]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x105/lynnsherbs/thm_dscf5063.jpgFound at an estate sale in Minnesota. I was told that it is a cannonball. It measures slightly over 3" and about 4.5#. There is no seam, but there are 2 very small, round, flat spots opposite each other. Is it a cannonball?
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Is it a cannonball?
- Thread starter ledean55
- Start date
Speaking as a cannonball collector and digger for over 35 years:
There are quite literally multi-millions of round (and round-ish) iron & steel balls which wre not made for Artillery use. (Examples are ball-bearings, Stonemilling Industry rock-crusher balls, Sports Shot Put balls, Ornamental Ironwork balls, etc, etc.) So, we collectors have had to develop solidly reliable methods for distinguishing an actual cannonball from the many not-a-cannonball metal balls. The number-one method we rely on is civil war US (and CSA) Ordnance Manual's "Shot Tables" ...which are data-charts telling the EXACT diameter and weight of every size of cannonball that got used in America from the Colonial era to the Civil War era.
You can view the Ordnance Manual's Shot Tables charts online, for free, here: www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
You might also find this article to be useful: http://www.pochefamily.org/books/SolidShotEssentialsMod.html
You said your ball "measures slightly over 3 inches and about 4.5 pounds." The Shot Tables charts show no actual cannonball (or Grapeshot ball, or Canister ball) which is that size and weight.
Since your ball is not a cannonball, you may be wondering what it really is. Scroll down the Shot Tables webpage to the final chart, which shows that a CAST-IRON solid (not hollow) ball which is 3.104-inches in diameter weighs precisely 4.0 pounds. Your ball is about half a pound heavier than that. STEEL is a heavier alloy of iron than Cast-Iron. So, your ball is made of steel. Being made of steel, it is most probably a rock-crusher ball from the Stonemilling Industry. (When you are crushing hard stone like Granite into bits of gravel, you want the hardness of steel, because cast-iron is actually a "brittle" form of iron.
Lastly, in case you are wondering... based on very extensive Historical research by various civil war artillery scholars, there seems to be no Historical documentation that steel was ever used for makng cannonballs in America, at any time in history. I said "in America" because in the 1860s, the British did try using steel for making Heavy Caliber (6-inch and larger) armor-crushing cannonballs for use against ironclad ships.
Regards,
Pete
There are quite literally multi-millions of round (and round-ish) iron & steel balls which wre not made for Artillery use. (Examples are ball-bearings, Stonemilling Industry rock-crusher balls, Sports Shot Put balls, Ornamental Ironwork balls, etc, etc.) So, we collectors have had to develop solidly reliable methods for distinguishing an actual cannonball from the many not-a-cannonball metal balls. The number-one method we rely on is civil war US (and CSA) Ordnance Manual's "Shot Tables" ...which are data-charts telling the EXACT diameter and weight of every size of cannonball that got used in America from the Colonial era to the Civil War era.
You can view the Ordnance Manual's Shot Tables charts online, for free, here: www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
You might also find this article to be useful: http://www.pochefamily.org/books/SolidShotEssentialsMod.html
You said your ball "measures slightly over 3 inches and about 4.5 pounds." The Shot Tables charts show no actual cannonball (or Grapeshot ball, or Canister ball) which is that size and weight.
Since your ball is not a cannonball, you may be wondering what it really is. Scroll down the Shot Tables webpage to the final chart, which shows that a CAST-IRON solid (not hollow) ball which is 3.104-inches in diameter weighs precisely 4.0 pounds. Your ball is about half a pound heavier than that. STEEL is a heavier alloy of iron than Cast-Iron. So, your ball is made of steel. Being made of steel, it is most probably a rock-crusher ball from the Stonemilling Industry. (When you are crushing hard stone like Granite into bits of gravel, you want the hardness of steel, because cast-iron is actually a "brittle" form of iron.
Lastly, in case you are wondering... based on very extensive Historical research by various civil war artillery scholars, there seems to be no Historical documentation that steel was ever used for makng cannonballs in America, at any time in history. I said "in America" because in the 1860s, the British did try using steel for making Heavy Caliber (6-inch and larger) armor-crushing cannonballs for use against ironclad ships.
Regards,
Pete