Antique blackpowder cannon and hit and miss reciprocating saw

"Drag saw"

Some very nice videos Iggy! Well done indeed!

Gunner

-- "Confronting Liberals with the facts of reality is very much akin to clubbing baby seals. It gets boring after a while, but because Liberals are so stupid it is easy work." Steven M. Barry

You guys get to do fun things! Most things that go bang are illegal here in Oz.

Looks like your kid enjoyed it, I hope when he's older that he thinks it's cool his dad sounds a bit like Borat! :)

Wonder what the driver of the car coming through thought?

Shame they couldn't load a real ball, those really make the cannon talk !

Great videos!

There is an all-day cannon shoot here in Central Oregon each Memorial day week end. All live rounds! Even have a few restored army tanks firing! Shoot up old cars, trucks and school buses. We watched several incendiary rounds that eventually set the sage brush on fire. All done on private property.

On the drag saw. I can remember when Dad cut down one of the old 100+ft Douglas fir trees on our farm. 4-5 ft in diameter. Uncle brought his drag saw to cut it into fire wood. Petty cool! Engine didn't care which way it was started, it would run.

I think the saw in the video needs to be sharpened or else the log is very hard!

Thanks, Paul

Does anyone have a good primer, or a link to something that walks you through the actual starting and running of a hit-n-miss engine? I inherited one, it was restored for dad, it turns freely, but I'm a little fuzzy on things like fuel, battery, lubrication, etc (IH model M or L with magneto.)

I would personally find a "club" or some such group of people who do those engines in your area. They seem uncomplicated and you just need a knowing advice.

As a general comment on the subject, archive.org has a whole bunch of books on gas and oil engines, care and feeding of, for free download. Look up "Hiscox" for starters. Might have what you need, might not. Those engines had a wide variety of designs and magnetos can be high- tension, low-tension or some bizarre mixture of types that somebody dreamed up and patented, never to be seen again. Some of the oldest types didn't even have spark plugs, just a wire on the piston and an insulated one in the head that touched each other at TDC and then sparked as they drew apart. Before that, they had hot tube ignitors. Breaker point ignition with a spark plug was a late development. Given the age of the engine and the primitive magnetic materials they had, you might need to remagnetize the magnets to get a satisfactory spark. Or just stick a dinky rare earth magnet in there, probably would have as much magnetism as the whole box of steel magnets that it was made with. Carburetors and substitutes are another whole conversation, the float-type venturi carb was another late developement.

Stan

IH models are usually easy to deal with.

First make SURE you have spark. The mags can get weak and points get oxidized. Next, lube all the oil/grease cups, I use 30 weight non detergent in the oilers, good grease in the grease cups. For fuel regular gas. Make sure the carb is clean. Make SURE the governor is free and lubed. Starting is sort of fussy. Every one I own has it's own quirks as far as needle settings and choke. Since it hasn't been run in a while you can belt up a small electric motor to spin it over and adjust till it starts.

As a safety tie a string to the plug wire so you can yank it if the trip doesn't work properly.