Traveling Forge

[Cannondragger]

Ya'll might enjoy this video about the traveling forge. Each Battery was assigned one.

 

[StarkvilleCivilWarArsenal]

Duffy Neubauer, here from the Starkville Civil War Arsenal. This post is a follow-up to the Traveling Forge Video. I have one glitch in the Traveling Forge video. I reported that the Army of the Potomac used 5,000 horseshoes in a year. What I meant to say, is that one six-gun battery in the Army of the Potamac used 5,000 horseshoes in one year. Millions of horseshoes were used during the year.

 

[Norm53]

Duffy Neubauer, here from the Starkville Civil War Arsenal. This post is a follow-up to the Traveling Forge Video. I have one glitch in the Traveling Forge video. I reported that the Army of the Potomac used 5,000 horseshoes in a year. What I meant to say, is that one six-gun battery in the Army of the Potamac used 5,000 horseshoes in one year. Millions of horseshoes were used during the year.

Very interesting and educational. This was high tech of the 1840s. Question: How long could a bellows be expected to last before it deteriorated with wear and had to be replaced?

 

[JOHN42768]

Ya'll might enjoy this video about the traveling forge. Each Battery was assigned one.

Thanks for posting. A very interesting and educational video

 

[StarkvilleCivilWarArsenal]

Very interesting and educational. This was high tech of the 1840s. Question: How long could a bellows be expected to last before it deteriorated with wear and had to be replaced?

That's a good question. The bellows do need to be oiled every now and then. I have a friend who has a traveling forge that has been in operation now for over 40 years with the same leather bellows.

 

[Norm53]

That's a good question. The bellows do need to be oiled every now and then. I have a friend who has a traveling forge that has been in operation now for over 40 years with the same leather bellows.

But the forges used in the ACW must have been used every day, considering the numbers of hoofs that had to be shod. Maybe the videomaker knows something about this. Anyway, a very instructive video lesson.

 

[donna]

Interesting video.

 

[StarkvilleCivilWarArsenal]

But the forges used in the ACW must have been used every day, considering the numbers of hoofs that had to be shod. Maybe the videomaker knows something about this. Anyway, a very instructive video lesson.

Hello Norm, thanks for watching the video. I have talked with a primitive blacksmith who uses a leather bellows forge on a regular basis and he thinks it can give 10-15 years service with just a light oiling once a year and that would be with almost daily use.

 

[Norm53]

Hello Norm, thanks for watching the video. I have talked with a primitive blacksmith who uses a leather bellows forge on a regular basis and he thinks it can give 10-15 years service with just a light oiling once a year and that would be with almost daily use.

Impressive durability. Thanks for your investigation.

 

[TomP]

Just one of several great videos produced by Duffy. You need to check out his website and click on "Featured Items."

Plan a Visit to The Starkville Civil War Arsenal

 

[Norm53]

While we are on the subject of cannons, there are two subjects on which I would like to understand by means of illustrations and explanations:

1. The mobile vehicle for lifting, carrying, and loading heavy shells into large muzzle-loading cannons.
2. The surface-to-surface mechanics of firing pins to create a spark to ignite muzzle-loading cannon powder charges.

 

[Seduzal]

Thanks for sharing this awesome video! Alway wondered if the army's had a way to maintain the horses shoes. Enjoyed watching the video.

 

[CowCavalry]

While we are on the subject of cannons, there are two subjects on which I would like to understand by means of illustrations and explanations:

1. The mobile vehicle for lifting, carrying, and loading heavy shells into large muzzle-loading cannons.
2. The surface-to-surface mechanics of firing pins to create a spark to ignite muzzle-loading cannon powder charges.

Can't help much but years ago I was at Ft Taylor in Key West Fl and they had models of the fort and heavy coastal guns depicting a crane system to load the shells into the guns. As an aside, I would love to see similar depictions of heavy guns being mounted, amazing the amount of work it must have been.

 

[A. Roy]

Great demonstration of the traveling forge. A beautiful reproduction!

Roy B.

 

[unicornforge]

But the forges used in the ACW must have been used every day......

The blacksmith guild supporting the local museum's historic shop replaced the leather on the bellows in the shop some years back. Until the oak that a bellows is made of deteriorates to the point of unreliability, it can be restored... and even severely damaged parts can be replaced. For a friend's bellows, I made a new top board and a new front bellows block prior to his replacing the bellows cloth.
I volunteered on two occasions to restore the bellows at the Thaddeus Steven's Blacksmith Shop to working order, but was turned down. ...

Shown below is a copy of the official government specifications, on the left, that I added measurements and colors to in order to be able to build the Traveling Forge bellows shown in the picture on the right.... Cutting the two end blocks were the tricky part due to the angle of the cuts needed to make the bellows work as designed. Of the bellows that I have built and/or repaired, this bellows was the most complicated and most tricky to build.

 

[unicornforge]

While we are on the subject of cannons, there are two subjects on which I would like to understand by means of illustrations and explanations:

1. The mobile vehicle for lifting, carrying, and loading heavy shells into large muzzle-loading cannons.
2. The surface-to-surface mechanics of firing pins to create a spark to ignite muzzle-loading cannon powder charges.

I humbly suggest reading the free online book, "The Artillerist's Manual"
http://www.artilleryreserve.org/Artillerists Mannual.pdf
and the "Ordnance Manual for Use of Officers..." also available online
on that website for your answers

 

[Norm53]

I humbly suggest reading the free online book, "The Artillerist's Manual"
http://www.artilleryreserve.org/Artillerists Mannual.pdf
and the "Ordnance Manual for Use of Officers..." also available online
on that website for your answers

From p. 296 of the manual: "Lanyard and Hook , Fig. 223, Pl. 99.-- The almost universal methods of firing cannons now is by means of friction -tubes, the only implement required being a lanyard, or cord of suitable length fixed at one end to a wooden handle on which it is wound when not in use, and having at the other end a small hook which enters the eye of the tube. " This led me to the following:

" LANYARD: Made of a strong twisted cord, 12-feet long, with a wooden handle attached at one end and an iron hook at the other.

The lanyard hook was attached to

the eye in the serrated wire of the friction primer after the primer was seated into the vent. The gunner would grip the wooden handle and pull the lanyard quickly, thereby causing the wire to pull through the friction primer, causing a spark. This would ignite the powder charge in the cannon tube. " from

Other Items

Also helpful was https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/source/is3/is3b1.htm

So now I have a better understanding of the process, thank you.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Missed this from Dec. 19th, no idea how! Very cool stuff! Just saw one of these Monday morning- blacksmith still uses it sometimes for regular work. He said those things are so hot, once melted his shoe. Love to be around when they're firing it up.