✅ SOLVED Lead Ball?

Satellite45

Satellite45

Greenie
Jul 3, 2013
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If it's pure lead, it would dent very easily....even using a stiff fingernail. Maybe the cannonballguy has seen one??
 

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hey satelite45,, if you would , take a few measurements , i know cannonballguy will look at it sooner or later , and the guy is unbelievable when it comes to projectile and buttons . if you can use a seamstress cloth tape and measure around it , and also measure the width and weigh it . to help eliminate all other things , then i bet cannonballguy can tell ya if it is 100% a cannon ball or other projectile.
 

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If you have a scrap metal yard near you, they probably have a Niton XRF analyzing gun which could tell you exactly what the metal is.

My guess is Grape Shot.images (2).jpg
 

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@ Huntsman ... *laughs* a type-o ... But the circumference is a little short of 9 inches... The guy at the steel recycling place said they have a gun to identify alloys, but t doesn't work on lead. He was a huge help ...had I been bringing in a garbage can full of them, he would have been more excited... Maybe I should keep digging...
 

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Satellite45 wrote:
> [The ball's weight is] 3 lbs, 9 oz and a circumference of 8 7/8

Doing the math:
8-&-7/8-inches of Circumference equals 2.875-inches of Diameter.

The ball is definitely not made of lead. An 2.84-inch iron cannonball weighs 3 lbs 1 ounce. The "Specific Gravity" of cast-iron is 7.1 and lead's is 11.34 -- therefore, lead is approximately 60% heavier than iron. So, your 2.875-inch ball would weigh about 5 lbs. 1 ounce if it was made of lead. But you say your ball weighs MUCH less than that -- so it definitely is not made of lead.

Again doing the Specific Gravity math... the weight of your ball indicates it is made of cast-iron, and also indicates your measurement of its size is slightly incorrect. (A 3.0-inch diameter iron ball would weigh very nearly exactly the same as your ball.) Please borrow a Digital Caliper and re-measure the ball's diameter. I cannot tell you whether it is a cannonball or not until I know your ball's super-precisely measured diameter (in hundredths-of-an-inch). www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm

You said it is "softer than steel." A type of iron-corrosion known as Graphitization, which sometimes affects long-buried iron, can make the surface of the iron softer than normal. I notice that your photo of the excavated ball seems to show some "silvery-grey" areas on its surface. That resembles what Graphitized excavated iron looks like. You said the ball was 2 feet deep in the ground. Was the soil at that depth muddy/wet-ish?

In case you are not familiar with a Digital Caliper... the photo below shows one being used to measure a bullet's diameter.
 

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It looks like a mill ball. They used them in mills to grind up things like corn. If it was iron wouldn't it have rust on it? Also is it reasonable for a cannonball to be in WA? I maybe be wrong but I didn't think there was Rev. War and Civil War action in WA. Unless somebody had one and dropped it. But even that's unreasonable. Ill be interested to know what this is. Thanks for sharing.
 

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Very interesting. No rust... And yes it is a bit flakey... Interestingly, the house days to 1927 and the owners worked at the old mill... Everything in the house has old pine supports and the walls had no sheet rock, just ship-lapped wood flooring... Won't fall over anytime soon...

So the connection to lumber is an interesting one. I'll find a caliper...
 

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Digital caliper reads 2.72 inches, but it isn't uniform. Smallest reading as we rotated it was 2.69. And a shout out for the guys at Les Schwab tires ... For the use of the DC...
 

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Satellite45 said:
Digital caliper reads 2.72 inches, but it isn't uniform. Smallest reading as we rotated it was 2.69. And a shout out for the guys at Les Schwab tires ... For the use of the DC...
Click to expand...

I checked out the mortar link (thanks to TheCannonballguy) and it looks like I can rule out a small cannonball. The weight and measurements don't match up. It has opened up some research about local grinding mills... And since the property was farmland on a ridge above town... I'll continue to follow that trail... Thanks all.

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
 

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Satellite45 said:
I checked out the mortar link (thanks to TheCannonballguy) and it looks like I can rule out a small cannonball. The weight and measurements don't match up. It has opened up some research about local grinding mills... And since the property was farmland on a ridge above town... I'll continue to follow that trail... Thanks all.

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
Click to expand...

The thread is now marked solved. What was the ID? Was I right about the grinding mill ball? I would like to know for future reference.
 

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Yes! A grinding ball. We think. Having the TCBGuy's chart available was huge... and I was able to ruled out cannonballs or projectiles. The mill connection made sense... Good call. I emailed a few smaller mills with history in the lumber business... And I'm waiting to hear back for confirmation... But the size and composition appear to be identical to the those on the mill ball site...
 

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