The Gun CarriageIn Part Two we looked at seven steps to building a barrel for a replica naval gun that was both lightweight and portable. The completed barrel needed a gun carriage, however. So, starting at Step Eight, in this Part we will explore one way to make a simple gun carriage to support the barrel.Step Eight Once again, the result had to be lightweight and robust, not only to support the barrel but to survive the rigours of transportation and manhandling. As shown below, the stepped sh| Tastes Of History
The BackgroundHistory Part One of this series begins with a very brief look at the history of a typical naval gun in use with the Royal Navy of the 18th- and 19th-centuries. The story of such cannon, however, begins in 12th-century China where gunpowder, the first explosive, was discovered [1]. Gunpowder was employed in Chinese warfare to some effect from at least the 10th-century in weapons such as fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance before the appearance of the gun. The earliest European r| Tastes Of History
The TackleIn Parts One, Two and Three of this "How to:" series we established the background and how we went about building our scale replica cannon. In Parts Four and Five, respectively, we looked at how we recreated the projectiles and gunners' equipment needed to perform mock "firing" drills. The final stage is to recreate the tackle used to haul the cannon inboard for loading and outboard for firing through the ship's gun ports.Typically tackle is a mechanism consisting of ropes, pulley bloc| Tastes Of History