Full scale cannon re-build

[davec2]

Got the grinding done on one of the under straps......Now it looks like it's supposed to look. Not "whimpy" and more. May finishing the welding on the other parts today.

Still working on the irons but needed to get started on some of the wood work modifications on the gun carriage so that I can get cracking on the wood finishing. Since the cheeks had been modified and completed previously, I started in with staining and applying the fist coat of a tung oil sealer. The cheeks were sanded sufficiently to remove the 50 year old polyurethane finish and stain on the oak. I had toyed with the idea of just painting the carriage woodwork this time but decided to go back to staining with a tung oil varnish finish. Here are the cheeks with stain and a single coat of sealer.....



Next I wanted to correct another 50 year old error. When I built the trail I had left the corners sharp. Actual gun carriages had the sharp corners planed to a substantial radius which helped reduce normal wear and tear damage to the sharp edges. I set up a router with an edge radius bit and converted all the appropriate edges to the correct radius.



Before I jumped into the labor intensive process of sanding all of the trail and axel surfaces, I wanted to complete the mounting of the last few items that are located on the underside of the trail. These include the ear plate (and its key - used to hold the worm for transport), the rammer chains, the rammer stop, and the toggles that capture the ends of the rammer chains on the sides of the trail.





With those components mounted, all the trail irons were removed and the trail and axel were sanded down to bare wood.....

 

[davec2]

Still working on the irons but needed to get started on some of the wood work modifications on the gun carriage so that I can get cracking on the wood finishing. Since the cheeks had been modified and completed previously, I started in with staining and applying the fist coat of a tung oil sealer. The cheeks were sanded sufficiently to remove the 50 year old polyurethane finish and stain on the oak. I had toyed with the idea of just painting the carriage woodwork this time but decided to go back to staining with a tung oil varnish finish. Here are the cheeks with stain and a single coat of sealer.....



Next I wanted to correct another 50 year old error. When I built the trail I had left the corners sharp. Actual gun carriages had the sharp corners planed to a substantial radius which helped reduce normal wear and tear damage to the sharp edges. I set up a router with an edge radius bit and converted all the appropriate edges to the correct radius.



Before I jumped into the labor intensive process of sanding all of the trail and axel surfaces, I wanted to complete the mounting of the last few items that are located on the underside of the trail. These include the ear plate (and its key - used to hold the worm for transport), the rammer chains, the rammer stop, and the toggles that capture the ends of the rammer chains on the sides of the trail.





With those components mounted, all the trail irons were removed and the trail and axel were sanded down to bare wood.....

After sanding the axel and trail down to bare wood, I realized that I had not drilled the large bore for the rearmost rondelle in the trail sides. I had done the larger bores in the cheeks (shown in a previous post on this thread) and so used the same centering technique to get the matching bores on the trail....



With that done, I did a little touch up sanding and then stained the trail and axel with Laurel Mountain walnut stain. By the way, I did the whole cannon carriage, trail, axel and both cheeks with a bottle and a half of stain. I had purchased 6 bottles not realizing how far a single bottle would go....so now I have enough stain to do three more full size cannons !!



When the stain had dried I started applying the tung oil sealer. Here the cheeks are being helped along in the curing process by placing them in the bright sun....



I still have more iron work to do but while the sealer was drying I started painting the irons that are already finished.

 

[davec2]

After sanding the axel and trail down to bare wood, I realized that I had not drilled the large bore for the rearmost rondelle in the trail sides. I had done the larger bores in the cheeks (shown in a previous post on this thread) and so used the same centering technique to get the matching bores on the trail....



With that done, I did a little touch up sanding and then stained the trail and axel with Laurel Mountain walnut stain. By the way, I did the whole cannon carriage, trail, axel and both cheeks with a bottle and a half of stain. I had purchased 6 bottles not realizing how far a single bottle would go....so now I have enough stain to do three more full size cannons !!



When the stain had dried I started applying the tung oil sealer. Here the cheeks are being helped along in the curing process by placing them in the bright sun....



I still have more iron work to do but while the sealer was drying I started painting the irons that are already finished.

