On 10/26/2013 5:46 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Paul wrote in message
...

I lay awake last night trying to understand how it all worked and
the errors made in the tour guide talks. One big question is what
they used to bind the sand and clay to make molds. Could they have
used lard oil, or other animal products?

Paul

Normally the clay is enough. For fragile internal cores molasses,
flour, linseed oil can be added, and baked to harden it.
http://www.imarketingcenter.com/coresand.html

jsw


Ok, sounds like that would all have been available in 1776.

They cast lots of cannon. Assume the buried the mold in the sand so the
molten iron could flow into the end of the mold. What did they use to
form the bore of the cannon? Did they mold a ceramic ( tiles stacked up)
or some other material?

Paul