Thread: Stephenson's Rocket

Hi All,

I have been working on the tender. Putting the floorboards in.

I have also started on the "wine barrel" water tank.

I cut out 12 blanks of 19mm pine 200mm diameter and glued and clamped them together.

After ensuring they had glued safely place I started to machine the "barrel" between centres in the wood lathe. I then sanded the "barrel" pretty well and recessed the ends. Still have to work out how to do the "planks" of the barrels.

The photos show the various stages of machining and the final photo with the water tank in approximate position (took the photo inside my shed as it was raining)

Regards

Keith

131.jpg 132.jpg 133.jpg 134.jpg

Originally Posted by Keith_1

Still have to work out how to do the "planks" of the barrels

Keith, I had thought that if you re-made the barrel but laminating the pine lengthways instead of turning cross grain, you could then use a fret saw or fine tooth blade or even a dremel and cut fine slots lengthways giving the illusion of timber barrel planks as grain will be running that way. Maybe using tassie oak to get the oak barrel grain. Even if you just scored the plank lines. Just a thought. But then again weight might be an issue in Tas oak.

fumbler

Originally Posted by Fumbler

Keith, I had thought that if you re-made the barrel but laminating the pine lengthways instead of turning cross grain, you could then use a fret saw or fine tooth blade or even a dremel and cut fine slots lengthways giving the illusion of timber barrel planks as grain will be running that way. Maybe using tassie oak to get the oak barrel grain. Even if you just scored the plank lines. Just a thought. But then again weight might be an issue in Tas oak.

fumbler

Thanks for that.

Was thinking about the dremel for the planks

Also thinking about covering the barrel in a fine smear of bodyfiller to seal the pine and cover any "joins".

Really appreciate your comments

Regards

Keith

I'm thinking like fumbler
wedged shaped strips are glued to a cylindrical blank and then turned to get the proper shape. I'm thinking that the false ends and iron hoops will be trickier.
(wedged shape so after turning, the staves are narrower at the end compared to the middle.)

PS
the photos posted by fletty suggest that on the replica at least the barrel is cylindrical rather than barrel shaped

Hi Ian,

Thanks for your comments and information.

It appears as though different replicas must have used different water tanks. Even though i have been using Fletty's photos - I have also been using other photos as well. I also have an Engineering assembly drawing of the tender with water tank and it appears more like a wine barrel. (quite confusing) I will probably stick with what I have started on at the moment - probably ???

Here are some more photos to add to the confusion regarding the water tank. According to Fletty's Book "Stephenson's Rocket - Owners Workshop Manual" there were or are 10 known full scale replicas of the "Rocket"

Thanks again

Keith

136.jpg 137.jpg Note the differences in the water tanks to the one in the Museum???

Originally Posted by ian

PS
the photos posed by fletty suggest that on the replica at least the barrel is cylindrical rather than barrel shaped

Hmmm, I hadn’t noticed this before but the tank on the ‘running replica’ IS barrel shaped ?

6BEDEA6F-DC0C-4082-AC97-D6A139FD0A3B.jpg B6E2D5C5-8106-4E3E-92F5-CE9E4921E5B8.jpg

Originally Posted by Keith_1

Hi Ian,

Thanks for your comments and information.

It appears as though different replicas must have used different water tanks. Even though i have been using Fletty's photos - I have also been using other photos as well. I also have an Engineering assembly drawing of the tender with water tank and it appears more like a wine barrel. (quite confusing) I will probably stick with what I have started on at the moment - probably ???

at the time the original was built, coopering was a common trade, suggesting that if an existing barrel was modified to become the tank it would
1. look like a barrel, i.e smaller diameter at the ends vs the middle.
2. match the size of a standard barrel, e.g. a tun or a firkin, etc. (George S would have just purchased a "regular" barrel from the local cooper.)

the fact that some replicas use a cylindrical barrel suggests to me that the original was also cylindrical.

Keith, just out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of the barrel?

Reading a bit more on barrels
As far as I can determine a tun was the largest commonly used barrel when Stephenson was building the Rocket.
A tun is around 1000 litres (or 1 cubic metre).
The tank on the Rocket replica looks significantly bigger than 1 cubic metre, suggesting to me that the original is probably also cylindrical.

In part, my reasoning is that
1, a cooper of the day would have had jigs for making standard barrels.
2, he would know the shape required to form the staves required by all standard barrels.
3, he might struggle to determine the shape of non-standard staves.
4, Barrels are barrel shaped so they can be easily moved when full.
5, The rocket's tank is fixed in place so doesn't need to be barrel shaped.
6, building a cylindrical tank (this long, this round) doesn't require the cooper to shape non-standard staves.

the thoughts of others, particularly fletty

Some how the straight sided barrel just does not look right, and I would have thought that they would have used what they know at the time and that being the barrel shape

Originally Posted by Fumbler

Keith, just out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of the barrel?

Hi Fumbler,

The overall width of the barrel was 5 foot 3 inches. The barrel diameter was 3 foot 10 inches.

Attached photo of my Stephenson's Rocket Tender assembly Drawing

Regards

Keith

138.jpg

sorry, your barrel, not the original.

I would love to have a go at a barrel

DaveTTC
The Turning Cowboy
Turning Wood Into Art