What finish for Civil War cannon?

Personally, and I have no idea if it is historically accurate, but I would do a nice linseed oil finish.

I think bluing on the metal and linseed oil the carriage would be most appropriate.

The carriages of Civil War cannons were invariably painted. The standard color was an olive green (not modern OD), but shortages of paint (particularly on the Confederate side) meant that they could be other colors, such as brown, tan, black, or even red.

Bronze barrels, such as the ones on Napoleons, were not painted. Over time they would turn a greenish verdigris color. Iron barrels were painted black. Actually, for example in the British Navy, the cannons were not "painted," but were blackened using a swabbed-on formula consisting of, I believe, sulphur, lampblack, vinegar, etc. It was sort of a controlled rusting.

Your cannon in no way resembles a Napoleon. It looks more like a 3 inch Ordnance Rifle except that the flare near the muzzle should not be there. Paint the barrel black and the wheels and carriage gray with black wheel rims.

I read some place that they were japanned, I cannot cite a source tho.

What are the deminsions of your cannon?

Given that the cannon isn't a period replica, I wouldn't be too concerned with an "authentic" finish.

Wood portions for the carriage were almost certainly painted, probably something along a brown or green color scheme. I haven't looked this up, though, honestly. But I'm a fan of wood grain and I don't like covering it up. I'd consider staining the wood in order to bring out the grain and then putting a couple coats of satin finish polyeurathane on it to seal it against moisture. A walnut stain would work great.

As for the cannon, they were either made of iron or brass, depending on who made them and what the customer wanted. Most field guns, however, were probably NOT brass. Brass was far more expensive, though more durable in the long run. Percentage wise, brass was used more for naval cannon, but it was still in the minority by far.

I'd paint the cannon black. And personally, though the cannon was obviously turned out of stock on modern machinery, I wouldn't be too worried about a perfect finish. Cannon back then were cast...and unless it was a brass cannon, it was not a smooth/polished finish.

If you want something really durable, I'd consider powdercoating it. If you want something aproximating a cast appearance, I'd experiment with some mixture of black non-skid type paint until I found something that would give the proper appearance. Either would have it's advantages.

Of course, it would be difficult to go wrong with just a plain, flat black paint job as well.


If you want an idea what a stained/finished naval cannon carriage looks like, as well as a black painted cannon, on a 2/3 scale replica of a 24 pound naval cannon off of the USS Constitution, check the video link out next to my signature. I built it myself last year for my kids.

Look at the size of the wheel spokes, hub and rim (the wood part, not the steel "tire") and I think you'll agree that as far as scale goes this isn't a model of anything. If you were to scale it up to a full size sort of deal the wheels would be hellishly heavy and over built.

So all in all it is "just a cannon" of no particular style or scale accuracy. As such you are pretty much free to finish it as you want.

If it were me I'd go with a multiple cold blue treatments carded down with steel wool between treatments to blacken the barrel. Two or three such treatments should leave the metal deeply blued and quite polished looking. I'd probably also sand and polish the metal to a nice buff 600 grit like finish so it gleams a little in the sun with the blueing.

For the wood it would depend on what the grain looks like in real life. Your picture makes it look like the wood has a fairly non-descript sort of grain. So some form of stain will likely bring out what little grain it has. I would suggest that any stain you use is a lighter one. I find that darker stains on light wood simply end up covering up too much and make it look more like it's been painted badly. My tastes go more with a lighter honey color then let time and UV light darken the wood somewhat more in a natural manner over the next couple of years. And nothing does this better than having it sit in a spot that gets regular sunlight landing on the wood. So displaying it somewhere sunny will aid in darkening up the wood in a nice natural manner.

I'm also a fan of a more buff like and less noticeable finish for many things. So after any stain has dried I'd likely use a few coats of boiled linseed oil or Danish oil to work up a nice low lustre sheen that still leaves the wood looking like there's no finish on it. It's more work because it takes more coats of the oil finish and it needs to be carded down with steel wool with each coat. But it'll leave the wood far more natural looking in my experience.

