Best wood for a gun carriage

[Catkison]

I'm thinking oak was probably the preferred wood but were there any others that were used?

 

[MikeFromON]

I think elm and ash were very popular for carriage-building of all sorts back in the day.

 

[Titus]

I heard somewhere that some gun's carriages during the civil war was constructed from white oak which was then painted in olive drab.

 

[Catkison]

That gives me some good choices. Thanks!

 

[TFoley]

Traditionally, here in UK, gun carriages were and still are made of oak.

Opinions may differ, but the strength and overall denseness of oak, its tendency to simply get tougher as time passes by, plus its resistance to salt water when used on ships' gunnery, has meant that little else has ever been used since gunnery began.

tac

 

[ricklandes]

Sometime back I was reading from original plans and drawings reproduced by a gent from Port Huron, MI (his name escapes me at the moment). I had purchased my plans directly from him. The Paulson Bros had given me his name on a visit I had to see them. These were the mil-specs for contractors who did the actual cannon building. This was for an 1860 6 pounder, carriage and limber.

A specific type of wood was not required, although white oak was preferred. Walnut, ash, maple etc were all acceptable if it was cut and sized from a tree having the required characteristics such as grain structure and direction that would meet the particular stresses placed on that particular part.

Specifics were listed such as to core and sap woods. My plans are in my other office so cannot share more. I hope this is of help. If more specifics are needed I could dig out the actual plans I have.

 

[threepdr]

White Oak was prefered for the carriage and elm and ash for the wheels. Red oak can be used but is much more acidic and will rust bolts and screws faster (I know this from personal experiance!)

 

[Catkison]

Thank you for all the help. I've got a line on some white oak so I'll probably use that. Here in Oklahoma I doubt I'll need to worry about the salt water (I hope). Hopefully I'll be able to post pics of my new toy sometime soon if work quits interfering.

 

[TheDoubleD]

Sometime back I was reading from original plans and drawings reproduced by a gent from Port Huron, MI (his name escapes me at the moment).

Don Lutz...hereis a link to a website with his catalog sheet Antique Ordnance Publishers