Civil War Cannon Carving Question

[Pilamaye]

I make Native American style flutes and am working on a flute for my son in law. He and his dad are into Civil war re-enactments, so I thought that I would make a flute that would have a block on top that would be a carving of a Civil war cannon. I am seeking to see if there are any stencils or templates available online that I could use to create this carving. If anyone knows of one, please let me know. And I will admit that I have been making flutes for a while, but am new to the art of woodcarving.

[Ashbys]

You might check this site to get a good photo. This is Dave Houser and the 2nd Va. As far as I know they are the only ones with mounted guns in the east as far as re-enactors go.

I am sure they would allow you to use one of their pics for a pattern if you asked.

Ash

http://www.2ndvacavalrycoc.com/horseartillery.html

[Gergie]

You could google civil war cannons. That should provide you with plenty of inspiration.

I carved a Native American flute out of red cedar from a kit and it looks nice but sounds bad. I followed the one page instructions to the letter. What did I do wrong?

Is there any web sites or books that could help me figure out how to tune the flute.

[Paul_Guraedy]

A very interesting project. I suspect of all of us on the forum you would probably receive the most help from Squarebriggs. He does fantastic ship modeling. You might want to repost this asking for his assistance.

I spent several years as a historian on what the Park Service calls the "Cannonball and Chigger Circuit" which is basically the Civil War parks of the southeast. Excluding naval guns, cannons were of two basic types, shape wise. There were the "new" rifled cannons which are basically a tube where the barrel is larger than the back (kind of like a short larger tube attached to a longer smaller tube). Then there are the brass smoothbore cannons which were pretty much unchanged from previous wars. I am not sure that either of these would be recognizable to most folks without the attendant carriage.

I don't know how it would work on a flute; but, think you would do best to go for the more recognizable brass smoothbore piece and figure out how to get the carriage on there.

Models of cannons are available through the Historical Associations of the National Park Service such as Eastern National Parks and Monuments Association. My advice would be to google a smaller park such as Pea Ridge (NW Arkansas) where the staff have the time to work with you. Give them information on your project and ask for their assistance.

I hope you will post photos of your finished piece.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Originally Posted by Gergie

You could google civil war cannons. That should provide you with plenty of inspiration.

I carved a Native American flute out of red cedar from a kit and it looks nice but sounds bad. I followed the one page instructions to the letter. What did I do wrong?

Is there any web sites or books that could help me figure out how to tune the flute.

Ha ha ....don't ask me, I did the same, but I solved the problem....I sent it to another flute carver and she fixed it up and says it sounds great lol........."a man's gotta know his limitations"! by the great philosopher Clint Eastwood Cowboy

[squbrigg]

Hi Pilamaye,

I am trying to picture in my mind what you are looking for. The flute I understand, at least the usual flute I know. But the canon, are you just looking to carve a barrel or a whole gun on a field carriage?

I have plenty of detailed drawings of just about every concievable black powder field or deck gun. What type of gun, a Napoleon 6 pounder or bigger?

Could you possibly send me a sketch of the idea, and I could be more helpful. e-mail: squbrigg@rogers.com

Bob

[Ashbys]

I thought she was planning on a light relief on the block. I didn't think she was going to do much more than a simple pattern . As since they are re-enactors they may well have seen this one a few dozen times =)

Ash

[Claude]

Pilamaye:
This may be what you're looking for. This is a cannon at the Manassas/Bull Run National Battlefield Park, near Manassas, VA. That's my granddaughter on it, taken about 4 years ago when she was 7.

In case you aren't familiar with how they moved these...The ammo cart was hitched to the horses (3rd photo); the cannon was then hooked up to the ammo cart by the "brace thing" (think it's called a "trail"), and the cannon was towed pointing backwards.

Claude