http://www.buckstix.com/HowitzerCarriage.htm BARREL CARRIAGE CHEEKS TOOLS ENGRAVING LOADING How to Build a 12 pound Mountain Howitzer Cannon ...by Buck Stix I decided to build a Mountain Howitzer cannon because I'm from Wisconsin. Let me explain. It all started because of a Civil war Veteran named James Burton Pond of Fond du Lac County Wisconsin. He organized Company C of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery at a famous Civil War battle at Baxter Springs, KS. October 6, 1863 "While in command of 2 Companies of Cavalry, 1st Lt. James B. Pond was surprised and attacked by several times his own number of Quantrill's Raiders. Alone and unaided he fired a Mountain Howitzer three times, throwing the enemy into confusion and causing them to retire." This is a photograph of James B. Pond and his Medal of Honor. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JAMES BURTON POND - CLICK THE PICTURES *************************************************** FABRICATING THE MOUNTAIN HOWITZER CARRIAGE *************************************************** The first step in any "build your own cannon" project is to purchase plans. Although Mountain Howitzer plans are available from a number of sources, most are based on original Civil War plans and are only line drawings with few dimensions. Because of the special "enhancements" of my project, all required drawings were computer drawn in Autocad and stored electronically. I opted for second type used known as the 1850 #2 prairie carriage. Howitzer carriage wheels. To begin the project. for many. they came with a solid steel "lynch-pin" axle. the majority of the wood was sound and very restorable. Howitzer Cannons evolved using 3 different styles of carriages. they can be restored from original antique artillery wheels. As an added bonus. having smaller 42" diameter wheels instead of 58" diameter wheels of the larger carriage. many years. The wheels I found were slightly more robust than typical mt howitzer wheels. I was very fortunate to find an original set of artillery carriage wheels by searching the internet. . In choosing a style of carriage for my howitzer. This carriage was nearly identical to the familiar #1 field carriage of the larger guns. Here is how the wheels looked when I first got them. CLICK HERE << During my research. When I located these in South Dakota. but they were originally artillery. I discovered that original 12 pound Mtn. starting with the wheels. using plans. In addition.>> If you want a set of Mountain Howitzer Carriage or Barrel blueprints. or as in this case. Unfortunately. This caused the wood to dry out. It looked scaled down. I immediately drove from Wisconsin to get them. Original artillery carriage wheels are very difficult to find. or purchased new from modern carriage wheel builders. I decided to build the carriage first. the wheels had been stored indoors in a very dry environment. Although there were many unsightly cracks. They can be built from scratch. shrink and crack. There are 3 ways to go about acquiring Mt. some surfaces had minor worm damage near the edges of the steel tires. The wheels were constructed with steel 2-1/2" I. ) . This provided a long 12-1/2" bearing surface. a 2" wide steel tire. ( Typical mountain howitzer carriage wheels have a 9-1/2" long hub. and weigh approximately 70 pounds each. These wheels weighed 140 pounds each. axle boxes through the hubs. The steel tires were 1/2" thick and 3-1/2" wide.D. The original lynch-pin axle construction provided for quick wheel removal without tools. . the worm damage areas were chiseled out and wire brushed to remove loose wood particles. This conditioning allowed moisture to re-absorbed into the wood which reduced the size of the cracks. The excess filler was "scraped" away with no sanding of the wood or metal. not new ) Finally. Although most of this work was low-tech. it was easy. . Compare the before and after results. This was followed by 2 coats of oil base "Union Olive Drab" green enamel on the wood. both wheels were left outdoors in humid weather for 2 weeks. the worm damaged areas and cracks were filled with a good quality epoxy filler.Before starting restoration. 2 coats of boiled linseed oil were applied to the wheels over both wood and metal. This was the correct color for an 1850's Mountain Howitzer. ( I wanted the wheels to look original. and very successful. and 2 coats of oil base black enamel on the metal. After conditioning. During this time. dirt and old paint. It measured 43-1/4" between the hubs. . The solid 3" square axle was center-cut. The axle as received was 11" too long for the Mountain Howitzer carriage. shortened.The next step in the restoration process was the axle. instead of the 32-1/4" desired length. and rewelded at the correct length and camber for a Mountain Howitzer carriage. we enlarged our axle box to 5" square in order to maintain visual proportion. A departure from original dimension was made to the axle box. having 25% larger and longer hubs. .With the axle shortened to the correct length. a wooden axle box was constructed around the steel. Original Mountain Howitzer carriage plans called for axle boxes of a #2 prairie carriage to be 4" square. White oak was cut and planed to dimension and then securely glued around the square steel axle. Since our wheels were more robust than standard. .Original Mountain Howitzer carriages were constructed of white oak so we used white oak throughout the project. Although the massive "trail" was typically constructed from a solid white oak beam. This massive beam was next placed inside the heavy bag of a large vacuum table. We selected naturally aged. we chose to fabricate the trail by laminating together four. The surfaces of the 7 foot long planks were coated with glue and then banded together with duct tape. the completed beam was ready for sawing. A few added clamps kept them from shifting. 