✅ SOLVED Cannonballs or Paper wights?

[fyrffytr1]

I have had these for quite sometime but I don't know if they are real cannonballs or just paper weights. I do not understand why the pictures load the way they do. I did them in order but they don't show up in order. The first and last picture are of the same ball as are the second and third.

 

[MuckyBottles]

I am thinking canister/grape shot.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

All of the following information is for any reader here who doesn't already know it (or, perhaps not know ALL of it).

I co-wrote a very detailed Educational article on how to determine with CERTAINTY whether or not a metal ball is an Artillery ball (a cannon ball, a Grapeshot ball, or a Canister-ammo ball).
SolidShotEssentialsMod

Here is a very-shortened summary of it:
Artillery-Ball Test #1- No actual Artillery balls had flat spots, a raised band, grooves, bumps on them. None were out-of-round... meaning, none were egg-shaped (not even "slightly" egg-shaped) or lumpy -- they were as perfectly round as a glass marble.
Artillery Ball Test #2- The civil war era US (and CSA) Ordnance Manual tells the VERY-EXACT diameter and weight (such as 4.52 inches in diameter and 12 pounds 4 ounces) of Artillery balls used in America from the Revolutionary War through the civil war (1861-1865). Because there are literally multimillions of Civilian-usage balls (such as Stonemilling Industry rock-crusher balls, large ball-bearings, and Ornamental Ironwork balls), we Artillery ball collectors must super-precisely measure a metal ball's exact size and weight to see if it matches up with any of the Ordnance Manual's extremely precise size-&-weight data charts.
www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
If there is no match-up, the ball is definitely not an Artillery ball.

About Fyrffytr1's metal balls:
His ball #2 has a large flat spot on it, so it is definitely not an Artillery ball.
His ball #1 is a perfect sphere. So, it passes Test #1. However, it fails Test #2. As Fyrfftyr1's photos show, its precisely-measured diameter is 2.085-inches, and its precise weight is 1 pound 5.2 ounces (1.325 pounds). There is not even a "close" match-up for it in the Ordnance Manual's precise size-&-weight charts.

Additional reason neither of those two balls is an Artillery ball:
The "Solid-Shot Essentials" article includes a third test:
Artillery Ball Test #3: No Artillery balls used in America were made of Steel. The only form of iron used for them was cast-iron. Steel is approximately 10% to 15% heavier than cast-iron.

Both of Fyrffytr1's metal balls are 10-to-15% heavier than they should be (for their size) if they were cast-iron. Therefore, they are made of steel, and thus they are definitely not Artillery balls.

A personal note:
Being a relic-digger myself, I naturally "want" a fellow digger's metal balls to be Artillery balls. But I must not allow my personal feelings to bias my analysis of a metal ball (or any other relic). I've got to do the testing/analysis with a scientist's strictly-unbiased mindset. We do want to discover (with certainty) the actual True Identity of the metal ball (or other relic), don't we? That is what I try to help y'all do, in my posts here at T-Net, and the "Solid-Shot Essentials" article on the internet, and the articles I write for the North/South Trader's Civil War magazine.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Thank you. While they are not real I can at least say I have a nice set of balls! Any idea what they may be?

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Try milling balls. Interesting potential physiological observation, Many suggestions, some even pleasent.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Fyrfftyr1 wrote:
> Any idea what they may be?

There are several possibilities. For some uses, a ball MUST be perfectly-round, and for other uses, it doesn't need to be perfectly-round.

For example, a cannon ball needs to be perfectly-round so it won't jam in the cannon's barrel as it rolls down the barrel to the back of the cannon during loading, or when it gets blasted back up the barrel during firing. (Being egg-shaped or having a bump on it could cause it to jam in the barrel, which is very bad news for the cannon's crew in combat.)

Like cannon balls, a ball-bearing and a pump check-valve ball and a roller-mill ball MUST be perfectly-round, so that they will roll smoothly, without jamming. Your ball #1 is perfectly-round, so it could be one of those types of Civilian-usage balls.

Your photo shows your ball #2 has a large flat-spot on it, AND it is slightly out-of-round. So, it cannot be a ball whose usage requires perfect-roundness. Tumbler-Mill balls (rock-crusher/ore-crusher balls from the Mining-&-Stonemilling Industry) don't need to be perfectly round, so your ball #2 is most probably a Tumbler-Mill ball.

I should mention, Tumbler-Mill rock-crusher/ore-crusher balls are by far the most common of all the "large" Civilian-usage iron or steel balls. Here's a drawing showing a "cut-away" view of an enormous Mining Industry tumbler-mill, which uses hundreds of large steel balls to crush big chunks of ore-bearing rocks into powder, or to crush big rocks into gravel. The one in the drawing is about 10 or 15 feet tall. it is basically a large steel barrel, which you PARTIALLY fill with the rocks/ore-chunks and steel balls. A motor then causes the barrel to spin on its axis, making the rocks and balls repeatedly tumble around inside it, and the steel balls bash the rocks to bits. (That is why it is called a Tumbler-Barrel or Tumbler-Mill.) You will see these huge Tumbler-Mills in operation on Discovery Channel shows about how gold and other metals are mined and refined from the ore-bearing rocks.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Again, thank you for the help. I will take them out of my Civil War relics box and put them in the "I wish it was the real thing box" with my Unicorn horn and bigfoot bone.