I have spoken a lot about the "irons" on this cannon....and, indeed, there are many iron parts. But when I built this gun originally I made a lot of the most visible parts out of thick brass. Now, after 50+ years of neglect, I have decided to polish all 75 pounds of brass parts. (It's a good thing I spent so much time in the Navy where polishing brass was a full time profession )

This photo is of just some of the brass parts....many are still in the cleaning stage. The cheek bands are 3 inches wide and 3/8 inch thick. I machined all the nuts out of 1 1/2 inch brass hex stock and all of the 1/2" thick washers out of 2 inch round stock. Not shur how far I will take the polishing but the parts look a great deal better than they did even at this stage.

 

[davec2]

I have spoken a lot about the "irons" on this cannon....and, indeed, there are many iron parts. But when I built this gun originally I made a lot of the most visible parts out of thick brass. Now, after 50+ years of neglect, I have decided to polish all 75 pounds of brass parts. (It's a good thing I spent so much time in the Navy where polishing brass was a full time profession )

This photo is of just some of the brass parts....many are still in the cleaning stage. The cheek bands are 3 inches wide and 3/8 inch thick. I machined all the nuts out of 1 1/2 inch brass hex stock and all of the 1/2" thick washers out of 2 inch round stock. Not shur how far I will take the polishing but the parts look a great deal better than they did even at this stage.

Further progress.....refurbished the axel wheel skeins. Removed the old grease and repainted the exposed surfaces...



The 175 year old oak wheels are tight and sound but need to be repainted. Trying to decide how far I need to go with a refurb on them......

 

[davec2]

Further progress.....refurbished the axel wheel skeins. Removed the old grease and repainted the exposed surfaces...



The 175 year old oak wheels are tight and sound but need to be repainted. Trying to decide how far I need to go with a refurb on them......

Brass work nearly all done......










Axel strap and under strap welding done (except for two built in washers on the axel strap. Grinding on both axel straps done.....need to grind the welds on the axel strap......

 

[davec2]

Brass work nearly all done......










Axel strap and under strap welding done (except for two built in washers on the axel strap. Grinding on both axel straps done.....need to grind the welds on the axel strap......

I decided to fill a few cracks on the wooden hubs prior to repainting. There were so few and they were so narrow that I decided they didn't need much more than a quick application of super glue. (These wheels were made in the 1850s....hard to believe they are in such amazing condition. Spokes, fellows, and hub all appear to be hickory. The fellows on each wheel are made of only two pieces bent 180 degrees !! I have no idea how that was done.) Applied the super glue to the surface cracks. After a little sanding here and there, prepared for painting by wiping the wheels down with lacquer thinner. Here they are ready for a repaint. Will use yellow again. Not historically correct but the way I did it 54 years ago.....and i still like it ...





First coat of new oil base paint.......

 

[davec2]

I decided to fill a few cracks on the wooden hubs prior to repainting. There were so few and they were so narrow that I decided they didn't need much more than a quick application of super glue. (These wheels were made in the 1850s....hard to believe they are in such amazing condition. Spokes, fellows, and hub all appear to be hickory. The fellows on each wheel are made of only two pieces bent 180 degrees !! I have no idea how that was done.) Applied the super glue to the surface cracks. After a little sanding here and there, prepared for painting by wiping the wheels down with lacquer thinner. Here they are ready for a repaint. Will use yellow again. Not historically correct but the way I did it 54 years ago.....and i still like it ...





First coat of new oil base paint.......

Iron work and blacksmithing are done. Paint is dry. Wood finish is dry. Wheels are refurbished and painted. All new square headed bolts are here from Blacksmith Bolt & Rivet.....no reason to hold back any longer on the re-assembly......

Iron work on underside of the trail....





Except for some touch up painting on the bolts and nuts, the lunette is assembled.....




The lunette top plate is supposed to be riveted to the bottom part of the lunette. I tried using bolts but it didn't look right....so I machined big bolts with heads that look like the rivets are suppose to look and then drilled some shallow holes in the perimeter so I could install the bolts with a small spanner wrench.






Flipped the trail back over, installed the wheels, and got the top side irons installed........




