Civil War buckles, buttons, bullets, glass, goodies from last couple weeks

[smokeythecat]

Of course, remembering EXACTLY which day I dug them is an impossibility. I probably should keep a journal, but would probably lose it! Anyway, these items are from the last three hunts. One was a quickie hunt on my VA site, I was there three hours. All the buttons came from the same day. I have a couple more "misplaced" around here somewhere. I put stuff down and lose it temporarily.

The Deus sucked these out of the ground. The Virginia site has been pounded for 40 years or so from what I've been told.

The Gettysburg Campaign site now for 4 plus years, but it's so big and has so much underbrush, it will take another 5 to get everything out of it, if that's even possible.

The buckle was posted previously, now I have the keeper to it! That's pretty hard to do. It is from the Gettysburg campaign.

It takes quite awhile to clean and preserve the iron. I tumble it and then heat it in microcrystaline wax (outside with a torch) and get a nice result. Like I said, it all takes time.

The buckle is a keeper for sure. It was nice to be able to add the keeper to it. There is a good chance it came from the same belt. You can't be 100% sure. There are a few nice (preserved) eagle buttons here and 6 preserved iron underwear buttons, all from a Union 6th Corps camp.

Some Union and Confederate minies, all drops (again, a camp), first row is a hard to get .69 minie, and four nice minies, second row a .58 and a .54 Confederate Gardner, Merrill carbine bullet, Confederate 3 ringer and hard to get for this spot round ball.

These are rim pieces to a Civil War fruit jar. Last item is the base to a medicine bottle. I purchased a whole fruit jar for comparison. Glass bottle tops, rims and pieces. Makes for a nice display. And lastly a nice selection of different types of nails directly out of a hut.

Next stop - a site 350 miles from the VA site!

 

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[Digger RJ]

Very Nice smokeythecat!!! Congrats!!!

 

[xcopperstax]

Great stuff Smokey! You've had some great finds lately!

 

[smokeythecat]

I do not do parks, and a few years ago did some beaches with good success, but I like the relics best and can't go as hard as I used to, so I save my time and try to find the old spots. It's a shame so many are under concrete.

 

[villival]

Smokey, you have been an inspiration to me. I bought my XP Deus because of you and I LOVE it. We are still getting acquainted, but I have been practicing the slow and low, along with paying attention to the squeaks that barely register, if at all, and it's amazing what I have missed.

What kind of tumbler do you use? I was going to purchase a double from Harbor Freight for about 60.00 to see if it works for me. And does the high frequency coil make a big difference?

Best of luck in your hunts. You're a good man.

 

[smokeythecat]

Villival, slow and low is the secret. Running through a site doesn't help any of us. And if I find one decent piece, I do the stop look and listen thing. I triangulate where I am physically and assume there is more stuff within 20 feet. Most of the time there is because either stuff was missed by other folks or its just in pockets.

I used the 74 khz HF coil. There is a lot of talk about multi frequency with hot ground and relics, but what most folks don't realize is on most sites machines running from 4 to over 20 khz plus PI machines have already nailed them. So all the lower frequency machines have been over most of my places. It takes a different animal to get the goodies anymore.

I have an inexpensive Lortone tumbler, the kind for making gemstones. And when it gets tough, I search out iron and sit down and dig a big hole and use the machine and pinpointer to help me.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[smokeythecat]

Thanks all. I like the history. When I go to Flint Ridge, Ohio, which is my mid summer place, but maybe not this year, there is a huge amount of flint lying everywhere. Some just recently pulled out, but some worked by the original Americans. Cool stuff. 380 miles one way which takes a lot out of you.

 

[diggerranger]

[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

 

[relichound]

Nice digs Debbie! The XP Deus is awesome so glad I let you talk me into buying this machine last year! Maybe in the fall we can dig somewhere! Take care.

Wayne

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice job on the relics!

 

[smokeythecat]

Wayne, the PA farm will be ready about Thanksgiving. I was shocked how many items I got this spring just basically goofing around there. We pulled out 4 silver dimes near the now famous "swayle". Tommy got a capped bust, I got a barber and merc and Rick got a merc. I thought we had gotten all the silver out. Wrong Again. Hugh got a grapeshot, probably rev war due to its crudeness. Site is odd. I also got several modern coins! Either the farmer, the owner or we lost them!

 

[ARC]

Another bunch of stellar stuffs... and again... Well done.

 

[smokeythecat]

I just got a new 300 acre permission nearby. House is ca 1850. Railway went through there a long time ago. I would like to find some of the Chinese cash coins, but tomorrow is going to be too hot and the one spot has knee high winter wheat in it.

 

[Mudflap]

Very nice job on the preservation.

 

[lenmac65]

Great finds. Wish I had your preservation skills.

 

[villival]

Thanks Smokey. My place has not been pounded and I have very often dug holes so big and pinpointed until I was exhausted with the finds and still there was more. I'd stick a shovel or hoe in it until I had the energy to go back and deal with the mess of it all. Fun stuff, but the heat.

I never thought of this hobby as a science until recently. I have learned so much on this property.

 

[smokeythecat]

Regarding iron preservation. On large items, like a cannon ball, I take a 2 ounce tack hammer and whack the snot out of it until most of the rust is off. For hard to get stubborn pieces I also use with the tack hammer a 1/4" cold chisel. Then take a standard flat file to it, and finally a wire brush. Unless they were in salt water they are fine and need nothing else.

For smaller items, I have taken to running them with some junk rocks in a small Lortone tumbler until most of the rust is off. Sometimes I will take a pair of wire cutters and snip off resistant pieces. For smaller items I take an old fashioned iron lead ladle, put some of the microcrystalline wax in it with the iron items and put a propane torch to it, careful not to set it on fire. When the iron starts to bubble, which indicates water and air are escaping and the wax is invading the pores in the iron, I remove the torch until the bubbling slows way down then hit it with the torch a few more seconds, and repeat. I then turn the torch off and get the relics out of the ladle and blot on a paper towel and its all done. Has to be done outside. And keep a bucket of water nearby or a fire extinguisher, just in case. I have never set the wax on fire or burned anything, but I'm super careful.

Salt water iron is another whole ball game and can take months to conserve.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Dang Smokey you are making me want to come back up there just to hunt. I hope to make it in early October but probably won't have much, if any time to detect. My wife and I hope to make it to my 70th birthday class reunion.