Tompions

[Terry C.]

First of all, let me preface this post by saying I have no wood lathe. All of my turnings, for better or worse, are done on a metal cutting lathe.

I've needed some tompions for some time now, but didn't really have anything to make them out of.  A few days ago I found a homemade oak turning at a thrift shop. It looked like it was made for some sort of kitchen utensils to hang on.

I bought it (for the princely sum of $1) and knocked the base off, and unscrewed the hooks around the top end. This left me with a tapered oak rod about 18" long, 2¼" in diameter on the big end, and 1¾" on the smaller end. From this I turned three one-piece tompions (with some left over).

Here are the fruits of my labor, in varying states of finish:




The tompion on the far right is for the 2/5-scale golfball Coehorn. It was made yesterday and has already been sanded, buffed, and finished with two coats of natural WATCO Danish Oil.

In the center is the tompion for the ¼-scale "Li'l Brudder" Coehorn. It's just as it came out of the lathe, no finish sanding or buffing has been done yet.

On the far left is the tompion for the ¼-scale Napoleon. It's been finish sanded, and buffed with 0000 steel wool. It needs the O-ring groove touched up a little bit and it will be ready for the Danish Oil. While the O-ring will seal the bore, that's not its intended purpose. The O-ring is there to secure the tompion in the bore so it won't wiggle out when the cannon is being rolled around.

The tompions for the mortars, with their upturned barrels, don't have (or need) an O-ring.




I wanted to go ahead and post these photos because it may be a couple of days before I can finish the two topions that I made today. I'm about to immerse myself in the Zen art of motorcycle maintenance.

When I get them all finished, I'll try to post a better group shot. It's cloudy and raining here, hence the poorly lit indoor photo.

[EL Caz 66]

Nice Work!! Awesome cannon & Mortars, I have a question where's the garrison or naval cannon in your collection?  That would be a project I'd look forward to seeing some day ..

CAZ

[Cat Whisperer]

Nice touch!

Nice work!!

and two more pix for the calendar!

[Double D]

When you finish this carriages will you paint the tampions a contrasting color or the same color as the carriages?

[Terry C.]

Hardee har har har
Oh ye of unpainted avatar
They're gonna stay just like they are
In all their oaken glory

(Yes, 'oaken' is a word. I looked it up.)


I applied the Danish Oil to the other two last night. I'll take a photo as soon as the camera batteries finish charging.

The O-ring on the cannon tompion is still a little tight in the bore, but it'll loosen up with use. If it doesn't, I'll deepen the groove a little more.

[Tropico]

I want I want ! Very nice sir ! most excellant ., I do like that O-ring idea especially for the ship !

[Terry C.]

Outdoor photo will haf'ta wait, it's stormin' outside.

Here they are again, all oiled up. You can click on the photo for a larger version:

[Double D]

You must have known I would be laying in wait and would jump out of the bushes and scream gotcha!!!

By the way the replica of the Confederate Coehorn in my avatar is in it's correct finish...Linseed oil. v

Anyway, nice tampions

[Terry C.]

One more...

Okay, actually it was two more but one doesn't count.

The little Pullen micro-mortar was sitting on top of the entertainment center with the firecracker and cap guns, and a couple of non-firing souvenir cannons.

When I was finishing the tompions for the bigger "shooting" guns, my wife had made the comment "What about the little one (the micro), you shoot it too?"

Sometimes she's smarter than me. Not often, but sometimes.

So I decided that as soon as I had some free time, I'd make a tompion for the micro-mortar.

Here's the finished item:



(you can click on any of the images in this post to open a larger photo)


That should be the end of the story, but it's not. The tompion shown is actually the second one I made. The first was made from a piece of hickory, I was trying to conserve my oak. It came out nice and smooth and fit perfectly, but there were a couple of problems.

It didn't darken when oiled like oak, staying almost white, with very little grain. Even after three coats of the WATCO it still looked almost unfinished. And I thought that the knob was too large for the small barrel (the micro is not underbored like my bigger mortars).

For either one of these reasons alone, I would have just stuck with the original. But together, they added up to sufficient motivation for me to set the original aside and make a new one out of oak.




The little oak tompion has a smaller knob, which doesn't overpower the micro's muzzle. And the color better matches the oak bed. The photos above make it look huge, but it fits a .69 bore and is actually less than 1⅜" overall length.


 

[seacoastartillery]

     Terry,  We have admired your growing collection of Tompions.  We like the polished wood look on such an item.  The authentic tompions for the 100 Pdr. Parrott are O.D. and very boring, so we have never made any.  We like yours so much, I'm thinking of one for the Mallet's Mortar we made a while back.  We'll have to think about what a 36" British Mortar tompion would look like.  They must have had one, if it rained hard, you would have as much water as the average backyard swimming pool in that mammoth bore!
Mike says "Thanks for the inspiration!"

Regards,

Tracy and Mike