"Barrel hoops" Topic

I'm working on a powder wagon for my Swedish TYW army's baggage train. I've accessed some barrels (from a hobby shop specialising in ship models) & I'm not entirely sure how to paint the hoops.

Presumably metal? A dull iron colour with some rust?
Any hints would be welcome.

Hello Ochoin,

Until the early 19th Century barrel hoops were made out of wood. In the case of gunpowder barrels the use of use of wood hoops was retained even longer as metal hoops had the risk of sparking should they be struck by a metal object.

See the following links:

link

fullchisel.com/alburnam7.htm

And here are several barrels with wooden hoops recovered from the Vasa:

I suspect barrels made for European army usage would use iron hoops, most likely wrought iron. If the barrel was fairly new, then there would be just a little rust.

There you go: ask a question on TMP & get quality answers.

thanks.

Barrels I got from the local distillery had the metal hoops painted black to resist rust.

Pretty much what Ryan said. Paint the barrels your preferred light wood colour then paint the hoops a dark brown – the wood used for the hoops was split sticks with the bark left on, and the wood of the barrel staves would have been new and not particularly weathered – powder barrels would be kept out of the weather and maintained well.

This is one of the reasons I love TMP, I always get a sensible and informed response to any query I post.
It astonishes me just how much people know!

Great info !

Phil

I'm going to change my answer and agree with Ryan.