Carraige build

[GAWI]

Just recieved plans from Antique Ordance, I have half scale napoleon. Should i just half all measurements? Should stock be two piece glued together or solid one piece? Also the barrel was not drilled for fuse. Was going to do it 90' gut book showes 80'. Does it matter that much? Thanks, Gary

[Rickk]

Not sure about scale, but angle of fuse hole can affect your ability to burn very light charges. If the vent is pointed towards the chamber face (about in the middle), the powder bag will be pierced by the gimlet no matter how small the charge is.

All that aside, since we don't know where your breech face is, we don't know where 80 degrees will point the vent. Some measurements are in order.

What book shows 80 degrees?

[gary michie]

  HI:
 My AOP prints for the vent  for my parrott is angled too, and I asked here about that and I think DD  has a very long list of reasons that sum up to a I don't know. and yes the trail is a two piece assembly.

[Double D]

They had a reason for angling the vent so duplicate it.

You say you have a half scale Napolean.  Measure the barrel and and compare measurements to the original drawing, are they  1/2 of the original?

Before you do anything who made your barrel? Is it cast? Does it have a seamless liner and a properly constructed breech plug?

[GGaskill]

The touchhole should enter the barrel such that you ignite the rear of the charge.  This gets the highest velocity from the charge as well as allowing reliable ignition of smaller charges.

Unless you have access to a sawmill, you are likely to be unable to buy hardwood thicker than 8/4 which, in fact, is only 1.75" thick.  So you will have to laminate the stock in any event, probably with more than two pieces.  If you can find a sound, straight dry piece thick enough to make the stock from, I see no reason it could not be used intact.

[Will Bison]

To address the stock issue first, I would advise a laminated construction simply for strength. Some folks will advocate the use of solid, one piece wood for the stock. The simple fact is that laminated is much stronger. In my neck of the woods, solid oak/ash are just not obtainable at any resonable price so laminated wood is the only option.

The "touche" if drilled at 90 degrees will/may throw debris in the face of the "Gunner". A ten degree or so forward cant will direct the vent gas forward of the gun.

Just my opinion but I like the vent to open about 1/8" or so in front of the breech face so that I know the gimlet has pierced in front of the cartridge rear and into the powder charge.

Bill

[GAWI]

In Antique Ordnance, No.20 page 1-4 they talk about the 80' vent. But on page 1-7, Actual drawing of barrel they show a 90' vent. On the 80' vent its angled back. Ill probably need planer for the saw mill wood? Thanks, Gary

[Double D]

The 80 degree vent probably addresses the issues that George and Will are talking about.

The vent enters at the rear of the breech at an angle so the gimlet will pierce the charge as close to the rear of the charge as possible but will penetrate forward through a thick base wad into the charge proper.  This would also give specific direction for the spent fuse remnents, instead of stright up in the air to fall where ever.

[GGaskill]

I'll probably need planer for the saw mill wood?

A band saw, I would think; you need taper in two planes.  And a belt sander with some coarse belts to start with.

[gary michie]

  HI:
I have the belief that the cannons should be made to look as they did.
You can spot a glue lamination a mile away.I know that the glue of today is stronger than the wood but wood moves and it shows. I feel that the hunt for the right materials is part of a build and when you are finished there is the great satisfaction in a proper build.

[GAWI]

I understand that these were built with oak. Now saying that, i have been to Lowes Home Depot etc and all i find in finished lumber is pine. If i go to lumber mill it will be rough cut lumber. Is pine a definite no no? This is for 1/2 scale  and stock will be 50" l x 4.5 h x 4.5 w. I could use 6x6 finished pine. Now i realise this question has a lot to be desired in safety. So the question is does 0ak need to be used? Thanks,

[Rickk]

Some mills have a planer. A belt sander may get you where you need to be as well. You are going to have to cut a lot of it anyway, so the outer surface condition probably isn't relavent

Be forwarned that wood that size will take at least a year in a warm, dry place before it stops moving around. If what you buy is not dry, you would be best to get it an inch or so oversize in every direction and wait a year, then cut it. It sorta sucks that it takes that long but it will (and that is an optimistic figure, 3-4 years would be better).

If it isn't dry, every time you put it in the sun the wood will bend towards it.

It would be worth calling around though. You never know what a mill might have hanging around.

Pine will rot quickly if left outside.

Home Depot wood, besides being the wrong size, will be in the neighborhood of 3-4X what mill wood will cost (at least that is my experience in my neck of the woods). When I told the guy who owns the lumber mill up the street I was buiding a mortar, he went way out of his way to help me out. I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of a little less than a dollar a board foot for white oak. I got pieces 3-4 inches thick, about 1/2 inch oversize in length and width, so I could clean it up and trim it all to the same width/length.  It wasn't quite dry... I learned the hard way what that means. Even though I used several bottle of glue, and 6 hardwood pegs between each lamination, next year I will have to sand it down, fill the lamination separations with epoxy, and repaint it. A couple of 8 inch thick pieces would have been a nice find, but getting dry oak 8x10's would be a miraculous find I believe.

[GAWI]

Went and picked up white oak. Most is larger than i need but i dont think i will wait a year for it to dry. thanks

[Rickk]

I know the feeling of not wanting to wait.

Except for possibly the ends, don't put any preservative on it for a while to help it dry, keep it out of the rain, rotate it alot when it is outside so that the sun hits it from different angles. If possible, avoid the sun altogether as long as possible.

By the way, I have sitting in my closet a walnut plank that was originally intended for being turned into several original 1850-60 vintage Springfield Muskets. It somehow missed the Armory saws and lathes, and wound up in my closet. You wouldn't believe what they gave away for firewood use in the 1960's as they were closing the Springfield Armory down. I remember when I was 5 years old shoving cut-up M1 Garand and M1 Carbine stock sections into my dad's wood stove. There were dumptrucks of them dumped into our driveway that year.

This surviving plank has it's ends coated with some tar-like substance to control drying. It eventually would have been cut up into a blanks that would have fit into their lathe. Based on the end coating, I am assuming that they intentionally would store the planks for some period of time to let them stablize prior to cutting into smaller blanks that would fit their lathe.

If you see it warping in one direction or the other, expose the side that it is bending away from to the sun and it will straighten out. When it is all together that could be tough, as the top will get all the sun, and the bottom won't get any at all.

In my pasture there are about 100 4x4 fence posts. Every one of them is dramatically curved towards the sun. I stopped using 4x4's and now prefer 6x6's. They warp less, proving something... bigger is better maybe?... I dunno

[Articifer Tom]

 May want to try  red  oak , hickory or  ash.  Any hard wood is better then pine. Im in NE Pa. if you need some , mostly dried  white  oak  but some ash  and  popular also.

[gary michie]

May want to try red oak , hickory or ash. Any hard wood is better then pine. Im in NE Pa. if you need some , mostly dried white oak but some ash and popular also.

HI:
Are you saying you have a outlet for hard wood? As you may or may not know I'm makeing 2 Gatlings and my son a 12 lb. Whitworth all full scale. I'll be needing wood for 1 #1 field carriadge and 2  # 2 mountain howitzer carriadges.
Please email me.
gary

[freddo]

I don't know how it is in the U S A but here in Australia when i am looking for over size or none standard timber sections I quite often look in landscape gardeners supplies They often sell large section timbers suitable for outdoors usage

[Cannonmaker]

I would certainly use a hard wood for the strength and duribility.

As for the coating on the end of the piece if the wood is still green I use a wax or Tung Oil to seal the ends.  This prevents the ends from splitting.

Good luck with your project.

Rick