Cannon ?

[Joe hunter]

Not sure but I think I found a piece of cannon.It was half way up a very steep hill.

 

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[VTColonialDigger]

Oh Yeah!!!It looks like a cannon to me!!! That is awesome!!!! If you are in New York, that may be of Rev. War vintage!!!! Heck of a find!!

 

[villagenut]

Now that is a cool find. What is the bore size?

 

[Joe hunter]

I'm in ny should I clean it at all .ive done nothing but carry it out so far

 

[Joe hunter]

Looks like an inch and 3/4 if that's how you measure it

 

[huntsman53]

Congrats! It definitely appears to be a piece of a cannon, so now go out and find the rest. I am sure that TheCannonballGuy will chime in with more information on what it is and how to determine the size of the bore.


Frank

 

[AlienLifeForm]

Awesome find!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Wow! It sure looks like one. It may be what they call a "Two Pounder" or a "Grasshopper" by nickname.



Though I bet you have only a fragment of the bore and it is a hair larger - making it the more common three pounder ("Galloper").



Search that area for certain.

 

[1637]

wow what a cool find,and yes go find the rest of it.
good luck brad

 

[releventchair]

I would not "clean" it until preservation time; and then only after studying preservation.
Exciting/ interesting recovery.


Cannon position on high ground could be below the top so not to present a profile, or on top for the advantage of being able to turn if flanked. A level bench or similar ground would be nice.

Where ever the cannon ( man ,it looks like a piece of one) was fired from when it burst , the fragment you have may have traveled a ways. IF firing actually burst it.

 

[Joe hunter]

I will be doing a very extensive search it's a tough area and I'm bringing reinforcements thank you all for your replies and any other info is always appreciated.

 

[islamoradamark]

if that cannon could talk that would be one heck of a story

 

[Kurios1]

Whoa! Now that is a cool piece of iron there. Get your recruits to join in to help find some more of it. Might be a hot spot for relics you're on. Great find.

 

[relic nut]

That's an outstanding find! Hope you can find some more of it. I'd definitely hunt that place to death. Congratulations!!

HH, RN

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

It is definitely a piece of a Colonial Era muzzle-loading cannon that burst, either unintentionally during firing, or intentionally blown up to prevent capture and re-use by the enemy.

About measuring its bore diameter to determine the cannon's caliber:
There seems to be a bit less than half of the bore's width present, so your tape measurement result should be slightly increased. Also, the rust-petrified dirt on the bore's walls diminishes the diameter, so again let's add a bit to the measurement to compensate for that. The result is a smidge over 2 inches, which means the cannon was a 1-Pounder caliber (bore diameter approximately 2.05-inches). We can exclude the next larger size, a 2-Pounder, whose bore diameter was approximately 2.56-inches. Next above that was the 3-pounder, whose bore diameter was 2.90-inches.

I should explain:
Cannon caliber expressed with the term "Pounder" is based on the weight of the Solid-Shot (not hollow, not explosive) ball fired by that cannon. A 1-Pounder cannon's Solid-Shot weighed 1 pound, a 2-Pounder weighed 2 pounds, etc.

I'm sure it is a Colonial Era cannon for two reasons. First, such small-caliber cannons had become obsolete long before the civil war started in 1861. There is a possibility your 1-Pounder cannon was used in the War Of 1812... but it was most likely manufactured before then. Second reason is the presence of un-needed decorative/ornamental raised rings showing at your cannon's muzzle end. Colonial Era cannons had several useless ornamental rings cast as integral part of the barrel (not made separately and applied onto the barrel). As time progressed into the 1800s, the ornamental rings became fewer and then vanished entirely.

About cleaning/preserving it:
If not cleaned AND properly preserved, excavated iron will continue to corrode, due to exposure to oxygen and water-vapor in the air. You'll need to learn how to do the Electrolysis rust-removal-&-NEUTRALIZATION process. Electrolysis not only removes the rust-crust, it electrochemically neutralizes the corrosion which is happening deep down inside the micropores in the cast-iron. I can't give you the instructions for constructing an Electrolysis setup/rig/tank here in a What-Is-It post... except to say, you'll need a container big/deep enough to completely submerge the entire cannon fragment in water. I'm sure the Electrolysis instructions are somewhere here on TreasureNet.

