Wooden cannons?

[Pete the Pong]

Just watched the "Myth Busters" episode on tree cannons ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJgYtt99V5s) and having found an image of one in a military museum in Paris ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/automatt/49089220/) I'm now wondering if anyone knows if they were ever used in the UK, and if so, when???

[Martin]

cool as, wonder how many we'll see on the field this season ? as an aside, where can I get something that looks like gunpowder but isnt ? for the cartridges Im making and to put in my powder horn for the demo area we have

[Pete the Pong]

cool as, wonder how many we'll see on the field this season ? as an aside, where can I get something that looks like gunpowder but isnt ? for the cartridges Im making and to put in my powder horn for the demo area we have

Yes, I was thinking that as well! As for gunpowder, surely that's (basically) only charcoal plus salt petre and sulpher. So why not simply grind up a few lumps of charcoal with a bit of table salt? It wouldn't go "bang" (-at least I think it wouldn't ), but would that give the right effect?

[Martin]

genius m8, cheers, on today's to do list lol, p.s could you send me that chaps details about the festies again I cant find em

[Meh-Lindi]

Some of the railway modelling scenery "ballast" or "coal" has got some good colours and crystal-like shape for fake gunpowder.

[Hobbitstomper]

Salt will corrode anything metal really fast. Try poppy seeds, maybe mixed up with a bit of finely crushed charcoal if the colour isn't right. Don't try smoking it.

[Senilis Pravus]

Mix ground white and black pepper for a finer ground gunpowder?

[Mark Griffin]

Isnt that a heston blumenthal recipe?

I've used the fake coal/ballast from modelling stuff for small scale demos but once you get into have a go its a bit pricey.

For one museum exhibit we used powdered graphite which looked ok. You need to get the chunky stuff, not the really fine version used as a lubricant.

http://artisanfoundry.co.uk/oscommerce/product_info.php?products_id=48 so not this.

Coffee grounds will do for a cheap substitute, or even sugar/salt with a tiny bit of moisture and lampblack bunged in to mix and clump.

Tree cannons, along with leather and bamboo versions whilst all perfectly authentic may cause the nice people at the proof house to run a considerable distance.

[Martin]

cheers chaps plenty to play with, also, just watching Ancient Discoveries on history channel and they made a bamboo gun called a fire lance, very interesting but I cant find a linky for it

[Mark Griffin]

that would be similar to the tudor ones probably. metal spikes on end of wooden tube filled with a combustible similar to what we make lancework out of, i.e a slow but very hot burn. Ram it into door, hull, etc light and retire. Awfully good fun!

[Martin]

this one is apparently a hand held one the Chinese used on the mongols

[Mark Griffin]

yes, they work in the same way though. Think they are covered in one of Turnbull's osprey books on the various invasions. You just alter the main gunpowder constituents to make a slower burn and pack it into a thin tube. Its like making a rocket motor on a stick you shove into someones face. Add different ingredients to produce pretty colours, sparks, crackles and whizzes etc.

'History of Fireworks' show forthcoming...

[Foxe]

Tree cannons, along with leather and bamboo versions whilst all perfectly authentic may cause the nice people at the proof house to run a considerable distance.

There used to be a chap in the SK with a leather cannon. I don't know if it had some nifty proofable sleeve or how he got it legal, but AFAIK it was on a ticket.

[Mark Griffin]

I know things have improved in that neck of the woods but maybe it was at the same time that home made black powder grenadoes, or fun roundshot made of bp filled tennis balls were also in vogue that the gent in question had his cow skin carronade.

When desert boots were in, fencing foils abounded and shirt collars were but paper doileys.....

[acecat999]

http://www.candy-licious.net/products/G ... legum.html


i'm sure they did that in black once upon a time

[Roger Emmerson]

The leather Cannon was one of a pair owned by a seriously qualified Knotter - the sleeve was very solid and will well outlast the ten shot and sling it originals HOWEVER they were based on the Swedish models in Rotunda - rather than the ones at Wemyss Castle, Fife. These repros vent at bollock level - had to move my Lord Generals Staff during the Alton Storm - or all orders would have been falsetto henceforth

Of course, the medievals in Italy used Trompetto da morte - essentially claymore mines made out of wood and fused as you retreated, made to look like a cannon sometimes

Anyway Griff, ordcon is 20th October at Sulhampstead Police Training Centre - we're still lookin for a surgeon or other medico to talk about treating BP infected wounds on site properly - my advice being a baby's toothbrush, very soft soap, and remove any black bits while patient is in shock . . . plenty of water

Cheers folks

Roger

[kayleaeloise]

for blackpower demos, we use lemon sherbert instead of sulpher, looks good, you can freak out people by eating it during the display ..... and tastes good on after hours ice cream!

[Mark Griffin]

we're still lookin for a surgeon or other medico to talk about treating BP infected wounds on site properly

one for Steve bacon I'd have thought, his kind of period. I can do hydrocoloidal plasters and thats it.

Think I'm away 20th Oct but be interested in the details. Be just before my 'History of Fireworks' has its debut

Griff

[John Waller]

have thought, his kind of period. I can do hydrocoloidal plasters and thats it. . Be just before my 'History of Fireworks' has its debut

Griff

Do tell. As a retired fire-worker I'm interested.

[Langley]

I know someone who fills one of Iron Dwarfs grenados with black gravel from his fishtank Martin. It is nice and coarse like cannon powder.

[Brand]

For medieval tree cannon what goes bang how about a steel core with GRP surround made to look like wood- or even steel core in wood (made by a pro such as mainmast conservation not in a workshop!). Though so rare as to be probably not worth the effort would still make an interesting display.