CannonballGuy...a little help with a "blast from the past".

[romeo-1]

I found this almost 10 years ago when I first started detecting. I've been told and have been shown that it is a fuse from a pre- rev war era cannonball. I would be interested in hearing your (and anyone else's) opinion! It is brass with a taper. There is what appears to be cording in the body which would have extended through the hole at the top hook.

 

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[duggap]

By all means wait for CBG to render his opinion. He has forgot more than I know. But I ran your find thru my copy of "Artillery Fuses of the Civil War" by Charles H. Jones. I can't find anything that is close to what you have. So I am not that hopeful that it is a fuse. Maybe someone will have an ID for you.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Since you asked... I am 100%-certain that that object is not a fuze from an artillery projectile -- of any era of Artillery History.

 

[romeo-1]

Since you asked... I am 100%-certain that that object is not a fuze from an artillery projectile -- of any era of Artillery History.

How about this...

Is this not a mortar or cannonball? Found in eastern Canada.

 

[romeo-1]

I should add that the person who found it was the person who dismantled it. If not a cannonball (mortar) than what could it possibly be?

 

[smokeythecat]

Well that certainly looks like a cannonball (Mortar shell) depending on the diameter.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The ball does APPEAR to be an explove cannonball or mortarball. As Smokeythecat indicated, super-precise measurement of the ball's diameter (in hundredths-of-an-inch) and weight (in pounds AND ounces) are needed to determine whether or not it is actually an Artillery ball. here's a Link to an Educational article I co-wrote on that subject. http://www.pochefamily.org/books/SolidShotEssentialsMod.html

But as I said previously, I am 100%-certain that the brass object is not an Artillery fuze... even if it was in the ball when it was found. For one thing, if the brass object was in the ball's hole when found, it would stick out from the ball's surface enough to prevent the ball from fitting properly into the cannon's bore. I am quite sure the brass plug was not "originally" part of any cannonball.

 

[romeo-1]

The ball does APPEAR to be an explove cannonball or mortarball. As Smokeythecat indicated, super-precise measurement of the ball's diameter (in hundredths-of-an-inch) and weight (in pounds AND ounces) are needed to determine whether or not it is actually an Artillery ball. here's a Link to an Educational article I co-wrote on that subject.

But as I said previously, I am 100%-certain that the brass object is not an Artillery fuze... even if it was in the ball when it was found. For one thing, if the brass object was in the ball's hole when found, it would stick out from the ball's surface enough to prevent the ball from fitting properly into the cannon's bore. I am quite sure the brass plug was not "originally" part of any cannonball.

How about a handheld projectile? The baggie in the picture contains black powder which was removed from the ball after the mystery object was removed...T-Net member "The Patriot" was the original finder as well as the person who dismantled the object...I'll get him into the conversation.

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

Romeo I have found that exact same hook thing. I do not know what it is, but my guess was a tool for stringing a loom, you could reach through the vertical threads, and "grab" a warp thread, I think mine has threads inside, which is why I thought it was attached to a "stick"

Now did I understand this right that yours was found inside the ball ?

Here's my pics.

 

[smokeythecat]

Your brass object is certainly not artillery as CBguy indicated. In the 18th century fuses were generally speaking made of wood. I liked the double fired French mortars from the Yorktown campaign especially. They lit the mortar fuse on the ball and dropped it into the tube and then fired the tube, hoping it wouldn't blow before getting fired to the enemy.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Romeo-1 wrote:
> How about a handheld projectile?

The iron ball appears to be too big-&-heavy to be a "handleheld" explosive projectile, meaning a grenade. You haven't reported any weight or diameter measurements, so I have to guess the ball's size & weight by comparing it with the estimated 5"-to-6" length of the ballpoint pen in the photo. Going by that, the iron ball appears to be much too large/heavy for a grenade. (The largest ball-shaped iron grenade was approximately 3.56-inches in diameter, and weighed about 4 pounds.)

In addition to the reasons I've already mentioned for why the brass sleeve/plug is not projectile-related... it has no threading to "reliably" secure it to the projectile. Yes, you could stuff it into the shell's fuzehole, but without threading, it would very easily pull out. The fact that your friend could get that brass tube out of the fuzehole after more than a century of burial in the ground indicates how easily it could have been pulled out when it was "new."

I should also mention, the rust-stain on the brass sleeve/plug shows it was only stuck about 1/2-inch into the ball's fuzehole -- which isn't a very "secure" a grip at all.

The only even "somewhat similar" artillery-related object was a US civil war era shell-lifting-ring for carrying Heavy-Caliber navy cannonballs from the ship's ammunition magazine to the cannon. But that lifting-ring was threaded, for SCREWING it into the shell's (also threaded) fuzehole.

 

[romeo-1]

Ok...for now, let's go in a different direction...

...what the heck is this thing?

 

[The Patriot]

Yes I did find that Mortar with gun powder inside with the brass piece in it..... I have no explanation for it....it saved the gun powder....whether the orginal fuse was taken out and someone put it in it's place...I'll never know.....I'm waiting for an answer on it within the next few days....

 

[Breezie]

I'm posting to follow this thread.


Breezie

 

[tomcat9605]

Just a thought guys, but it looks very much like a muzzleloading shot gun cleaning patch holder. I remember my grandfather using one very close to it. It was attached to a wooden rod. Just a thought.

 

[romeo-1]

Yes I did find that Mortar with gun powder inside with the brass piece in it..... I have no explanation for it....it saved the gun powder....whether the orginal fuse was taken out and someone put it in it's place...I'll never know.....I'm waiting for an answer on it within the next few days....

Thanks Steve...looking forward to hearing what you find out...