Riverside whats it find - well mark em as grinding balls

mile-ender · Jul 28, 2011

Riverside what's it find - we'll mark 'em as grinding balls

Hey y'all, went down by the river today and pulled up these copper (?) ball nugget things. Picked up about thirty or so, but didn't really have anything to carry 'em in so didn't do a complete search (there are probably more). Sizes range from the size of a big cherry to the size of a cherry pit. Largest one weighs 96g. smallest 18g. Any ideas?

NaturalJWL · Jul 28, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

Last I heard, copper was selling for a little over $4 a pound. :dontknow:

Take a bucket next time. :icon_thumleft:

Tony in SC · Jul 28, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

They are most likely mill balls. Copper was used more for polishing than grinding. Iron was used more for roughing, or coarse work. The question is, why were they found where they were

Tony

DevilDog812 · Jul 28, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

Tony in SC said:
They are most likely mill balls. Copper was used more for polishing than grinding. Iron was used more for roughing, or coarse work. The question is, why were they found where they were Tony

maybe a grist mill used to be there?

try searching all of the big iron signals and try to find one of these :wink:

NGE · Jul 28, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

Maybe someone else found them at a different location and his pants kept falling down, so he ditched them where you found them :laughing7:

.....NGE

aka da Prof · Jul 28, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

decoy weights

Silver Searcher · Jul 29, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

:hello:

They look like free money to me :laughing7:

get back there and take a wheel barrow with you :icon_thumleft:

SS

mile-ender · Jul 29, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

notgittinenny said:
Maybe someone else found them at a different location and his pants kept falling down, so he ditched them where you found them .....NGE

Ha! I almost did the same thing

mile-ender · Jul 29, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

Silver Searcher said:
They look like free money to me get back there and take a wheel barrow with you

SS

Like natural said - a little over 4$ a lb. - I'm heading back there soon ( It's one of my summer spots I dig at).

mile-ender · Jul 29, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

DevilDog812 said:
Tony in SC said:

They are most likely mill balls. Copper was used more for polishing than grinding. Iron was used more for roughing, or coarse work. The question is, why were they found where they were Tony

Click to expand...

maybe a grist mill used to be there?

try searching all of the big iron signals and try to find one of these

The closest building I can find on older maps were a few miles away...(fort, church, mill) and those, I'm thinking, were 18th century.

Charlie P. (NY) · Jul 29, 2011

Re: Riverside what's it find

Copper balls are used in grinding pigments for paint and other materials into powder (in a drum mill). Copper doesn't spark.

Such things are still used so you might want to check for any 1950's and 1960's factories, foundries or machine shops in the area. They also use ball mills to deburr cast objects.