How a cannon barrel is made.

[zulu]

Are you kidding me, bring those wood barrel pictures on please.

I will. There are a whole lot of pictures and you can only load ten at a time. I'll see what I can do.
The stuff is pretty nice.

 

[kemart17]

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I traded my wooden pattern for the first poured barrel.
In most cases wooden barrels are the beginning of the barrel making process. I have made a whole lot of wooden barrels that are pretty nice.
They do not fire, of coarse, but are excellent examples of our fascinating hobby.

I would be willing to show some of them if there is any interest.

great series of pics, thanks!!!!, im reading book iron dawn now, some info in it on the merrimac and monitor, armament they carried. great to get an idea how it could be made.

 

[Loja man]

This is cool!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

WOW, is all I can say. Best photo gallery I've ever seen. Thanks. Semper Fi.

 

[TFoley]

Fascinating stuff from end to end, and most definitely NOT any kind of a home project! A while back I was reading a historical novel about England, the Sussex Weald, which was the location of the cannon foundries of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I because of the coal deposits and ready charcoal production. There was a lot of detail about cannon foundries and the how-to, and great mention was made of pit-casting, where the moulds were filled from the muzzle end vertically. I'm interested to know why you don't do this.

 

[SLOTHEAD]

This is a fantastic thread and honestly should be a major book since there is so much to say about the process and all the supporting photos. Obviously producing a functional cannon is no little or inexpensive project. Please keep us posted on when your book will be available for purchase or pre-order. Tom KC3QAC

 

[windini]

Great posts, thank you! I look forward to your wooden cannon pictures & posts.

 

[MAPMFF]

That's fantastic!

A lot of work goes into these things. As I wait "patiently" for my project to get done, this is a good reminder of just how much work goes into every step of casting a tube, and then the carriage is another entire process itself.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

I cannot think of any post on this forum that can top this.

 

[zulu]

Fascinating stuff from end to end, and most definitely NOT any kind of a home project! A while back I was reading a historical novel about England, the Sussex Weald, which was the location of the cannon foundries of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I because of the coal deposits and ready charcoal production. There was a lot of detail about cannon foundries and the how-to, and great mention was made of pit-casting, where the moulds were filled from the muzzle end vertically. I'm interested to know why you don't do this.

I'm not involved in the actual casting process but I do think that casting barrels vertically in the earlier years helped with controlling air pockets.
They were usually bored vertically also using horse power.

The Relationship between Heat and Work In the 1780s, an American scientist named Benjamin Thompson, also known as Count Rumford, was hired by the Elector of Bavaria to supervise the manufacture of cannons. During the manufacturing process, teams of horses harnessed to a large-toothed wheel supplied the power needed to drill a hole several inches in diameter straight down the center of a solid brass or bronze cylinder, which was cooled by water. Based on his observations, Rumford became convinced that heat and work are equivalent ways of transferring energy.

The Verbruggen barrel is available at Hern Iron Works.
It can be seen here.

https://hernironworks.com/product/verbruggen-3-pounder/

 

[new2bp]

I will. There are a whole lot of pictures and you can only load ten at a time. I'll see what I can do.
The stuff is pretty nice.

I can host em in one of my webservers

Send me a PM and Ill send either upload info. If you dont know how to sftp/scp using filezilla let me know and well figure a way to get em to me and i can post

 

[zulu]

I can host em in one of my webservers

Send me a PM and Ill send either upload info. If you dont know how to sftp/scp using filezilla let me know and well figure a way to get em to me and i can post

I appreciate the offer. I have a number of different cannon patterns. I can do it with the current "insert image" button.
Thanks anyway.

 

[Shiloh]

Is the foundry making them for sale?

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

Thanks much for the pictures and descriptions of how your cannon barrel was cast.

For New Year's, I resolved to not use nasty four-letter words, but it looks as though all that barrel stuff involved one heck of a lot of W--K!

Please keep us advised of how your project is moving along.

 

[zulu]

Is the foundry making them for sale?

Yes, I put the link at the bottom of reply #30

 

[Lippy984]

I love seeing how things are made. Thank you for sharing

 

[Graybeard2A]

Thank you so much for this post!! on of the most interesting I've seen!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Exciting stuff. Thanks for posting. That wood turning is a keeper by itself.

 

[zulu]

Exciting stuff. Thanks for posting. That wood turning is a keeper by itself.

That wooden pattern is used over and over again everytime a barrel is poured. It doesn't wear out.

 

[NeilMacleod]

Awesome !!! Thanks!