2" thick planks for added strength. air-dried wood of 10%-12% moisture content. Vacuum was applied and in less than one hour drying time. . a small table top drill press was modified by inverting its machined base.The roughly constructed beam measured 7" by 7" by 7 feet long and weighed over 80 pounds. In order to drill the holes straight and square through the thick beam. All drawing dimensions were pencil drawn on all 4 sides of the trail. This allowed placement of the machined surface of the base against the beam. . Next. for perpendicular drilling of the marked holes. the 4 sides of the beam were square planed to 6-3/8" and the ends were sawed to finish length. double coats of boiled linseed oil were applied inside them.After drilling the holes. we began to chisel by hand and start shaping the head of the trail. The best way to describe the work is to say "simply remove everything that doesn't look like a Mountain Howitzer trail. Next. Coarse files and rasps were used which made the work go easy." . . We first cut from the side. we located a large band saw at a local pattern shop. and then the bottom. the surfaces were "roughed-up" by adding a few dents as well as some chain and rope marks. it truly looked original antique. the surfaces were again treated by applying 2 coats of boiled linseed oil followed by two coats of the oil based enamel. Final shaping and surface smoothing was done using coarse files and a small belt sander with 50 grit paper. This pattern shop's saw had a huge 6 foot square table. To finish the axle box. After painting. We placed the trail in position on the axle box and added the wheels.In order to remove large quantities of wood for shaping the rest of the trail. The large saw table made it easy to handle the heavy beam and follow the pencil lines during sawing. Things finally started taking shape. Before the finish was applied however. matching the surfaces of the wheels. then the top. to obtain the results below. Once again we tried to match the "antique look" of the original wheels. A large spindle sander was used for the outside contouring. This work was done as a pair. and then band sawed to shape. The wood had aged naturally and had a few weather cracks. The slabs were first planed and cut to size. held together with double-sided tape so that both would be finished identical. .The remaining wooden pieces to be constructed were the two cheeks. These were made from solid 3" thick slabs of white oak. . Once everything matched. the cracks were filled.We matched the cheeks to the trail. Wooden dowels were used to position and align all the pieces. and then to the axle box. and a double dose of the boiled linseed oil was again applied. A small bubble level was used to keep everything square and even. The axle box was notched accordingly and final fitting was carefully done with chisels and files. Corresponding holes were transferred from the trail through the cheeks. the cheeks were slightly distressed. . . it was time to start fabricating the metal parts. Several companies manufacture metal parts for the Mountain Howitzer carriage. Although most of the metal parts were easily fabricated by following the detailed drawings. . were purchased.With the woodwork completed. those parts which were too difficult or time consuming to make. Parts like the Lunette assembly and the elevating screw and box were readily available at a reasonable cost. so they were purchased. Two coats of black enamel were applied to all the metal pieces except the brass elevating screw box. And. if an enemy carriage was captured.A variation from original carriage design might be considered with the roundels. One function was simply as spacers so that variations in barrel width could be accommodated by changing the thickness of the roundel. This was useful if an enemy barrel was captured that differed slightly in width. By changing the roundel thickness. the barrel could be fitted to an existing carriage. The roundels are a series of 6 spacers (3 each side) located between the cheeks and trail. instead of modifying the carriage. since both North and South used this design during the civil war. . They actually served 2 functions. it could also be modified to fit an existing barrel. 9" circumference x 2 = 3. . When the barrel recoils. the forces pull back on the cheeks.8". provides approximately 3 times the contact area of a 5/8" bolt with its 1.The second purpose of the rear roundels was to distribute the recoil forces over a wider area than would be had with only a through-bolt. and the cheeks pull back on the trail and axle box.1" circumference x 2 = 10. The rear roundel has large diameter shoulders that countersink into both the cheek and the trail.2". The stepped shoulder of the large roundel with a 5. using the "stepped" roundel makes for much more difficult assembly. were double sealed with boiled linseed oil before the hardware was attached. Things were really starting to take shape. . If the Mountain Howitzer is to be used only for "blank shots". That way the pieces are NOT interlocked and can be individually slipped into place. the whole assembly is interlocked with the roundel shoulders and must be handled as a single unit. thereby having virtually no recoil. Any additional holes that were drilled into or through the wood. Assembly and disassembly is much easier. you may wish to eliminate the shoulders and make the large roundels with "flat" sides like the small ones. The lunette assembly and the lifting handles were attached to the trail. Once the cheeks are installed against the sides of the trail.Unfortunately. It was much easier to use a 2 pound plastic mountain howitzer barrel for locating these parts. including the wooden cascabel and brass paint. ( You don't have to get as carried away as I did when making the mock barrel. Critical points on the barrel such as the "rear rim base" and the "trunnion locations" were duplicated from the barrel drawings. only cost about $20 ) manipulate.In order to accurately locate the elevating screw box. but all the barrel pieces. a "mock" barrel was fabricated using 4" diameter PVC toilet pipe and fittings. The lightweight PVC barrel was very easy to . than it would have been if we had used a 225 pound steel barrel. TO REQUEST INFO OR TO BUY DETAILED PLANS OF THIS CARRIAGE CLICK MY FINISHED MOUNTAIN HOWITZER CARRIAGE WITH PVC BARREL IN PLACE .All of the remaining wood carriage pieces were painted and assembled. the leather implement straps were attached and the light weight PVC barrel was held in place using 2" wide leather strips that were tacked down with 1" nails. Finally. it looked like a real Mountain Howitzer cannon. as were the remaining steel pieces such as the wheel guards. When everything was assembled. even with though the barrel was only a plastic toilet pipe. axle bands and the folding handspike assembly. Next see how we made the >> CHEEKS < < click to GET A FREE PRINT OF MY GRAMPA HOWITZER .
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