There are very probably other fragments of that cannon nearby (if they didn't get eyeballed and recycled long ago). The "propellant" gunpowder charge in a 1-Pounder cannon isn't large enough to throw big pieces like yours very far. But if the cannon was packed with powder to destroy it, the pieces could be thrown further. Usually, when deliberate destruction occurs, there's a record of it in the military reports of that location.

I must add my hearty congratulations on making such an extraordinarily rare find. As you might guess, not many cannons blew up... and the pieces were usually gathered up by somebody for recycling, either during the war or afterward, long before the invention of metal detectors. I've been in the civil war (and RevWar) relic digging community for over 40 years, specializing in artillery, and I know of less than 20 instances of cannon-fragment discoveries.

 

[seadoodiver]

Yes, it looks like a part of a cannon. Good find. Enjoy the research on finding out its origin and why it was where you found it

 

[niffler]

Amazing find! Go back for more!

 

[Joe hunter]

It is definitely a piece of a Colonial Era muzzle-loading cannon that burst, either unintentionally during firing, or intentionally blown up to prevent capture and re-use by the enemy.

About measuring its bore diameter to determine the cannon's caliber:
There seems to be a bit less than half of the bore's width present, so your tape measurement result should be slightly increased. Also, the rust-petrified dirt on the bore's walls diminishes the diameter, so again let's add a bit to the measurement to compensate for that. The result is a smidge over 2 inches, which means the cannon was a 1-Pounder caliber (bore diameter approximately 2.05-inches). We can exclude the next larger size, a 2-Pounder, whose bore diameter was approximately 2.56-inches. Next above that was the 3-pounder, whose bore diameter was 2.90-inches.

I should explain:
Cannon caliber expressed with the term "Pounder" is based on the weight of the Solid-Shot (not hollow, not explosive) ball fired by that cannon. A 1-Pounder cannon's Solid-Shot weighed 1 pound, a 2-Pounder weighed 2 pounds, etc.

I'm sure it is a Colonial Era cannon for two reasons. First, such small-caliber cannons had become obsolete long before the civil war started in 1861. There is a possibility your 1-Pounder cannon was used in the War Of 1812... but it was most likely manufactured before then. Second reason is the presence of un-needed decorative/ornamental raised rings showing at your cannon's muzzle end. Colonial Era cannons had several useless ornamental rings cast as integral part of the barrel (not made separately and applied onto the barrel). As time progressed into the 1800s, the ornamental rings became fewer and then vanished entirely.

About cleaning/preserving it:
If not cleaned AND properly preserved, excavated iron will continue to corrode, due to exposure to oxygen and water-vapor in the air. You'll need to learn how to do the Electrolysis rust-removal-&-NEUTRALIZATION process. Electrolysis not only removes the rust-crust, it electrochemically neutralizes the corrosion which is happening deep down inside the micropores in the cast-iron. I can't give you the instructions for constructing an Electrolysis setup/rig/tank here in a What-Is-It post... except to say, you'll need a container big/deep enough to completely submerge the entire cannon fragment in water. I'm sure the Electrolysis instructions are somewhere here on TreasureNet.

There are very probably other fragments of that cannon nearby (if they didn't get eyeballed and recycled long ago). The "propellant" gunpowder charge in a 1-Pounder cannon isn't large enough to throw big pieces like yours very far. But if the cannon was packed with powder to destroy it, the pieces could be thrown further. Usually, when deliberate destruction occurs, there's a record of it in the military reports of that location.

I must add my hearty congratulations on making such an extraordinarily rare find. As you might guess, not many cannons blew up... and the pieces were usually gathered up by somebody for recycling, either during the war or afterward, long before the invention of metal detectors. I've been in the civil war (and RevWar) relic digging community for over 40 years, specializing in artillery, and I know of less than 20 instances of cannon-fragment discoveries.

I can rig up electrolysis and thank you for a very nice response.Ive found relics of all kinds in this area .But today I hunted the steep hill.I will keep you posted on my progress.

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on the cannon piece, what a great find

 

[Icewing]

I'm just curious what it sounded like on the ol' magic wand, was it just a big low iron tone?
I've had the pleasure of getting to dig some exploded cannonball fragments (with an archeologist), they were bottom of the scale low, so I'm just curious.

Congrats on the beautiful museum quality discovery.
You've just made all of T-net very jealous.
I voted banner because an actual cannon is far better than a lot of the stuff I've seen on that list.