Mythbusters: Tree Trunk Canon

[mp510]

Anybody else catch today's Mythbusters on Discovery?

Thought it was pretty interesting. They were doing some experimentation with a "home made" canon, the barrel being bored out of a tree trunk.

They were testing the myth that such wouldn't explode (didn't catch the specifics).

Anyhow, turns out that the canon did function, at least to some extent.

Tennis ball and unspecified powder charge resulted in shot that traveled beyond range of sight. Canon ok.

Granite bore size "ball" and 6 ounce powder charge resulted in a good shot and no damage to the canon.

Five pounds of powder, plugged muzzle. This resulted in catastrophic failure of the barrel, and mount.

 

[Titus]

Saw that episode a number of times. Jamie had to get on his bike and scout the runway for quite some distance to get that tennisball back. The stone ball was gone. Good episode.

 

[PreglerD]

That it isn't a myth could be clear. Already in China before Christ they use guns with bambus barrels and bp. When using a treetrunk I think it depends much on the used wood and the structure of the wood and how the drilling is made.

 

[Trkdriver99]

Seems to me that I read somewhere that the union army during the seige of Vicksburg during the "War of Northern Aggression" used wooden cannon and morter barrels with iron bands around them.

Ronnie

 

[spudnut]

Seems I remember a frontier battle with one topened the gates to let the Indians in and WHAM :shocked2:

 

[Charles D. Prokopp]

In the late 15'th Century, the Turks used cannons made of cherry wood in the Wallachian campaign against Vlad Tepes. Apparently they had thin-walled brass or bronze tubes for bores, with barrel-stave construction bound with iron bands and some kind of wire. Of course, we don't really know how good their powder was. Good enough to keep the Impaler's head down, though!

 

[Iron Jim Rackham]

The history of blackpowder as a projectile propellant is uncertain, but no type of blackpowder was used over 2,000 years ago either for pyrotechnics or propellant. 2,000 years ago the Chinese knew as much about blackpowder as the Romans did. It simply didn't exist.

 

[brubincam]

i bet that it needs rerifled fairly regular,,, :shake: :shake: :shake:

 

[lanedh]

Were they the so-called "Quaker cannon" made up to look like real artillery pieces to the opposition's scouting parties?

 

[BrownBear]

They filled it's head with cannon balls and powdered his behind.

And when they set the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

:blah:

 

[faw3]

We have a real coehan and a wood one used by my great great great unc on the good guys side (he and other kin buried them at the fall of VB)(South) at Vicksburgh my brother is going to the reunion this weekend I'll see if he can get pics. (as it was told to me some 40 yrs ago it was used (the wood one) to chunk some kind of grenades over the earth walls) Fred :hatsoff:

 

[sequoia]

Seems I remember a frontier battle with one topened the gates to let the Indians in and WHAM

I think that was an episode of "Daniel Boone" As I recall they filled it with nails and such.

 

[benvenuto]

they contacted me when they were researching this episode. I knew nothing about wooden canon in Hungary so they didn't want to film me, but i did do a little research (see the earlier thread) and found out yes, wooden cannon have been made throughout history, but always
a) as an improvised weapon when nothing else was available (indian-settler warfare, gurani indians in south america (see "The Mission" atrring Robert de Niro))
b) dummies or decoys (Quaker cannon) designed to fool the enemy (many examples)

Like the cast iron sewer pipe canon of the Moro rebellions, these are very much the weapon of last resort! :surrender:

 

[AaronT]

Farragher mentions Squire Boon (Dan'l's brother) improvising a wooden cannon at the seige of Boonsboro. According to the legend it burst the first time it was fired, much to the delight of the Indians.

 

[patriot59]

An attempt was made by the Indians during the siege of Ft. Henry,(Wheeling WVA)during the revolution.
One attempt resulted in a firing that both sides had quite a laugh over, sort of a squishing sound.
The second attempt burst the log barrel and killed several Indians.