George N. M.

Gondowanaland was a big place and not many folk around. G

My son, who was raised by two geologists, insisted that his mother and I had been born in the early Cambrian. GNM

You'd think we'd get lots of rattlers around here but in reality you don't get many snakes above about 7,000' in elevation. I've seen a few garter and other non-poisonous snakes around Laramie and in the mountains but I've never seen a rattlesnake this high. Too cold in the winters. However, there are parts of the state that can get pretty snakey and you have to watch your step in places. The snake populations tend to fluctuate along with the populations of small mammals. Generally, if I get buzzed at I will just back off and go around. However, it can still give me a pretty good jolt of adrenaline. GNM

Carboniferous oxygen levels are estimated to be about 35% versus 21% today. This allowed terrestrial arthropods (insects, millipedes, spiders, scorpions, etc.) to grow much larger than they do today. Dragonflys had a wingspan of 2.5 feet, millipedes were 8' long and 1.5' wide, and scorpions were about the size of a house cat. Here is a link to an article on Carboniferous creepy crawlies: https://owlcation.com/stem/The-Carboniferous-Period-When-Giant-Insects-Ruled-the-Land-and-Sky GNM

The need for Atomic Annie passed when nuclear warheads were miniaturized enough that they could fit in regular field artillery weapons, e.g. 155mm. One of my more arcane areas of knowledge and training is that I am a certified Nuclear and Chemical Targeting Officer. One of those areas of which I am VERY glad I never had to use except in exercises. I've climbed around on Anzio Annie and the USN railway guns and walked around Atomic Annies at Ft. Sill, OK and the Nuclear Energy Museum in Albuquerque. GNM

That monster would probably have never been built or deployed because there wasn't a bridge in Europe that could have supported it. Probably more a fantasy concept to impress Der Fuehrer as a wonder weapon than anything that had any real or potential combat effectiveness. There are two preserved railway guns in the US that I know of. One is a German K5(E) ("Anzio Annie") which is at Ft. Gregg-Adams, VA (formerly Ft. Lee). The other is a US Navy 14" railway gun used in WW1 at the Washington Naval Yard Museum. There are also a number (7) surviving M65 11" guns ("Atomic Annie") around the US. They are similar in size to railway guns but had large truck type prime movers. Railway guns had their most effective moment in WW1 when the front was static and firing positions could be built behind your lines and there was a thick net of railroad lines to deploy them. All the major combatants fielded them. Since large caliber guns are slow to make the US pulled quite a number of large coast defense guns out of forts in the US, mounted them on RR carriages, and sent them to France. After WW1 many of the RR guns were used as coast defense weapons in the US, Panama, and Hawaii. GNM

The tale is an American version of the "Musicians of Bremen", a German folk tale collected and published by the Brothers Grimm is 1819. Versions go back to the Middle Ages. Here is a link to the Wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Musicians_of_Bremen GNM

Speaking of historic reproduction artillery here is a reproduction 6" gun on a disappearing carriage at Ft. Stevens, OR aaaaa0mouth of the Columbia River). These were coast defense weapons which were active from the 1890s to WW2. They were loaded in the retracted position, as shown, and then when ready for firing a big counter weight in a well was tripped and the barrel would rise over the parapet for firing. The recoil would bring it back into loading position. On this carriage (15 degrees maximum elevation) this gun could shoot a shell weighing about 100 pounds up to 17,600 yards (10 miles). I've worked with a surviving one in San Francisco and it is a LOT of work to turn the big crank to raise the lead counter weight. But it is very cool to trip it and see the gun rise into the firing position.

Probably a very good score. Snowplow blades probably are a more complex alloy than plain 1090 because of the need for abrasion resistance. This may make it somewhat harder to work. My suggestion is to cut a 1/4" or so off the end and experiment with how it works and how it heat treats (and keep notes). Try different quenching mediums and break pieces off so that you can examine the grain structure. If it works out you have gotten a piece of high C steel that you will be using for years at less than scrap value. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

in a situation like this where you are making things for a specific audience at a specific location you have to be aware that you may, and probably will, saturate the market pretty quickly. We make durable goods and once a person has bought an X they are unlikely to buy a second one. I have done events where I did great the 1st year, OK the 2d year, and barely covered costs the 3d year because the same people were coming back every year and they had already bought the things they wanted from my offerings. So, you either have to keep coming up with new items to attract subsequent sales or move your stuff around to different outlets where a new group of customers will be exposed to your wares. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

This is yet another time that I miss Thomas' input since he had a medieval falconette which IIRC was about golf ball caliber. G

Also, you will often see folk ramming with one hand. You really don't need the force of both hands to firmly place the projectile against the powder charge. BTW, there are a number of internet sites about how to build a cannonball mortar (no links intentionally). Apparently there is a specific size of compressed gas tank that is used in welding shops that is just the right size and is, of course, good quality steel and stessed for the pressure involved. G

