First shell is a good on CS !

[Mark1985]

My step father and I dug a nice CS 3" reed shell here she is after 150 years in the dirt

 

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[dirtlooter]

gotta love the history! awesome find with out a doubt!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Congrats on finding your first civil war artillery shell, Mark.

In a PM, you asked me about the best way to clean it. I'm replying publically because in the PM you said its iron body is "Graphitized" from being buried for 150 years in "sandy grey creek soil." Your photos here show you're right, that iron is definitely Graphitized. For anybody who is not already familiar with that term, Graphitization is a form of iron corrosion caused by Tannic Acid in slow-moving groundwater (swampy ground, slow-moving creeks, marshes, and "low ground"). The Tannic Acid gradually leaches iron molecules out of the iron relic's skin, and the result looks like Graphite (the same mineral as "pencil lead"). Therefore, the iron is the dull silvery-grey color of Graphite... although sometimes rusting will stain the grey to a brownish-grey, like we see on your Read shell.

VERY IMPORTANT: Graphitized iron relics must NOT be cleaned by either Electrolysis or the Zinc-&-Lye-Bath method. If those cleaning-methods are used, the Graphitized skin of the iron will dissolve -- and the result will be ugly.

Therefore, Graphitized iron relics must be cleaned "manually." I've had good success by using a coarse file and a fine-grain file. I use the coarse file to very gently file down any concretion, until I first start seeing the soft Graphitized iron under the concretion. Caution-note: the Graphitized iron is extremely soft... so you must be super-careful not to file into it. When I first start seeing the soft iron under the concretion, I switch to using the fine-grain file, and use a very light circular motion to smooth the relic's surface. Then I apply four coats of Satin-finish Polyurethane.

Your CS 3" Read shell shows some areas of brownish-grey Graphitized iron, and some areas of orange-ish concretion on top of the Graphitized iron. As described above, I'd use the coarse file to gently file down the concretion, and the fine-grain file to smooth the Graphitized iron which has no concretion on it.

Since you've (probably) never done by-hand cleaning with files on Graphitized iron, I urge you to practice doing it on some Graphitized shell fragments (or other low-value dug iron) before you try it on a precious relic like your first civil war artillery shell.

If you are coming to the huge Richmond relic-show on July 19 & 20, bring your Read shell to my table and I'll demonstrate the filing technique for you.

Here are some photos of Graphitized iron, to help y'all recognize it. Note that the Schenkl shell is dull silvery-grey, and the brass-saboted Parrott shell is brownish-grey in places. The other two photos are a Graphitized cannonball, before and after cleaning by Electrolysis... which stripped off the Graphitized surface of the iron, resulting in a look which resembles the moon's surface.

 

[VOL1266-X]

SUPER FIND Mark!!! WTG, Q,.

 

[CSA2K]

Outstanding!

 

[vpnavy]

Great find! Thanks for sharing...

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice find

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Not much on artillery shells known here , thanks for sharing!

 

[DigIron2]

Damn, nice!I am voting banner on this shell!Digging it was quite a rush huh?

 

[Tnmountains]

Very nice civil war relic. It sounds like cannonball man has some great tips for your shell.Slow and easy and it will last forever.

 

[Mach1Pilot]

That's a very nice shell- congrats!

 

[Mark1985]

Was a huge rush to pry her from the earth and cannon is always a wealth of knowledge "cannon I will be coming to that show on Saturday you going to be there"?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Unless I have a bad accident that puts me in the hospital between now and the show date, I'll be there, at my sales-table. Ask the show's Staff where Pete George's table is. (They don't know me as TheCannonballGuy.)

I'm looking forward to examining your first-one-found civil war shell in real-life. Again, congratulations... and, welcome to the shell-digger club. After the first one, you're hooked on it. So, I'll give you some shell-hunting tips when we talk at the show.

 

[Pointman]

Nice find.

I appreciate the info that Cannonball gave. Most of the iron objects I find are in that condition. That is some good info to have on hand on how to preserve those items.

 

[diggervet]

Beautiful shell, congratulations!

 

[treblehunter]

Nice find.

 

[Long Island Hunter]

Sweet find. Man I wish I lived in your neck of the woods.

 

[FriscoT06]

Congrats on your first artillery shell!!! What a day!

 

[Mark1985]

Thanks Quinn how are you and the boys in TN?

 

[Davers]

Sweet Shell .

I,m still hunting my first.

Can I get A State it was dug in?

Davers