a photo of the breach when I am in the tunnels next as this cannon is in an area that is currently under restoration.

 

[Rivercat]

As we are a volunteer organisation most of the materials we use have been donated to the Fort although we do buy in a lot of materials as well. The Oak you asked about was donated by the dockyard many years ago when it closed as a Royal Navy dockyard and it came from the drying sheds where the Oak for the ships was stored. A couple of the pieces that were used in the carriages were from a ship that was broken up in the mid 1800's but I do not know the name of the ship. The Oak used did have a bit of staining in it due to the age of it which was why these were painted rather than another type of finish applied to them. :grin: