The bronze cannon I made,with pics of making it

[george wilson]

I have already posted the cannon I made for my retiring director. But,I did not post any pictures of turning it. Unfortunately,these 2 pictures are very small. Sorry! That lathe is pretty large,swinging 19" and being 80" between centers.

The cannon was turned from 5" dia. bronze bar stock,and the barrel is ABOUT 30" long. The trunnions were screwed into the barrel with interference fitted threads(very tight),and Loctited as well. They butt tightly together in the center of the barrel. Then,the gun was bored 1 3/8" diameter,to fit hundreds of blank ball bearing balls that Jon and I found at a scrap yard. They were accurately forged,but not yet ground and polished.

The carriage is mahogany. It takes 2 men to move the cannon. It is modeled after the "Long Toms" on the USS Constitution. You can buy plans from their museum.

[Niels Cosman]

I never thought to want a brass cannon- now I want one real bad!
Beautiful work as always Mr. Wilson!

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful work George.
The two lathe pic's aren't expanding, I'd really like to see those!

[george wilson]

Sorry,Bruce. I didn't realize those lathe pictures were so small till I used them for this post.

[ray hampton]

I would like to fired this shot cannon once, do the museum sell plans for other sizes of cannon [smaller]

[george wilson]

You can buy plans and scale them to whatever size you want. I have the same cannon as this one that I made with a barrel about 14" long,with a 1" bore. It is turned from steel.

[John Fabre]

Nice work, do you sell them (little ones)?

[george wilson]

No,John,I never have thought about selling them. The little one is still over 2" diameter at the breech. It is possible I could turn out a barrel for sale,but it still would take quite a number of hours to make,and would be a bit expensive. P.M. me if you are serious.

[ray hampton]

will you post a link that I can go to and buy the plans , I placed an order for a cannon barrel but ran into a problem [backorder]

[robert dankert]

Great cannon! Thanks for showing it. I have been thinking for some time about making one for myself. Finding a barrel I can afford is the main problem so far. it wouldn't have to shoot a projectile, but it would be fun to haul it out on the 4th of July and make some noise.

[John Coloccia]

I'd love one of these, and a big hand carved sign that says, "GET OFF MY LAWN".

[george wilson]

Dixie Gun Works has some plans for cannon,but I can't deal with their stupid web site. They also sell some cannon barrels. In fact,down in Hampton,Va.,there was a foundry that used to cast their larger guns. They'd position a steel pipe down the (approx.) center of the sand mold,and pour cast iron around it. They closed years ago. They also sell some small brass barrels.

[Ed Looney]

One scaled to fire golf balls would be super fun at the rifle range.

Ed

[ray hampton]

George, I do not intend to complain about Dixie Gun Works but I got a cannon barrel on the dirty "back-order" with them, I order the barrel and cannon wheels, they sent the wheels quick but the barrel is still on back-order, the plans are on back-order too

[george wilson]

You may have to bore the touch hole yourself. And,make sure the cannon is bored deep enough. To avoid law suits,they sometimes sell cannon barrels that aren't fully ready to shoot. That way,if you make them ready to shoot,you can't sue them if the gun bursts. Be sure to use only BLACK powder. Many have been injured by breaking open modern shot gun shells and using their smokeless powder,which is too powerful.

[Tony Shea]

Can you imagine someone being smart enough to use modern smokeless powder in place of black powder. Boy if only I had brains like that. Some people never cease to amaze me. Think of the hundreds of different burning charactoristics of each brand and make of smokeless powder, let alone to think you could just switch it out with black powder.

On the contrary, something about black powder does scare me a bit. I'm a reloader and deal with smokeless every day. But I stay right aways from black powder. I feel like I have less control with it for some reason.

[ray hampton]

I've reload my own ammo. with smokeless powder and I also use black powder in my muzzle loaders
two different powders and very different in the way that they expand their heat

[george wilson]

Nothing to be afraid of using black powder in any cartridge gun. You do need to be careful to not store it in glass bottles as it can go off from static electricity. But,you couldn't get enough black powder into a CARTRIDGE case for a modern gun to blow it up. Powders like Bullseye smokeless are dangerous,and need to be carefully measured or weighed. Since it takes so little of it to load a shell,it is(or was) popular from an economic standpoint. That very thing is what makes it dangerous. You don't to accidentally double load a cartridge with it. It is easy to not see that a cartridge is already loaded with it inside a dark shell.

[ray hampton]

George, is Bulleye a pistol powder, I seems to recall it being similar to Unique powder , I never reload pistol ammo. but think that some reloaders use corn meal as a filler when the case were not full of powder, keeping the powder next to the primer are important

[george wilson]

Yes,it is a pistol powder. Easy to mis use,though,because you may not see the small amount in a blackened cartridge,and can double charge. I know some reloaders top off 45-70 with cornmeal.

