I was contacted by the Texas Historical Commission to build a cannon carriage for a Verbruggen cannon barrel that they have ordered from South Bend Replicas.
I don't have much to go on other than these two pictures of a replica carriage someone made that I found on the internet.
I also have a simple drawing from the 18th century ordnance text by John Muller, A Treatise of Artillery.
It has some hard to follow measurements in it.
So a lot of this design is made up by me.
The Verbruggen barrel is in the process of being cast. It will be 37" long and weigh 200 lbs.
It will have a 2 1/4" bore.
I probably won't see it for at least 4 months. So this will be a thread in progress.
I have ordered 50", twelve spoke wheels for the carriage. It will be six weeks before I get them.
Here is what I have done so far.
Enjoy the pictures.
Replica cannon carriage made by someone else.
My carriage will not have the ammunition boxes on it. They want to be able to remove the barrel and cheeks and drop a wagon bed on the carriage which I will also be making.
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Drawings from John Muller's book.
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Picking up the wood. 3" thick, 2 1/2" thick, and 2" thick oak.
![Image](http://www.fototime.com/CB5EA392CC1FDC7/standard.jpg)
Ripping the 3" to size. My 3 HP Unisaw cut it well but didn't like the 10' cuts at all. The blade would get too hot and bog down throwing the breaker. All in all, I had to make 60' of cuts.
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I made the middle cut on the band saw.
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Here I have the side rails sitting on the 5" X 5" axle housing that holds the 1 7/8" steel axle. I also have the three horizontal braces sitting on top. The axle sits 25" high like it will when it is on wheels.
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