✅ SOLVED Its round, heavy, and cast iron. Is it a cannon ball?

[TrpnBils]

It's round, heavy, and cast iron. Is it a cannon ball?

Dug this today in an area that saw some troop movement during the CW. It's 2" in diameter and weighs 1lb 2oz but I assume it was slightly heavier when new. No obvious marks on it, and it seems smaller than I would have expected (pictured with it is a ping pong ball). Is this a projectile of some sort or just a very round piece of junk?

 

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[TrpnBils]

....or grape/canister shot?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

To achieve certainty in identifying it, you'll need to clean enough of the rust-&-dirt encrustation off to be able to mesure it accurately with a Digital Caliper. There were some grapeshot and canister-balls whose diameter was between 2.02 and 2.06-inches. So, hundredths-of-an-inch are important in these circumstances. If your cleaned-up iron ball measures (let's say) 1.95-inches or 2.10-inches it is not an artillery ball. Cannon bore, shot, and shell diameters for smoothbore guns

As the 1861 Ordnance Manual's charts at that website show, an iron ball between 2.02 and 2.06-inches was used in 12-pounder caliber Grapeshot, and in 32-pounder caliber canister ammo. But no 12-pounder Grapeshot is known to have been used in West Virginia during the civil war. Some 32-pounder caliber cannons were used in West Virginia, but only in major forts. Was there a major fort within a half-mile of where you found that iron ball?

Here is additional information about how to tell artillery balls from Civilian-usage balls, which some TreasureNet readers may find to be interesting and educational:
SolidShotEssentialsMod

 

[TrpnBils]

Thanks - I was hoping you'd see this post. What's the best way to clean rust off of something like this?...and what would Civilian-usage balls have been used for?

The nearest big fort I know of here is Fort Frederick, which is 17 miles away or so.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

For removing the rust-encrustation from iron relics, I most often use the Electrolysis method. Cleaning Shells

But Electrolysis only works on one object at a time, so when I need to clean several rusty iron relics all-at-once (such as a group of artillery shell fragments or Grapeshot balls), I use the Zinc-&-Lye-Bath method. Cleaning Iron Relics

However, when I just want to check the diameter of a rust-encrusted small-ish (less than 3.5-inches) iron ball, I simply use a hammer to (gently) knock the rust-crust off of a couple of small spots on opposite sides of the ball, exposing its original iron surface. Then I put a Digital Caliper's jaws onto those two cleaned spots.

Actually, I make a total of four cleaned spots, so I can measure the ball from two different directions... because doing that will tell me whether or not the ball is out-of-round. For example, if the ball is 2.75-inches thick in one direction but is 2.90-inches thick when measured from another direction, I know it is out-of-round -- and thus it is not a cannonball.

You also asked, "What would Civilian-usage balls have been used for?"
Some examples of Civilian-usage (not Military) balls are:
ball-bearings
Mining-&-Stonemilling Industry ore/rock-crusher balls (sometimes called Mill-Balls)
machinery counterweight balls
ornamental-ironwork balls (such as a gatepost-top)
waterpump check-valve balls
Sports Shot-Put balls (but of course, your iron ball is too small to be one of those).

Typically, the diameter of a Civilian-usage ball does not match up with the "unusual numbers" which are the specified diameters of artillery balls -- for example, 3.58-inches, 4.52-inches, 5.17-inches, 5.68-inches, etc, as the size-charts in the Artillery Ordnance Manual show. That is how we cannonball-collectors tell the difference between artillery balls and Civilian-usage balls.

 

[TrpnBils]

Sounds good.... a coworker of mine teaches AP US History and shoots cannons competitively at a range nearby, so I've also been talking to him about this. He mentioned the Zinc/Lye bath method this morning and said he has done quite a few that way and been happy with the results. I think we actually have an electrolysis setup here in the lab so I might see if I can work it into a lesson or something and just clean it up at work.

Given how rusted it is, how much can I expect that to have affected the diameter and/or the weight? Is there any way to estimate that?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

You've asked a very good question. There are three things which can cause long-buried iron to lose significant a significant amount of weight:
1- Acidic creekwater or swampwater environment, known as "low ground"
2- Saltwater or "brackish" low-ground environment, common along Seacoast areas
3- Allowing excavated iron to sit uncleaned/untreated in the air for years after excavation, causes "scaling" corrosion.

In the case of YOUR rust-encrusted iron ball:
Being a longtime iron-digger (and cleaning it for preservation), I can tell from viewing the photo that your iron ball was dug from "high ground" (not low-ground as mentioned in scenarios 1 & 2), and it is a "recent" find (which excludes it from the #3 scenario). So, your iron ball has extremely slight loss of weight, a fraction of an ounce. When you use Electrolysis or Zinc/Lye to clean it, afterward you'll be able to see most of the iron's "original" surface, with only a few scattered small corrosion-pits in the original iron surface.

 

[TrpnBils]

Cool. I did find an variable power source for electrolysis here so I'm going to go ahead and make this into a "real life" type lesson unit for my honors chemistry students....plus it's an excuse to use "real" equipment instead of rigging something homemade up in my basement!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

For anybody here who doesn't already know:
Because the Electrolysis rust-removal process involves electricity, the "trick" in using it on a BALL is in how to establish electrical contact on it. Unlike (let's say) a bayonet, a ball has no projections on it to connect an electrical lead onto.

There are two solutions to that problem:
1- Use a tiny (5/64th-inch) drillbit to drill a 1/4-inch-deep hole in the ball's surface. Be sure to remove all the shavings out of the hole. Then remove the 5/64" bit from the drill. Insert the SMOOTH end of the drillbit all the way down the 1/4"-deep hole. Put the ball into the Electrolysis tank, having the ball sitting with the drillbit at the ball's "north pole" position. Then connect the NEGATIVE electrical lead from the power-source FIRMLY onto the fluted end of the drillbit. (Be sure to keep most of the drillbit out of the water.) I suggest sitting the ball on an upside-down small plastic bottlecap, to keep the ball from rolling sideways in the tank.

