Is this a Cannonball ??

[mather7771]

My 8 year old son found this round iron ball peaking out of the ground in an adjacent field by our home yesterday... near Tulsa, OK. I had the police come out and make sure it wasn't a bomb or something... they said it's not dangerous, and probably a replica of civil war cannonball (replica >> since there's an obvious welded seam around the circumference). It's not quite solid, there is a faint ringing when you shake it - almost like a tiny bell inside. approx. 4in diameter. covered in rust.

Can anyone help us with this?

 

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[osage express]

If it has a welded seam,I would say no.Cannonballs are cast in one piece Welcome to Tnet

 

[mather7771]

Ok. goog to know. Any chance you can tell what it is then?

 

[ARC]

Some cannon balls DO have "seems.

heh

 

[ARC]

Check to see if you can find a "sprue"

 

[kingskid1611]

Welcome to the party from a fellow Oklahoman. What a find even if it turns out to be a replica. That is a good story to tell for years to come.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The photo of your son holding the ball seems to show the ball has a slightly raised band (like a belt) running around iits equator. If that's really there, rather than an optical illusion, it excludes the ball from being a cannonball. I've seen those raised bands, and slight hollowness, on machinery-counterweight balls.

I co-authored a deeply detailed article on how to distinguish real cannonballs from the many similar-looking civilian-usage metal balls, such as:
rock-crusher balls from the Mining-&-Stonemilling industry,
"ornamental ironwork" balls (such as gatepost-top balls),
sports shot-put balls,
machinery-counterweight balls,
large ball-bearings (some are a lot bigger than you'd think)
cement-delivery truck tank cleaner balls, and
check-valve balls.
The article I wrote with David Poche contains detailed instructions and helpful photos... including the metalcasting diagram posted by AARC. You can read it here, for free:
SolidShotEssentialsMod
Very-precise weighing and diameter measurement are crucial.

 

[mather7771]

y'know... i'm looking at the ball, there is not a hole on either rise. But, on the rusted side (that was buried in the ground) there are very faint indentions - almost like hammering in the outline of a circle - about 1in in diameter. is it possible that the opening could be closed and the rust has eroded the defined seam?

 

[mather7771]

Yes, the seam does look raised to me. I'll attach a picture. Thank you for the info, I'll check out the article. The weight is 1lb, 15.5oz

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thank you for providing the ball's precisely-measured weight, in pounds AND ounces. You've said the iron/steel ball is "about" 4 inches in diameter, and it weighs 1/2-ounce less than 2 pounds.
Using the iron-ball diameter & weight data at the bottom of the following webpage
Cannon bore, shot, and shell diameters for smoothbore guns
tells me that the ball is definitely hollow, and its body-walls are only about 1/6-inch thick. That means it is absolutely not a cannonball, and exclides every other type of ball I listed in my previous post except for an Ornamental Ironwork ball.

For comparison with your ball's 1/6-inch thick body-walls, here's a photo showing a civil war explosive cannonball which is approximately 4.5-inches in diameter (1/2-inch larger than your ball). Its body-walls are slightly less than 3/4-inch thick... and before it got sawed in half, it weighed about 8.3 pounds. Your ball weighs a little under 2 pounds, so you can imagine how much thinner its hollow body is than this ball.

 

[A2coins]

About a week ago there was another post about a possible cannonball I forget what they found it was some kind of machinery ball for grinding or turning something to powder look under cannonball in search this was just a week ago. I don't see why anyone would make a repro cannon ball Also research that area for any military action.nice find no matter what it turns out to be the thrill of the find