what wood is needed for a golf ball cannon carriage

[blackpowdershooter30]

Hello im new to this forum and new to the cannon world.  Im looking to build a revolutionary war style carriage and was wondering what type of wood to use hard wood is expensive but i wanna be super safe with this thing i figured if i used pine id be able to do the steel straping and threaded rod to help reinforce it.  I just need some feed back and thanks for everyones time

[Zulu]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
You need to use oak.  Pine lacks the strength needed.
No matter which wood you use, it's going to be the same amount of work.  If it is made of oak, it will be worth something and you will be proud.  If it is made of pine, it will be worth nothing and you will always know why.
Zulu

[Doc Brown.]

 Go to a sawmill and see what beautiful pieces they have but make sure you watch them test it for moisture! Nothing worse than watching your carriage shrink over night or your bolts rusting in the wood over night.  Then in a week checks the size of the grand cannon appearing.  Then having it tested to have 50 percent moisture content after the whole carriage is assembled and finished. That's just my horror story!
Oh and the the saw mill owner telling me I have to buy the rest of the wood I ordered. Tress he probably cut down last week and sun dried!

[blackpowdershooter30]

i know a oak carriage would be great for it.  i made tools for the cannon out of pine and stained it with colonial maple stain and i really like the look of the color. are there any white colored hard woods that would take this stain well

[Double D]

Carriages aren't stained they are painted. I know you are going stain.  You need to worry more about strength of wood than finding a wood to take stain.   I suggest Ash, Hickory as well as Oak.

You are not going to go to all that trouble to build a cannon to shoot golf balls.  Golf balls are disappointment.  You are going to get some Steel or Zinc Golf balls and shoot them.  Recoil and stress on your carriage will increase so you need to build strong.

Only cut corners or go cheap if you like building things twice-once cheap, once right.

[blackpowdershooter30]

Now why would i paint over the beautiful grain of a hard wood lol i understand thats how they did it back in the day but im not looking to make it period looking.  Ill take that into account and thanks for the advise.