Cannons, Medieval Armour and Knives...what a weekend!

[Don Krag]

This past weekend I hosted the 5th annual Central-Texas Armour-In...a get-together I've been doing since about 2000. We had to skip a couple years due to moving and such, but it has become a summer tradition now. This year got to see the introduction of the big-guns. We've had a bit of blackpowder in the past, but nothing like this year! I have another four guys completely hooked now with several more who will become hooked, they just don't know it yet. A couple will most likely post here in the near future.

I now have most of the basics of the trail and cheeks assembled on the Sikh Standing mortar project. It got to see it's first *real* projectile firing. We launched a 6" x 6" concrete-filled can around 100 yards into the field. It was quite loud and fun to watch. Everyone seemed surprised to be able to watch the projectile tumble through the air. I said "Aside from the boom, that's the best fun of it...watching them sail out downrange!". Here's a few pics from the weekend....

Here's a side shot and a quarter-on shot of the mortar sitting on the carriage frame. I haven't finished the front end yet or the elevation device so we used a pipe-section and a brick to get to 50*. The blue paint job was interesting. I mixed a few different kinds of paint I had on hand, using an alkyd lead based white as a starting point. I had a beautiful light blue that dried to a slightly darker-than-wanted blue. 24 hrs later it cured into this faint pastel blue. I'm curious what chemical reaction took place! I guess I'll have to break down and spend the whopping $10 on some custom mixed paint!

Here's the pics and a link to the video of a couple shots. the first is the concrete shot, the second is a lb or so of flour over 2.5 oz of 2F.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX-OZFwjG4w




Here's a pic of some of the armour that was worked on. This is a 15th century German Sallet getting the visor and bevor(face and chin) hot-worked. Pretty cool!


Here's a knife for ya'll. It's a D-gaurd bowie I did as a gift for the guy who got me started with cannons and such. Well, not a complete gift...I needed a bit of powder for the weekend so we did a bit of horse-trading! Done in a rustic style with a heat-treated and etched d-guard.



Hope ya'll enjoy the video and pics!

[Double D]

As your moderator, I must always be on the alert for safety issues.  I feel obligated to warn you about the dangers of lead based paint. What ever you do, do not chew on that carrige or eat paint chips from it.   

It's starting to look pretty good.  It will be a hit with your armour group. I'm sure.  Who doesn't like things that go boom.

[Don Krag]

We started Friday with a safety briefing and I warned the group that anyone caught licking the paintbrushes or chewing on the carriage would be banned from the site!

I have a 24" long by 1.7" cal being started that's a medieval reproduction, but it's not anywhere near ready for smoke and fire. It'll make the rounds to all our events when it's done, though. I'm sure I'll get quite a few interested from that one as well. They've used blanks from a wheelock to start some of our battles...I think the thunder of a cannon would be more fun!

[seacoastartillery]

     Cool movie, Don; smoke and thunder!  Very nice.  Say, in the shot with the nice Bowie on the cap square over the mortar's trunnion, what exactly are we seeing there?  Are there three layers of iron (painted red) or not?  We like your choice of colors.  Bold, like the sound she makes!!  Can't wait to see the rest of the carriage come together.

Regards,

Mike and Tracy

[Don Krag]

It's actually two layers. The cheeks are "wrapped" with a 3/8" wrought band. The caps have a short curved section made from the same. To this, I used an old heavy-duty, wrought door hinge and riveted as well as welded to the curved section. On the front of the cap I just welded a tab made from 12 ga mild steel. This will be slotted to go over a eye where it can be pinned closed. Although, it didn't even jump the slightest when fired! Watching the video in slow motion (the full size file here) all the forces appear to go in the direction I want them to. Guess the Indians knew what they were doing!

If it quits raining before dark I'll snap some pics of the caps. They came out kind of cool looking. I was about to make my own hinges when I ran across those old ones in one of my many piles o' crap in the shop!

[Don Krag]

Here's some pics of the caps from a few angles.




The hinge section behind the cap will get some decorative rivets where the welds are to make it look better. The two bolt heads sticking up just behind the hinge go all the way through the cheek and out the bottom wrought iron band.

Hah...my hands now look like a smurf's. I had used some coomassie blue powder in the paint and it seems it wasn't completely soluble in paint. The raindrops on the cheeks were blue and I wiped the raindrops off with my hands. Now I will have blue palms for about three or four weeks. lovely.

[lance]

cool video and pics, can't wait to see that mortar finished!!! really impressed with the armour, oh, lets not forget the knife either!!! i might have to get ya to hammer me out one sometime.