Lifted the barrel out of its transport crate so I could paint the underside. Will paint the rest after the gun is mounted.....

 

[davec2]

Iron work and blacksmithing are done. Paint is dry. Wood finish is dry. Wheels are refurbished and painted. All new square headed bolts are here from Blacksmith Bolt & Rivet.....no reason to hold back any longer on the re-assembly......

Iron work on underside of the trail....





Except for some touch up painting on the bolts and nuts, the lunette is assembled.....




The lunette top plate is supposed to be riveted to the bottom part of the lunette. I tried using bolts but it didn't look right....so I machined big bolts with heads that look like the rivets are suppose to look and then drilled some shallow holes in the perimeter so I could install the bolts with a small spanner wrench.






Flipped the trail back over, installed the wheels, and got the top side irons installed........




Lifted the barrel out of its transport crate so I could paint the underside. Will paint the rest after the gun is mounted.....

Here are the latest photos. I still have a few incidental things to finish up but the rebuild is basically done. It only took me 54 years....

 

[Rich44]

Looks like a Million Bucks, great job and pictures.

 

[davec2]

Looks like a Million Bucks, great job and pictures.

Preparations for firing on the Fourth.....


PVC former for aluminum powder bags.....



Formed powder bag.....





Weighed 5 1/2 oz blank charge.....



Charge secured in a cardboard powder case until use......




Charges, priming horn, linstock, and vent pricker ready for use......



I do have friction primers but they are several years old and I have a question about reliability. A primed vent touched with the linstock is "sure fire" !! (Although I use a few grains of smokeless powder in the vent pan as it catches light much quicker than black with the linstock.)

 

[davec2]

Looks like a Million Bucks, great job and pictures.

The firing will look like this for a couple of years ago.......

I did have a neighborhood audience a couple of years ago who loudly vocalized the part of the 1812 overture just before the first cannon firing at the top of their lungs......they paused for a second and then I punctuated their musical lead in with this........

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The firing will look like this for a couple of years ago.......

I did have a neighborhood audience a couple of years ago who loudly vocalized the part of the 1812 overture just before the first cannon firing at the top of their lungs......they paused for a second and then I punctuated their musical lead in with this........

I "cut my teeth" so to speak in Living History as artillery crew, and your project warms my heart, plus as my old battery commander used to say,

It's a good day when you rattle and crack windows and set off car alarms!!!

LD

 

[RMFnLA]

Deestalkert

I often shoot skeet & trap at Oak Tree but they have no place to shoot a cannon. The picture here is at Angeles Crest. HOME - Angeles Shooting Range.

What an awesome thread, so glad you resurrected it!

I shoot at both Oak Tree and Angeles. I am new into MLs and Oak Tree told me no BP because of fire danger. I’m assuming Angeles will allow it if they allow cannons; will need to check.

Speaking of cannons at Angeles, I’d love to be there when you shoot that next.

I’ll even help you wheel it up the hill to the range!

 

[davec2]

What an awesome thread, so glad you resurrected it!

I shoot at both Oak Tree and Angeles. I am new into MLs and Oak Tree told me no BP because of fire danger. I’m assuming Angeles will allow it if they allow cannons; will need to check.

Speaking of cannons at Angeles, I’d love to be there when you shoot that next.

I’ll even help you wheel it up the hill to the range!

Well, as luck would have it I had a partial emergency arise on the 4th and missed the chance to fire the complete gun that evening.....will make another run at it on New Year's Eve...

Nonetheless, here are photos of the now completed rebuild project.....prolonge, loading implements, stop chain, hand spikes, etc., etc. All the final details are done and I can check this off the list pf projects that I have wanted to complete for a long time. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July !!!

 

[RMFnLA]

Well, as luck would have it I had a partial emergency arise on the 4th and missed the chance to fire the complete gun that evening.....will make another run at it on New Year's Eve...

Nonetheless, here are photos of the now completed rebuild project.....prolonge, loading implements, stop chain, hand spikes, etc., etc. All the final details are done and I can check this off the list pf projects that I have wanted to complete for a long time. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July !!!

Beautiful!

Hope the emergency got sorted out.