Carronade progress.

[trackpin]

Loose replica of a carronade used by Perry on Lake Erie in 1812 I am working on. Turned the little brass handles for the elevation screw this evening. Iron on the real deal.

 

[Rich44]

Little by little, Piece by piece. The fun of making a master piece.

 

[Reegee/Flint]

Little by little, Piece by piece. The fun of making a master piece.

What is the length and bore diameter? Nice work

 

[trackpin]

12 x 2 with .750 bore. Total finished size is 19 x 12 this being ships firing deck with bulwarks. Almost there, completion and test firing set for July 3rd.

 

[Reegee/Flint]

Thats a nice size.

 

[KevinC]

Gotta love a cannon!
That one looks like it's coming along very nicely.
And perfect timing to finish for the 4th!
I've got a 1/2 scale carronade that came from Hern Ironworks in Idaho. They make really nice cannons.
I put a musket nipple and percussion hammer (DGW) on it. I think that was a solid upgrade. Now my grandkids can help me shoot it.
I made the carriage from Asian teak.
It's got a 1.5" bore. I use an ounce and a half of "C" black, and a slice of bread for the wad. Packs tight, no messy paper to clean up.

 

[Rich44]

Kevin,
Very nice cannon, and especially nice picture. You got a double big bang!

 

[trackpin]

The finish is rust bluing, that is, black oxide created by using salt, peroxide and vinegar as a rusting agent and then boiling in water till black. This was done 5 times then carded with fine steel wool before each rust treatment. When the barrel comes out of the boiling water it is hot and the solution likes it that way. Accidently dropping it in the stainless kitchen sink makes dents. Oh well, so does cast iron pans. After the bore is polished out to remove the rust formed inside though it is not heavy like the surfaces treated with the solution. Of course, it is smooth bore so no reason to try and protect it during the process. The last barrel I made I epoxied in a .75 OD thin wall stainless liner which, really, is the way to go for corrosion resistance. I don't think I will go that far on this one. Small parts are heat blued. This provides good looks and some level of corrosion protection without much fuss. Some kind of black paint that went away fast was used on the originals. Wood used is from a wild cherry I cut down some time ago. The slider could have been made of a number of materials, I had this 1/4-inch steel on hand and the more weight the better. In truth, I could find nothing detailing the construction of a recoil slider after looking at ALL the carronades I could find on the web. I guess the bottom of these things are not interesting. There are still eye bolts to be installed and loading tools to be made. Tomorrow, it gets mounted to the gun deck, and I construct the partial ships bulwarks where the recoil restraining rope as used on the real deal, which is permanent, will be fixed in place. Last photo is the somewhat over engineered rear roller truck. Again, looking for weight.

 

[KevinC]

Wow!
What a great looking cannon!
Truly a work of art.
Nicely done sir.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Gotta love a cannon!
That one looks like it's coming along very nicely.
And perfect timing to finish for the 4th!
I've got a 1/2 scale carronade that came from Hern Ironworks in Idaho. They make really nice cannons.
I put a musket nipple and percussion hammer (DGW) on it. I think that was a solid upgrade. Now my grandkids can help me shoot it.
I made the carriage from Asian teak.
It's got a 1.5" bore. I use an ounce and a half of "C" black, and a slice of bread for the wad. Packs tight, no messy paper to clean up.

Bread for wadding! That’s clever! Looks like a fun gun.

 

[Captndan]

Interesting thought. I wonder about breech pressure bread v/s foil wrapped load.

 

[KevinC]

I wrap the charge in cellophane, load it, then load a single slice of bread, or a stale biscuit for the wad.
I got the idea of the bread wad from a gunsmith/cannonsmith and competetive artillerist who has mentored me for over 45 years. I thought it was a brilliant idea.
The Hern Ironworks Carronade I'm using has a drawn-over-mandrel seamless steel bore liner cast into it. So, pressures with my blank load for that tube are easily handled.
Safety guidelines from the National Park Services cannon demonstrations handbook are also observed.
Hey, fun's fun but no accidents are allowed. Especially with my grandkids.

 

[IanH]

Bread wad is brilliant, like saltine crackers for smallbore targets. No fire and no trash to clean up.

 

[trackpin]

Final carronade display configuration. Representative of a "ships" upper deck. Woods used for the section of ship's hull is 3/4 plywood for the base covered (epoxied on) with some sort of Philippine mahogany as deck planking then the side is basswood pieces put together bread and butter fashion then sanded to form the curvature with a bit of tumble home as found on warships back then (circa 1812) upper rails as well as inner supports and gun port framing are walnut. Tools or implements are hickory dowel stock. Worm is brake return spring. Ladle is part of a .50 BMG shell casing, the base of which is the tompion and I will be gluing or soldering a star on it when I find one. Rammer uses another bit of brass "tubing" from the same case. Spent shell casings come in handy for this type of work. Recoil rope is natural fiber three strand to scale and was eye sliced to catch the slider just before contact with the lower part of carriage when heavy force is applied. This took some trial and error to get the length right. Next post will be live firing with projectile(s) as well as blank loads.

 

[KevinC]

Very Nice!
Your efforts have produced a very nice functional display.
Well done sir!

 

[trackpin]

Very Nice!
Your efforts have produced a very nice functional display.
Well done sir!

Thank you!

 

[Rich44]

Very nice indeed, lots of quality work.
Looking forward to the test firing pictures and details on charge.