2- Get a long piece of NON-INSULATED solid (not braided) copper wire. Wrap the wire TIGHTLY around the ball, encircling the ball several times. Important note: leave some space between each coil of the wire -- you don't want the coils bunched together. When you've wrapped the ball in wire, bend one end of the wire to stick straight outward from the ball, about two inches long, and cut off any excess wire. Put the ball in the Electrolysis tank, with the 2-inch stub of wire at the ball's top. Connect the power-source's Negative lead (which hopefully ends in an alligator-jaws clamp) onto the wire stub, keeping the stub above the water.

When doing Electrolysis on dug iron relics, I recommend using a low amount of Amperage -- no more than 1 to 2 Amps. The process takes a bit longer at low amperage, but the result is a more "gentle" cleaning of the corroded century-old iron than using higher amperage.

The amount of time needed to complete the Electrolysis cleaning-process varies according to the size of the relic. Small ones (like a gun's lockplate or a 2" ball) require about 12 hoursof Electrolysis. Larger ones (like a 4.52-inch cannonball or a bayonet) require 24 hours or a bit longer. Also, if the rust-encrustaion is very thick, add extra time.

 

[TrpnBils]

Well I set everything up about 45 minutes ago and I've gotta say I'm impressed so far. Already have chunks of rust visibly coming off the ball.

 

[TrpnBils]

Looks pretty good after electrolysis and a coating of beeswax.... Like I said I used this as a chemistry lesson and I used two different anodes throughout the day (copper and carbon). Total time was about 20hrs at 2 amps and 6 volts. The final weight before the wax was 1.1 lbs and diameters on 3 planes were 2.03", 2.02", and 2.03".

 

[clovis97]

Jeff,

Don't forget to hit the 'Like' button on TCBG's post...he has spent considerable time and his vast knowledge teaching all of us in this thread.

 

[TrpnBils]

I believe I already did...

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

On behalf of this forum's ID-Helpers, I thank you for clicking the "Like" button in appreciation for the time-&-effort spent to provide correct identification and useful information. A "Like" is the only pay that the What-Is-It forum's ID-Helpers get. (All of them are unpaid volunteers.)

Also, thank you for the very-exact measurements of the ball's diameter and weight.
1- In combination, those precise measurements prove that the ball is made of cast-iron, not steel. That is important for correctly identifying the ball. Steel weighs approximately 10% more than cast-iron. If your 2.03"-diameter ball was made of steel it would weigh "about" 2 ounces more. As I mentioned in a previous reply in this discussion, no artillery balls were made of steel (except for some British 10"-cliber Solid Shot cannonballs)... so if your ball turned out to be made of steel, it wouldn't be an artillery ball.
2- Your ball's very-exact diameter and weight measurements match up with the US 1861 Artillery Ordnance Manual's precise specifications for a 12-pounder caliber Grapeshot ball, and also for a 32-pounder caliber Canister ball. Although there doesn't seem to be any written records of "combat use" of those kinds of artillery balls at the location where you found the ball, it's possible there was an unrecorded skirmish at that location. The most important fact is that your "cleaned" ball's precisely-measured diameter and weight match up with an artillery ball in the Artillery Ordnance Manual.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Jeff,

Don't forget to hit the 'Like' button on TCBG's post...he has spent considerable time and his vast knowledge teaching all of us in this thread.

People have been I'ding finds for years, with out any pats on the back, or clicking like buttons.

SS

 

[TrpnBils]

Although there doesn't seem to be any written records of "combat use" of those kinds of artillery balls at the location where you found the ball, it's possible there was an unrecorded skirmish at that location. The most important fact is that your "cleaned" ball's precisely-measured diameter and weight match up with an artillery ball in the Artillery Ordnance Manual.

I was wondering about this myself after you mentioned before how these were not used in WV... I think one of the interesting things about this hobby is that you never know exactly why something is where it is when you find it. For all we know, the person who lived in this house when it was standing might have picked this up somewhere else and brought it there and it somehow ended up in the yard. Maybe it was a collector and their kids got ahold of the ball and were playing with it outside...you never know.

I've always said someday someone is going to be really baffled when my parents' house is torn down because when I was a kid I collected coins pretty actively and I took part of my collection to a relative's house because she was also a collector. This particular group of coins were all foreign currency from Europe....and when I was walking up the sidewalk to my parents' house, I tripped and spilled the whole box of coins on the ground. I think I got most of them, but there's always a possibility a few were left behind in the grass. Nowadays that part of what used to be the side yard sits underneath part of their addition. So in 100 years or whatever, someone is going to possibly find multiple European coins in Western Pennsylvania and have to speculate as to why they're there.

 

[clovis97]

People have been I'ding finds for years, with out any pats on the back, or clicking like buttons.

SS

True, but without TCBG's expert advise on US Civil War stuff, we'd all be guessing, especially munitions.

It takes exactly three seconds to click the 'Like' button. It really isn't that hard to do, and it is an easy way of saying 'thank you for your time and information'.

 

[markp]

great information here. I have used electrolysis before, but my set up was a little different. I think I'm going to try The cannonball guys way next time

 

[Brother Al]

People have been I'ding finds for years, with out any pats on the back, or clicking like buttons.

SS

. Well now, maybe we are getting to be a more friendly appreciative group of people?

 

[smokeythecat]

The assumption is the ball is from the Civil War period as troops moved through there. It is possible its from an earlier war, there were people moving into West Virginia in the 18th century. I once found a Rev War period hand forged ax in Missouri.