Historic Arms, Exhibitions & Forts LLC

Firing a cannon requires a means of ignition, typically either a linstock (a pole with a slow-burning match at the end) or a porte-feu (a cardboard tube containing slow-burning gunpowder). The image below is of the components of a porte-feu:  a mallet for compressing the powder, mandrel and mould for forming the cardboard from layers of paper, powder scoop and funnel, a ‘fig’ for opening the end of the tube, and a turnover tool for closing it.