The New Brunswick man who crafted ornamental lawn cannons
Joe Maheu showed The National his unique craft during a 1988 interview
The former artillery man was having a blast.
Joe Maheu was spending his days making replica cannons at his home studio in New Brunswick, a unique craft that piqued the curiosity of The National more than three decades ago.
The septuagenarian craftsman, who served with the French army in the Second World War, saw beauty in the design of the traditional military devices that he tried to replicate himself.
"I am proud of my work," Maheu said, when discussing his cannon-making during an interview that aired on The National in April 1988.
You get what you pay for
Back then, Maheu showed off examples of his homemade cannons, which he sold to collectors — at prices that ran into the thousands of dollars.
According to what the CBC's Kevin Evans reported, these replica weapons held a certain appeal to the right individual looking for something special to plunk on their lawn in a defensive position.
"For some, a reasonable facsimile of battlefield hardware ... is just too much of a front-yard conversation piece to pass up," Evans told viewers.
Maheu was building his cannons "in the basement of a four-storey apartment block he never quite finished," Evans said. The building appeared to be a single storey tall.
Lots of hard work
At that point, his latest creation was a replica version of a First World War field cannon — a project he'd worked on for months.
"It's taken him all winter — six days a week, 12 hours a day," Evans said, explaining that was just the work to make the mould that would be sent to a foundry, so that a cast iron version could be created.
For Maheu, the work was worth it and in his mind, necessary for his survival.
"I feel that's what keeps me alive. If I quit that, I die," said Maheu.
