cannonball pics (before and after)

[birdman]

This thing was extremely corroded and I thought there was not much hope for it. I got on several sites and read up on electrolysis. It worked! It was very easy and it took three days before the hunks of corrosion would knock off. It weighs 25 pounds and I got most of the powder out. The plug was pretty easy to get through. I used a cork screw and a screwdriver . It took about 15 minutes. Thinks for looking and HH.

 

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[trk5capt]

BIRDMAN, MY Brother, You Have Got A Set On You , Please Be Careful, You Don't Want To End Up As A Head Line in " STARS AND STRIPES". Nice Find, Best Of Luck. trk5capt...

 

[civilman1]

Definetley birdman...those thing's have even a shorter fuse with age...just like dynamite in a mine.BE CAREFUL!!,we need to see some more of your post.HH!!

 

[Ilovetodig]

You are one crazy guy my man. I would have put a call in to EOD for that thing. I read about a guy who found one and put it in an ice chest filled with water. On his way home he hit a bump in the road and BOOM!! If he had not put it in the chest with water he probably wouldn't be around to tell the tale. BE CAREFUL!!!

 

[northeast hunter]

Nice looking cannonball.


H$H

 

[Nana40]

BIRD!

Glad you're still with us! But wow...it cleaned up good!

 

[The Seeker]

Excellent !!!! You should be a surgeon....That took some serious work to perform that task.....Nice job....

 

[Southcacalaky]

Very Good Job, HH Art...

 

[Leon]

Wow!,,, you must be one wild & crazy guy...
Great job on the cleaning, but do be careful...
Good luck, & Happy hunting~

 

[birdman]

I was a bit spooked about messing with this ball but I got a ton of great information from a guy named Pete George. He has cowrote a book on civil war ordinance and he also had lots of knowledge on pre 1830s cannonballs. He said he has done the cleaning process well over a hundred times . I had another guy point me to him and he gave me good advice on how to clean this thing up safely. I went back to the spot where I found the ball at and looked for its brother but ,no luck. It is funny how you always say "if I could just find one" and then when you find one you just want more.LOL I guess it's just human nature. Just like the first coin or minnie ball. Thanks for the looking and HH.

 

[jgpreston]

WTG birdman! But like trk5capt said yours are way bigger than mine. Glad you could tell the tale. HH

 

[Bavaria Mike]

That cleaned up very nice! Would be a good idea to preserve it with something. Just curious, was the powder dry or even look like it was still active? If you still have any powder, I wonder if a pinch of it would ignite? I just seems that being in the ground for close to 200 years it would be inert. Looking forward to the Roman outing as well! HH, Mike

 

[rvbvetter]

Great job!! I wonder, does powder like that sweat and turn to nitro like they depict in the westerns? I'm afraid if I had tried doing it, I would of been suddenly heading your way VIA airmail. Really cool find!!! Looks like a bomb that Boris and Natasha would have been packing around. WTG!!! HH

 

[hollowpointred]

that ball really did clean up nicely! im glad your risk paid off. if that thing had gone off you would have been a goner!

 

[root]

One thing leads to another......
I've always been curious as to whether cannonballs really did explode upon impact or was this a Hollywood embellishment. Well here is the answer.....


http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040423.html

HH,

root

 

[birdman]

Root, thinks for the cool website. Good info. Mike ,the powder was wet from the start .I have it drying now and I am gonna try to lite just a pinch for curiosity sake. Once I get all the powder out of it I am thinking of filling it with wax and using a polyurethane on the outside but I want to take a wire brush to it first.HH

 

[Burdie]

I can't add to the posts but Wow nice cannonball. HH Burdie

 

[popcorn]

neat find glad you lived to tell about it

 

[treasures4me2find]

Great looking cannon ball, glad you survived the de-fusing.

ken