This good gunsmith friend I had said that a guy came into his shop with his face all messed up. He wanted to sue the gun manufacturer. He had been reloading his rifle cartridges with an UNKNOWN powder,and filling them ALL the way to the top!!!! He said he had to take his shoe off and beat the bolt open!! He had been making pressures so great in his rifle that the primers were being extruded out of the cartridges and onto the face of the bolt,where there is NO room,and jamming the bolt. The idiot. Finally,his gun blew up in his face,and he thought he had the right to sue. What a nut. Just goes to show how dangerous ignorance can be with explosives.

Let's stop talking about reloading. It is way off topic,and may somehow be offensive to some.

[ray hampton]

Yes,it is a pistol powder. Easy to mis use,though,because you may not see the small amount in a blackened cartridge,and can double charge. I know some reloaders top off 45-70 with cornmeal.

This good gunsmith friend I had said that a guy came into his shop with his face all messed up. He wanted to sue the gun manufacturer. He had been reloading his rifle cartridges with an UNKNOWN powder,and filling them ALL the way to the top!!!! He said he had to take his shoe off and beat the bolt open!! He had been making pressures so great in his rifle that the primers were being extruded out of the cartridges and onto the face of the bolt,where there is NO room,and jamming the bolt. The idiot. Finally,his gun blew up in his face,and he thought he had the right to sue. What a nut. Just goes to show how dangerous ignorance can be with explosives.

Let's stop talking about reloading. It is way off topic,and may somehow be offensive to some.

EXCUSE me but this post are about a cannon and cannon gets reload

[george wilson]

I intended it to be more about the craft and design of making a period piece,a cannon,yes,but which has many of the same design elements as fine wooden period furniture. Diverging into a discussion of modern reloading is not a direction I meant to take. It is not a forum for discussing such,either. Therefore,I do not wish to discuss the topic here. If you wish to do so,go to the gunsmithing section of the Practical Machinist forum,and we can take it up there.

[Don Orr]

Beautiful work as always George.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Gorgeous!I really enjoy your artistry and attention to detail/historical accuracy. Can you tell us something about the engraving on the breech ring?

[george wilson]

The cannon was a retirement gift to the director,so has a dedication engraved on the breech.

[maximillian arango]

I told my self I would only bump one of your threads but I am sorry this must not be passed up. To be honest with you every compliment I could think off is from left field so please forgive me but this is the best I could think of as a 22 year old who has never seen work this great. If I had a poster on my wall it would say, "What would George Wilson do?" and it would have a picture of Chuck Norris or someone who has a silly following who is as bad a man as you sir. I am glad that I have looked into some of the work you have done I just wished I could follow your lead and copy you but my skills need a lot of time before I can even attempt some of the more tamed stuff you do. I will try not to keep spamming you with bumps because I know how annoying that can be.

~max

[george wilson]

Maximillian,I am delighted that a 22 year old would be interested in anyone's fine work. Most young people are playing video games. I encourage you to develop yourself into a fine craftsman,which I think you have the potential to do. The first thing anyone has to have,in order to become a good craftsman,is the sheer ability to recognize good work when they see it. Most people of any age,do not have this ability. If they don't,they will never get any where. The second thing a person needs is the energy and dedication to get to work making things. This will most likely have to be something you will have to do as a hobby. I was lucky enough to be offered a job in Williamsburg,where I could devote my whole day to the work.

[David Weaver]

George, did you and Jon ever proof this one?

[george wilson]

No,it was given to our retiring director,and after many years,he has never fired it. He developed a rare muscle disease where his muscles continue to atrophy. He is a skeleton and cannot do much. His wrist is bigger than his arm. No one understands the illness.

[James Tibbetts]

Beautiful piece George. What finish is on the bolts etc.?

[george wilson]

The bolts were left blackened from the forge as is authentic. Unpolished iron work was considered rough work in the 18th. C.. Certainly in a salt water environment,they would not have been possible to maintain had they been polished. Brass or bronze fares better,and can be kept polished with a little effort from the sailors. It would have been a break from pushing around a "holey stone" to scrub the decks. A holey stone is a stone with a hole in the middle. A long stick could be inserted into the cavity. This was used to push it about.

The idea was to keep the crew busy all the time to avoid fights and other stuff from breaking out. Leisure time back then was frowned upon. For example,Swiss guards standing watch were expected to knit their socks while on guard. The only leisure time permitted was sleeping and in church,where you HAD to pay attention to long sermons.