OK actually the cannons I built for my neighbor and a joint effort
as he did the bases I only built the barrels and the wheels. He is a gun
enthusiast to put it mildly and I had a lot of fun building them, get to help
shoot them and don't have to buy the black powder.  The dark tarnished one
with accompanying "limber" (yes that's what the trailer that carries
the cannon balls and powder is/was actually called) sits on his mantel as a
show piece but is fully functional. The other one we actually shoot (black
powder, fuse & paper wadding) Makes a terrific bang with a fire trail and
smoke and whole nine yards. there was a hook behind the limber that the cannon attached to so the team of horses or mules could pull both at the same time.

TOP LEFT the cannon & limber        TOP RIGHT   better shot of wheel BOTTOM LEFT store bought  limber model     BOTTOM RIGHT; DUCK !!
          
      

Two pics of our firing model and a pic of what I did because my lathe was too short to accommodate the whole barrel. I threaded the end 3/4" by 10 tpi and screwed them together. I believe the cannons are 1 1/2" dia by 14" long but didn't measure them  Why do I always forget the simple details ??

the homemade reamer I built to ream out the
bore and a couple of left over spokes for the wheels. As I was reaming brass
this is just a piece of steel stock. I don't think it's anything special but I
built it 10 or 12 yrs ago and don't remember the particulars ? Lot of water
under the bridge since then.

The wheels are aluminum rings with brass
center pieces. I drilled and tapped the brass center to receive the
threaded brass spokes all while it was in the rotary table. I was surprised to
learn that once the spokes where installed the wheel was rigid as the spokes
simply slide through holes in the outer rim. I was wondering how in the world I
was going to get them to stay but it turned out they all worked together to
keep each other in. I bored in leaving 0.100 or so of wall thickness at the
brass pinions that the cannon swivels on and pressed them in place. If you try
this be careful with your press fit as I ruined one barrel by pressing the
pinion through the wall . But as a scrounger of scrap I now use that brass
barrel for other  purposes.

Working in the power-line field like I did I
ran across a good deal on some scrap tubing and flat stock from a
sub-station remodeling job. I couldn't let that choice scrap end up
in the scrap yard so I gladly paid them the scrap price for it and saved them
the trouble of hauling it off. Now I've got a supply of short pieces of
1/2" x 3", 3/8" x 2" etc…aluminum flat stock and 2"
and 4" aluminum round tubing. Keep your eyes peeled
for construction sites and don't be afraid to buy scrap, just make
sure you're dealing with the right people. You never know what you'll find or
where ? Sub-stations use the aluminum as bus bars and overhead conductors and
it's good quality stuff. Also you can sometimes get the scrap from your local
power company; old thrown away meters have magnets in them (useful for all
manner of stuff) and aluminum bases to melt down and recast.

Tyler I haven't figured out how to download
these pics yet so you can enlarge them on the screen?? I can be amazingly
ignorant of some things  !! Educated idiot perhaps ???

Dats all for now folks

~Chris

If I'm not mistaken there was a screw mechanism beneath the ball that aided in raising and lowering the barrel to aim it ??

As for my "model" it isn't to any particular scale or copies any real life cannon that I know of… so for it the ball was just an added ornament. You know how it is when you turn a machinist loose with a ball turning attachment  he thinks everything on the lathe needs a ball of some sort turned on it.

If you ever get to middle Tennessee go to Shiloh Military Park there are a lot of real cannons around and a lot of history on the civil war in our area. A lot of re-enactments around here. We recently had a re-enactment of the attack on Linden with actors taking up posts in the courthouse, full sized cannon fire (minus the ball of course they use a wad of black powder and corn meal for a really effective blast with fire and smoke), just don't be downwind of it and get cornmeal grit in yer eye been there done that and it sort of spoils the fun. It's about a 5 or 6 man team that loads and fires the cannon, then there was the Calvary charge and the infantry. For a small town it's a pretty good show. They have one or two re-enactments down at Shiloh every year. Those are even bigger than the one in Linden TN. To stop and read the casualties both North and South at the roadside markers in Shiloh brings a staggering sobriety to the cost of the civil war in terms of lives lost and maimed. They welded chain between two cannon balls and when shot out of the cannon they circled each other mowing down the oncoming army. War has always and will always be a brutal thing.

-so much for todays leetle history lesson . I've been privileged once to be on a cannon team, pretty loud when you're up close and personal even with your fingers in your ears !!

~Chris

SantaCruzClocks said:

harborfreight8x12 said:

Yeah, I'm getting cannon fever.  Can you tell me what the round ball on the end of the cannon is for?  I'm sure it had a purpose at one time.

Regards, Al

I believe that ball was used on naval cannons, and was used to throw a rope around to haul it up to the gun port and tie it off, then it was secured by wedges under the wheels. The gun was then elevated by wedging under the breach. The term Loose Cannon came from this era- a two ton chunk of metal on wheels could do a lot of damage on a rolling and pitching deck. I'm remembering scenes from "Master and Commander" and other movies of that genre-

I think that's right SCC but where does the large acme thread screw attach that I see on "some" cannons to level and aim them ?? Is it on the ball or the breach ?? I think these are on later model cannons more than earlier ones but could be wrong there too ??

What's a good place to find info on these relics from days gone by ??

~Chris