The touch hole is sealed with a thumb to keep air from blowing out of it during ramming to avoid fanning any sparks in the bore. There is a thing called a "thumb stall" which is a leather pad to protect the thumb from the heat of the gun tube. There is also a safety rammer which has a cone shaped head so that it puches the hands out of the way incase there is an accidental discharge and the rammer staff comes flying out of the barrel. There are re enactment groups that require the person ramming to wear heavy welders gloves while ramming as a safety thing. There is a big Scottish-Irish festival in Estes Park, CO that I used to demo at (until they started charging crazy booth fees). There was always a group there with period weapons including a bowling ball mortar. They made it out of large piece of pipe with a smaller, heavier, detachable chamber welded to the base. They would fill the chamber with a few ounces of black powder (maybe 1/2 cup) and screw it to the breech where a bowling ball had been loaded. When fired it would launch the bowling ball about 300 yards into Lake Estes. They once hit a rock and the bowling ball bounced about 50' into the air and about 100 yards further. Luckily it landed in the water. If it had bounced in another direction it could have hit folk on the shore. Moral of the story: sometimes you do hit your aiming point and you need to consider what will happen if you do. IIRC after that incident they used an inflatable dragon anchored away from the rock as an aiming point. The lake is a reservoir and is drawn down in the winter and they'd go out when the water was down and collect the bowling balls for future use. I don't think that it would be too difficult to constuct a bowling ball mortar if you were a decent welder. It would be safer than a long gun because the powder charges are much smaller and the pressures are much lower. You'd just have to find the right diameter pipe (bowling balls are 8.59" in diameter) and a breech piece (IIRC it looked like the hemispherical end of a pressure vessel welded to the pipe/barrel. GNM One of my pet peeves in historical movies is when the cannons don't recoil. Oddly, you will see cannons recoiling much more often in naval movies, e.g. Master and Commander, than you do in movies set on land. As can be seen in the video muzzle loading cannon recoild back 5-6' pretty violently and you do NOT want to be in the way. G

Being an old artilleryman this is something I have always wanted to get into but never have for various reasons. If you haven't watched this Youtube video it will show how full size Civil War cannon recoil when fired with full charges and projectiles:

$25 is what I paid for my first forge, a cast iron pan Lancaster rivet/farm forge, in 1978. $25 was cheap then, in 2024 is amounts to Grand Theft Forge. Great score. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

If you are in an area that gets lots of miller moths you can put a light bulb a few inches above a pie pan of soapy water the moths will circle the light, hit the water, and drown pretty instantly. It works best at night when there are no other lights in view. You may have to stir up the millers resting on the cieling and walls with a broom or a towel to get them flying. When they are on the ceiling and walls and are kind of torpid at night you can use the wand of a vacuum cleaner to suck them up. Millers are harmless but annoying. GNM

A couple of thoughts: 1. Might they be shotguns (aka "fowlers") rather than muskets? How thickk are the barrel walls at the muzzle? If they are "thick" they are probably muskets. If "thin" they are fowlers. Also, there do not appear to be any rear sights. Are there any front sights? I can't tell from your previous pics. If no sights, front or rear, that is evidence that they are not muskets. Measure the bore and see if they are the caliber of common shotgun gauges (10 gauge = .775 cal., 12 gauge = .729, 16 gauge = .663, 20 gauge = .615, etc.) 2. Is there any writing on the lock plates? It kind of looks like in the photos but I can't tell for sure. 3. In the first photo it looks like there is sort of a ridge above your middle finger extending from where the nipple would go in line with the hammer. If so, it appears to me that it may have been made of percussion ignition rather than being a flintlock conversion. 4. I don't see any empty screw holes in the lock plate in front of the locks which would have secured the frizzen (the striking plate that the flint hits) spring for a flintlock. so, that is evidence that the locks were originally built for percussion ignition. 5. the fore ends of the stocks look nice enough that I think they look more like original fowlers than being cut down from military muskets or hunting rifles. Folk who know more about black powder weapons (I'm looking at you, Irondragon) may have more to contribute. My sense, for what it is worth is that they are shotguns/fowlers dating from about 1830-1870. If they turn out to be 12 gauge caliber I won't be surprised. I wouldn't try shooting them but i would try to replace the nipple on the one which just has a hole in the side of the barrel. If you hang them on your wall you can forge some fancy wall hooks for them. Still, very nice score. GNM

Welcome back Slag. I/we have missed you. George

I have seen a number of large steam engines run on compressed air. I have been told that the problem is that seals and packing will dry out with compressed air where they would not with "wet" steam. One of my favorite memories of a steam traction engine was when we were at a Sweet Corn Festival and Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON. There was a large traction engine on the main street which had a steam line connected to a 55 gallon drum full of sweet corn. The worlds larges, most complicated, and expensive corn steamer. GNM

But, with percussion locks you are dependent on one more manufactured item, percussion caps. That is one of the main reasons that trade guns for the Native American trade in both the US and Canada stayed with flintlocks for long after percussion ignition was common. Also, there was the idea of providing possible enemies with weapons that were not as good as what you had. GNM

Ed, it is a lovely hachet but I will have to be a bit of a nay sayer. Years ago I was on a camping trip with friends and someone had a commercially made one similar to yours (not as nice). I recall trying it and not being impressed because the weight was not in the head which changed the balance from what I was used to and the head area didn't have enough mass. It didn't "bite" as well as one with a heavier head and lighter handle. Maybe I was using it for something too heavy for it like chopping a limb or something. I can see it as a splitter for straight grained wood or going through a pelvis when field dressing a game animal. Still, a very attractive job. GNM

Definite pass. Good move not to get caught in a bidding frenzy/competition. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Here is a link to a report of a recent Bronze Age find in Poland which includes bronze sickle blades. I imagine that using a bronze sickle would involve a LOT of sharpening but it must have been worth it compared to the alternative. I recall seeing Neolithic sickles with flint blades set along a curved wooden handle. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/69628#respond

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. I'm afraid that the link did not open for me. In my experience swinging a large tool like a sledge or a pick is more about controlling its direction and point of impact rather than brute strength. You let the weight of the tool and gravity do its work and you just guide it to where you want it to go. That said, exerting that control is a very subtle skill that does not come easily. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I have heard that heating to forge welding temps will not "heal" micro fractures in a spring but I do not have any first hand experience. I yield to those with more specific knowledge. GNM