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.