If it'll be used a lot at the range though there's no arguing that polyurethane varnishes are tough and hard to beat for the protection they provide.

I don't know how "correct" it is, but this is how the National Park Service paints them.



Near the "Bloody Angle" at Spotsylvania.

Those look like 10 pdr. Parrott rifles.

In the Civil War, the term "Napoleon" was usually applied to the 12 pdr. bronze field gun, Model 1857, although the term was also used for the Model 1841 12 pdr bronze howitzer. FWIW, a gun has the same diameter bore all the way to the breech, while a howitzer has a smaller diameter powder chamber at the rear and, usually, a shorter barrel. The gun is intended for both direct and long range fire, while the howitzer is intended for shorter range or indirect fire where plunging fire is wanted. The Model 1857 was sometimes called a "gun howitzer" even though it has no powder chamber.

(The "Napoleon" was not Napoleon I, but Louis Napoleon, who initiated the 1850 French tests leading to the development of the light field gun that was given his name.)

Jim

In the Civil War, the term "Napoleon" was usually applied to the 12 pdr. bronze field gun,

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Something like this?



From this position during the battle of Chancelorsville, Confederate gunners poured fire into Federal infantry around the tree line in the distance, as they fell back.

Nope the 1841 is NOT a Napoleon. Another case of just because some folks got it wrong, even back in the ACW, not making it right.

I have also heard folks that were looking at the 6 pounder gun call it a Napoleon, but that does not make that correct. I rather imagine that the Artillery Officers of the time knew the difference.

The whole point of the 1857 Gun Howitzer is that it replaced both the 12 pound howitzer and the 12 pound gun. It was a French design indeed and the idea was to have one gun that could do both jobs, be as light as the howitzer and as powerful as the Gun.

-kBob

I have a copy of the 1860 manual on artillery upstairs some where.

I can't recall the formula exactly, but it is in there.

Probably not too easy to duplicate with modern day materials, at least on a home gunsmithing level.

The advice given in above posts would be the easiest, of course.

Obviously, the Model 1841 is not a "Napoleon" since Louis Napoleon's initiative on artillery wasn't until 1850. I mentioned that it was sometimes called that, which is true.

Given repeated criticism, then and since, of the U.S. Army Ordnance Department for being behind the times and keeping to outdated ideas, it is interesting that only a few years after the French adoption of the "Napoleon", the U.S. had adopted basically the same gun as a standard model and issued a large number of them. (At that time, the French were considered the leader in military innovation; other results were the American use of the "kepi" and the number of "Zouave" units in both American armies.)

Jim

Cajun Bass - that image looks like it's from Hazel Grove looking toward Fairview Grove. The distance is from 800 to 1000 yards. While commanding his guns, Confederate Capt. Greenlee Davidson was shot by a Yankee at 800 yards distance.

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THAT'S IT!! I could not think of the name of the place and I drive by it several times a day.

Gary, I've lived here all my life. I grew up at Gaines Mill and Cold Harbor, lived near Bermuda Hundred for about thirty years, then moved up here about ten years ago. I can't imagine not living near a Civil War battlefield.

Yep. Been all over Petersburg..and New Market, and the Valley. I used to do a lot of metal detecting when I was a kid. I lugged around an old Fisher metal detector, that weighed about the same as an elephant rifle. I've still got my grandfathers old Metro-Tech (I think that's the spelling). He dug enough stuff out of the ground to sink a battleship. I tagged along with him as a kid and carried his hoe and did the digging..."You scratch the ground boy... you ain't digging a hole". That old man didn't leave a Minnie Ball behind I tell you. He could walk through a paved parking lot and find something. And he could tell you what it was too. I remember he used to tell me..."The book is wrong. The book says (particular unit) fought/camped here, but I found their a lot of their stuff over there." Paraphrased of course.