Double D. wrote, "For the record that is the door to my shop, not to the wife's kitchen..you think I am stupid or something? I don't mess with that women! She does to many things to make my life pleasant and is fully schooled in dispensing misery.
And, it's a theatrical prop; longer fuse greater drama!!!
Tracy, based on the line drawings, I do not think the petard was robust enough survive more than one shot. Sometime back right here on this board some one posted pictures from the Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich pictures of several petards...I thought, but sure can't find with search."
From my reading on this topic, I think that the actual implement, made by armorers and paid for by money from a national defense budget was probably very expensive and most likely the very best item of that type that gold could buy. You see gentlemen, DD, Terry C. and others, you are laboring under the handicap of growing up in a "throw-away society". How many of us today appreciate the durability of common, lesser expensive items like snow shovels, plastic tarps, the common water bucket, an alarm clock and the common nail? When one of these items breaks, the vast majority of us simply buy a new one, without even a momentary thought of repairing it. Also, you are laboring with another handicap, that of believing that the drawings depicting Petard-type mortars are actually accurate in their proportions.
Common tools and weapons of war were built to last and they were designed to last far longer than any similar item today. It took a long time to get a sword or halberd or Petard, it is simply illogical to believe that the siege train on campaign had ten or twenty of these very specialized devices when simply reloading one would be so much simpler and quicker.
The important thing to remember here is that we have absolutely no intention of making a Petard as fragile looking as the ones those
stylized, old wood-cuts depict. Safety, safety, safety!!
Thanks, Boom J., That is a very interesting text and I like the mention of details. Saved that one into my file called 'Petard Project'.
Kabar2, Interesting idea, but with a couple pounds of powder committed to the Petard use, to get relatively equivalent power that the ancient sappers got with 6 or 7 pounds of serpentine powder, and considering safety of sappers and engineers, alike, I think we must go with the most robust item we have available, the Monster Mortar Chamber Piece. We don't want to see the partial gas cylinder, Petard fling back at us about as fast as the locking bar pieces from the Castle Door are going into the Castle grounds.
Obstacle?? We can do it right here in Colorado! There is a gentleman in the mountains south-west of Colorado Springs, Colorado who has singlehandedly built his own castle out of native rocks found on his property. The main turret is almost 170 feet tall! The structure covers almost 1 acre. The great room is about 120 feet long by 70 feet wide and has a ceiling that goes up 50 feet. Maybe for a modest contribution to his building fund, we could build an authentic castle door and then make it disappear!!
Soot, I don't think the Mouseketeers would let us get away with that!
Tracy and Mike
The reason that our Petard will be good for more than one shot is evident here. 11" O.D. x 11" long; 4" I.D. x 8" long Chamber 2.5 Lbs. capacity.
267 Lbs. of A36 Low Carbon, fully annealed, steel is more than adequate for a big blank charge.
Dan, Hey, have you been eating too many icicles up there in the frozen North?? Brain-Freeze maybe?? It can't be us that you hear; it must be Lorenz knocking on the door of that Castle in Denmark, trying to collect his inheritance.
