JSGerson

Rigging the Cannons

I may have gone a bit overboard on the cannon rigging. The Practicum simplified the rigging by rigging only the recoil rope for all but two cannons and those were rigged with the tackle that only pulled the cannon to the gunport. I chose to do the whole thing: the recoil rope, the two tackles the draw the cannon to the gunport and the tackle that pulls the cannon away…for all twenty cannons. Here is a typical diagram I found during my research.

Barrels and Cap Squares

The last item in the construction of the cannon assembly is the installation of the cannon and cap squares. As Mr. Hunt discovered, the cap squares supplied with the kit are out of scale. A simple strip of black paper will suffice. The pictures below show the progression.

Eyebolts

After studying numerous pictures of cannons, I noticed that the eyebolts were not the same size. The eyebolt used for the recoil rope was larger than the eyebolt used to haul the carriage back and forth. I bought a bunch of smaller eyebolts. See earlier caution in Side Holes discussion. The eyebolts stems are cut to fit into the side holes. The recoil eyebolt has a rope ring through it. I added one additional eyebolt at the back of the carriage which the Practicum did not discuss. It is used to haul the cannon carriage away from the gun port.

The quoin

The quoin is a wedge with a handle used to raise and lower the cannon for aiming. The twenty 3/16” quoins are made from 1/16” x 1/16” stock and trimmed to shape. The Practicum instructs the builder to make the handle from wire and insert it into a drilled hole in the wedge. From pictures of actual quoins I’ve seen, the handles appear to be made from wood. So instead of the wire, I used bamboo drawn through the drawn plate, just like I made the treenails. The picture below shows the progression.

The transom

The transom is the front piece of the carriage. Twenty 7/32” pieces were sliced from 1/32” x 5/32” stock. After they were installed into the front of the carriage, a U-shaped surface is filed into it. This is where the cannon barrel will rest. The picture below shows the progression.

The stool bed

The bottom of the cannon carriage is called the stool bed. It is trapezoidal in shape with a groove cut into it to rest on the wire that was installed through the carriage walls. Twenty pieces were sliced off from 1/32” x 1/8” swiss pear stock.

CAUTION: The Practicum stated the pieces should be 3/16” in length. I found they should be 5/16”. The tablesaw was used to cut the groove.

The pieces were then trimmed to the specified trapezoidal shape and installed into each carriage.

Initial Assembly

The initial assembly consists of the two axles being attached in the notches cut in the bottom of the carriages. The front of the carriage is slightly narrower than the back. A small piece of wire is inserted in the smaller bottom hole and is super glued on each side. As I didn’t take pictures at this stage, the following photos are from the Practicum.

The carriage trucks

To ensure the axles were good, I jumped ahead in the Practicum to create the carriage wheels otherwise known as trucks. They are made from a 5/32” dowel. Choose this dowel carefully; you want it as close to perfect as you can. Any imperfections in roundness will be exaggerated when sliced into trucks. Once again back to the tablesaw and 80 1/32” trucks were sliced off the dowel.

The axles

The axles took a bit more delicate touch. Once again from two 24” sticks of 1/16” x 3/32” swiss pear, 40 ½” pieces were cut. Where before the carriage sides were milled on two sides, the axles were milled on all four sides with the front and rear axles having different patterns. That’s a lot of milling! The result leaves you with square axles which then have to be filled into a cylinder shape 1/32” in diameter.

The side holes

I finally got a use for my Dremel drill press accessory I bought so many years ago. Setting up a jig as shown in the Practicum, the first of three holes was drilled in all 40 sides. Then the set up was adjusted and the second and finally the third hole was drilled. The first two were made with a #71 drill while the last was made with a #71 drill…or not!

CAUTION:  Before drilling the holes make sure the eyebolts and wire that will eventually be inserted in them fit properly. In my case, I realized that the holes I made could have been made smaller.

Then like cutting a loaf of bread, 40 3/64” slices are made.

CHAPTER 7

Cannons and Carriages

When I started this little cannon project, I did not fully appreciate the amount of work and detail involved. Would I do it again?…yes.

The Cannon Carriages

The sides

The carriages start out as a 6” stick of 5/8” x 9/32” swiss pear which then was milled using the Byrnes tablesaw. Groves of various widths and depths were cut along the length as directed by the Practicum on both sides of the stock wood. On the bottom side the Practicum directs the builder to widen and shape center grove is widened using a D8/7 gouge to a rounded trough. Not having a gouge, I used needle files to get the same result. As a comparison, the picture below shows the milled wood stock and the premade carriage from the kit.

All the carvings got a coat of Poly-wipe. The figurehead and the stem carvings are to be installed at a later time.

End Chapter 6

The last touch was to add the sceptre which nothing more than a pin with the point and head cut off. A hole was drilled into hand and the scepter was inserted. It was snug enough that no glue was necessary. 

This took a while as I went slowly, refining the cuts over and over.

As an aid in my carving, I pasted another template on the block carving.

The first thing that had to be done was add the notch where it will attach to the stem as well as my temporary holder.

Now the front view was cut out which resulted in a blocky figure from which the actual carving would commence.

Using my scroll saw the side view was cut out and then reassembled with tape.

The Figurehead

Once more I was in an area I had never been before. I needed to carve a full three dimensional human figure. Heck, I can even draw a human figure let alone carve one. But like before, in for a penny, in for a pound. That and the fact the kit supplied figure won’t fit the scratch built stem. I was committed.

Following the Practicum I printed the side and front views of the figurehead and rubber cemented them to a block of wood.

The stern and counter carvings were installed to the model

The Counter Carvings

Mr. Hunt wanted to provide an alternative method of creating ornamentation using a clay product called Premo because these counter carvings use compound curves and are difficult to create in wood even for him. I didn't like the results he got with Premo as shown in the Practicum, so I chose the hard method – I would wood carve it.

I made numerous attempts because there is no true view of this shape. Through trial and error and shear tenacity I final came up with the shape that appears to work and would fit to the model.

The carving commenced using the various burs, needle files and X-acto blades. For a first time carving the results were satisfactory to the novice eye. It didn't match the perfection of a skilled carving but it will do.

The three pieces were glued together tight. The template was cut out, and rubber cemented to the assembled pieces. The shape was cut out using my old Dremel scroll saw

The first thing I did was mess up. I cut the two pieces a bit short and had to improvise with a third piece.