Lantaka

[Philip]

Earlier on this thread was some discussion of firing a lantaka in the spirit of celebratory exhuberance. My suggestion is.... DON'T !!!

Although I would agree with the person who pointed out the tendency of cast-iron barrels to weaken with age and the stress of repeated firing, we mustn't forget that some cupric alloys (brass and bronze fall into this category) can be subject to similar deterioration. Old metal can crystallize. These alloys tend to "work-harden", in other words, repeated impact stress (whether by hammering or from repeated explosions) reduces the ductility of the metal, making it more brittle.

Furthermore, these old cannons were made in an age and in a technological milieu in which the composition of the alloy and the quality of the casting could not be monitored as precisely as it came to be in industrialized societies.

From practical experience, let me share the unfortunate experience of a fellow I knew in Hawaii about 30 years ago. He had an outstanding collection of lantakas. Liked to fire a couple of them (blank charges of black powder or Pyrodex) on New Year's eve. He was very conservative in loading these, just enough powder to make a bang, and being careful to seat the wad right against the charge with no air space. One year, his best lantaka blew up, it fractured into three pieces, one of which flew onto the roof of the house. He never expected that one to fail, it appeared to be the most skilfully cast one he had ever seen, no pits or pores in the metal, everything looking like "quality". Needless to say, there were no more salvoes the next year.