#1 field carriage restoration

[Zulu]

Several years ago I restored a #1 field carriage for one of my re-enacting buddies.  That group mounted a reproduction Wiard Rifle on it.  I know that a Wiard had different cheeks than a standard #1 but they worked with what they had.  The gun lived on a trailer outside and had all the cancers that those living conditions prompted.
It was a lot of work.  Here are some of the pictures.

In the shop ready for disassembly. 



Note the rot.




Metalwork ready for sandblasting, priming and paint

[Zulu]

Rotted wood cut out and replaced with new oak.





Ready for linseed oil

[Zulu]

Oiled and ready for priming and paint





Painting started

[Zulu]

Reassembly




Mounting the tube


My Parrott on the right and Wiard on the left.


Unfortunately, I can't find any good pictures of the tube.  Also, most unfortunately, The gun continued to live on a trailer, outside all these years and is in extreme disrepair.  At this time the carriage is unusable till new wheels are found.  They are rotted and have mushrooms growing out of them.
Hope youu enjoyed the pictures.
Zulu

[Double D]

Rot, mushrooms,Houston.....

[GGaskill]

... and is in extreme disrepair.

Didn't learn from the first experience, I guess.  Should have built a cover on the trailer.

[Uncle Dave]

It's a shame to see such craftsmanship go to waste.

[Frank46]

Just a thought, has anyone tried one of the wood water proofing or sealers (cannot remember the names) like those sold in either home depot?. Thompsons seems to ring a bell. I did a rather large 4'x 10' planter made out of 4"x4" pressure treated wood and still looked as good as when I made it. Frank

[Zulu]

Just a thought, has anyone tried one of the wood water proofing or sealers (cannot remember the names) like those sold in either home depot?. Thompsons seems to ring a bell. I did a rather large 4'x 10' planter made out of 4"x4" pressure treated wood and still looked as good as when I made it. Frank

Frank,
I think pressure treated wood will easily last 20 years or longer if you keep it off the ground.  I have used Thompson's Water Seal and have not been very satisfied with the results.  It did not last very long in my application.
Zulu

[dan610324]

it depends a lot on what type of pressure treatment it got , here we got half a dozzen different grades
some of them can survive as long as 50+ years burried in the ground , mostly used for phone poles and such things .

larix decidua or lärk as its called in swedish is a very very good wood to take moisture for a long time without to rot .
sorry but I dont know the english name
its often used for stable flors

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

Looks like the English name is larch, but it appears that it is not very common in the US.  There are American (Larix laricina), Subalpine (Larix lyallii), and Western (Larix occidentalis) Larch.  Being species of pine, I don't know that they would be well suited to use in a cannon carriage, even though they may be better able to resist decay/rot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larch

[Uncle Dave]

I grew up on a draft horse farm.  We used to treat exposed wood such as hitch tongues with linseed oil.  Seamed to work very well over the long run.

[gary michie]

Hi
Here in the north west we have larch and I have though of making a carriage of larch more than once. as you know good big hard woods don't grow here and I have had a rotton time getting good oak to  make my full scale carriages. I'm not sure that the larch is a pine species it 's needles fall off each year and here if you want to build a good house, you use fir or larch. Untill a few years back they were sold in the same pile. Our pine is soft white wood and makes even bad fire wood, on the other hand larch is pretty hard and where a ceder post will last 7 years in the ground a larch last 5 and a pine maybe 2.
gary

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

If you look at the link I provided, you can see "Family: Pinaceae", which is the same family known as pines.  I haven't handled larch wood, but it certainly could be a fair bit different from other pines.