Mystery - brass tube containing hollow wood insert or rolled up paper, not sure?

[OhioTrevor]

Hunting a field in southern Ohio, I dug this very old brass tube (approximately the length and diameter of my pinky finger.) When I returned home, I took a chopstick to try and clean out the dirt on the inside of the tube and instead, a piece of wood or rolled up paper of some kind popped out. The field is very close to an old Civil War training camp and I could not help but wonder if they used tubes like this one to store and transport messages or field orders. Of course, that could be the product of an active imagination (mom said I had one) and this could be just a piece of trash. At the time I was cleaning the relic, the insert that came out was some-what squishy and soft. It has since dried out and cracked a bit. I'm still not sure it's wood or dried paper? I'm thinking of re-soaking it to see if the insert can be unraveled or if it is truly just a section of wooden dowel that was inside the brass cylinder. Anyone have any ideas?

 

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[Ol' Kentuck]

Kinda looks like the cut off end of a cane pole. Any likely fishin' spots nearby?

 

[mojjax]

insulator for wires going through a beam ?

 

[mojjax]

looks like pre knob & tube

 

[yaxthri]

Those are the remnants of the end of a fishing rod like Ol' Kentuck wrote...

 

[Radon]

Knobs and tubes for wiring are ceramic, so that they aren't conductive. They insulate the wires from the wood frame of the house. Brass wouldn't be used for that.

 

[Inspector Comet]

Well that doesn't look anything like a roll of paper to me, sorry to say... As for the fishing rod theory, I've never seen one of these wood fishing rods, but I'm not convinced. If a wooden shaft has a metal sleeve like that, you would need to have the wood and the metal to line up at one end, or else the metal could be very easily bent out of shape. And if you broke off a piece of wood with metal around it at one end, you will end up breaking the wood just above where the metal ends, so that the wooden part would be slightly longer or at least the same length as the metal part. I can't imagine how you could get one of those rods to break in such a way that the wood bit is shorter than the metal bit. But again, I'm not that familiar with them.

Interesting find OP!

 

[Georgivs]

Well it looks like a piece of bamboo to me, so I favor the cane rod hypothesis. Who's to say how or when it broke, the wood close to the edge of the metal could have decayed faster or possibly got shoved up inside the metal. They've been making cane fishing poles for over a hundred years, here's a vintage one.

 

[Georgivs]

Could also be a sleeve from a tent pole like this. But, I still think it looks like bamboo.

 

[Fossils]

It could be some kind of old gunshell. Shotgun shells are generally composed of a thin brass tube surrounding a paper filling. Your find doesn’t match the dimensions of a shotgun shell, but it could potentially be from some other gun or explosive.

 

[Ol' Kentuck]

Well that doesn't look anything like a roll of paper to me, sorry to say... As for the fishing rod theory, I've never seen one of these wood fishing rods, but I'm not convinced. If a wooden shaft has a metal sleeve like that, you would need to have the wood and the metal to line up at one end, or else the metal could be very easily bent out of shape. And if you broke off a piece of wood with metal around it at one end, you will end up breaking the wood just above where the metal ends, so that the wooden part would be slightly longer or at least the same length as the metal part. I can't imagine how you could get one of those rods to break in such a way that the wood bit is shorter than the metal bit. But again, I'm not that familiar with them.

Interesting find OP!

Traditionally, break away cane poles were made to join with Tip into Butt metal Ferrules. The bottom piece joined to the next, narrower piece, by placing the narrower Male end into the wider Female or Butt end.

The pole is built by first placing the Ferrule onto the larger bamboo piece that will become the Butt end. The slightly tapered bamboo joint end is fitted tightly appx. 2/3 way into the Female/Butt Ferrule from the bottom...leaving appx. 1/3 empty on the narrower end to hold the adjoining Male Tip Ferrule.

The process is repeated to attach the Male Ferrule joint end.

To complete the pole, the narrower Male Tip end Ferrule is inserted into the wider Female/Butt Ferrule.

The piece shown in the OP's post looks like the Female/Butt Ferrule, with the 2/3 length bamboo insert. Looks like the whole joint was cut off flush with the base of the Ferrule. A common practice when the two pieces get stuck together and won't pull apart, or the pole breaks ....just cut off the joint and put on a new Ferrule.

The same joinery is used on modern graphite rods as well.

Not an angler I'm guess'n?

 

[Inspector Comet]

Not an angler I'm guess'n?

Right on the money! I've been fishing before but I'm certainly no angler. With that in mind I probably should have been a little less sure of myself in that other post.

Good call on the metal being part of a connecting piece though. I was thinking the metal piece was intended to be the base of the rod, but if it's in the middle that would explain it. A bit of fishing rod it is!

 

[Ol' Kentuck]

Right on the money! I've been fishing before but I'm certainly no angler. With that in mind I probably should have been a little less sure of myself in that other post.

Good call on the metal being part of a connecting piece though. I was thinking the metal piece was intended to be the base of the rod, but if it's in the middle that would explain it. A bit of fishing rod it is!

No biggie, Friend, I still can't figger out how to get to my voicemails on this damn newfangled phone. I'll make ye a deal, you ever get over to my neck of the woods just give me a holler. You bring the beer and I'll bring the poles, and we'll go down to the crawdad hole and drown some worms. I'll even clean our catch if you'll check my messages fer me. Fair 'nuff?

 

[Inspector Comet]

No biggie, Friend, I still can't figger out how to get to my voicemails on this damn newfangled phone. I'll make ye a deal, you ever get over to my neck of the woods just give me a holler. You bring the beer and I'll bring the poles, and we'll go down to the crawdad hole and drown some worms. I'll even clean our catch if you'll check my messages fer me. Fair 'nuff?

Deal buddy!

 

[A2coins]

Great ID can I join you two loo

 

[islamoradamark]

I still like the idea of the secret message holder , i like to dream big to