olddude
Full Member
I've been fighting the heat, ticks and thick brush for the past several days and mostly finding those crazy looking bullets I have never seen before along with other types of confederate bullets. The day before yesterday I found my first button and as it was getting late I decided to call it quits with that. I figured it would be just another crusty ol eagle button so at that point I wasn't too excited about it. I mean, don't get me wrong cause these days any ol button is a pretty good find but I already have a number of them so the really big thrill up the leg thing is not as intense as it used to be with those.
I got home and didn't even take it out of my bag I just stripped down and headed to the shower to get today's collection of flesh eating vermin off my body while there was still enough left to get up the stairs. The next day I got up for my morning coffee and with cup in hand I headed out to the garage to check out my goodie bag to see what was there. I was almost like a kid again heading down stairs to find my Easter basket to see what the Easter bunny had left for me.
Cool!, a new bullet sort of like the ones I found earlier but it only had 3 rings rather than 4 like the others, a few more Gardner's, several of the other 3 ring bullets like I have been finding there and a bunch of really banged up bullets that had found their way into that hard clay bank. I opened my button jar and pulled out the button to see what it was but it had so much junk encrusted on it I could not tell what it was. It seemed a lot heavier than most eagle buttons but I figured it was all the junk piled up on it so I still wasn't too excited about it. I started reading up on how to properly clean something like this because this wasn't just the normal dirt this stuff was really caked on. I used to just brush them under warn water until they came clean but I have been reading lately that is not the best way to do it and yes I do have a number of what would have been nice New York and eagle buttons for the display case but before I was done they were in 3 or 4 pieces.
I tried lightly scraping the face with a tooth pick to get the loose stuff off and after awhile I got down to the meat and a S popped out at me. I knew right then this was no eagle button so I decided to read up a little more and came across a page where someone was using Naval Jelly to melt away the corrosion so I headed off to the hardware store to pick up some.
When I got back I ran upstairs to get started. I put it on the face and let it sit for a minute or two then started rubbing a small area of the face with a tooth pick and after about an hour low in behold once it was rinsed off and dried there before me was a big ol star in the middle. I got on the internet to look up what it might be and before long I was looking at my very own button from the Loan Star State of Texas. I couldn't believe it. I don't have many state buttons so that was really something but for it to be from a state so far away and one that was really more of a supply state for the South than anything else was unbelievable.
It's not perfect because it did have a boo boo on the face but after several hours of work I got it to where you can make out what it is. I'm afraid to try an clean it much more because of what might happen so I may just preserve it the way it is. But if anyone has any other ideas I'm all ears.
Yesterday, I couldn't wait for the sun to start heading toward the western sky so it would cool off enough to make the trip through the woods to my little honey hole but finally, hot or not I was soaked down with deep woods off, had my go bag packed with 2 water bottles, spare batteries, flash lights and other important stuff and I was off again. I have been coming up to the site from a different direction each time so I can hunt up to the spot in order to cover the whole area. I usually try to give it about a half hour of general searching and if I don't find anything I head on in. There is a lot of trash in the area and yesterday I came in from the back side where there is a really big trash pile that has been scattered out over several acres and I started picking up bullets and some modern coins but it was taking too long to sort through all the junk so I decided to head on over to that hill top before it got too late. I wanted to give that area that I found that button a really good going over but once I got close I started to dig bullets one after another and it was almost dark before I finally made it over to the place I found the button. It's really thick right there and hard to hunt even in good light but after digging several more bullets and a couple junk items it was so dark I was having trouble picking my way around. I was feeling my way along when I got a really nice tone right in the middle of a clump of briars and after kicking some of the loose stuff off I got down to business, pin pointed the target and made my incision around the spot. Most of the stuff here is either right on the top, just below the root mat if it is light weight but some of the bullets have been down in the clay a foot or more so I first make a clean cut all the way around a target then try to remove the top layer so I can place it back over the hole when I'm done. Most times it comes right off in a nice neat piece but sometimes the roots just wont budge and you have to rip the whole thing apart. This time the mat pulled right off and as I pulled it off to sit aside even in the pitch dark night I saw it. It wasn't bright and shiny but the way it was laying there what light there was from the sky was reflecting off this little horn like a Hollywood spotlight. Even in the dark I knew in an instant what it was but I still couldn't believe it. It's not perfect either because one end is bent back over toward the center but its my little horn and it's the prettiest thing this old fart had seen all day. Shortly after that I decided to call it a day and head back to the ranch to figure out how to clean it and decide on weather to try and straighten it out or leave it like it is. I'll probably leave it once it's cleaned just like it came out of the hole.
I had posted some bullets on the ID page but someone said I should put it here if I needed help with finding out what these strange bullets are that I have been finding so I'll post a link to my other thread in hopes someone knows what they may be. Thanks!
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=155673
I got home and didn't even take it out of my bag I just stripped down and headed to the shower to get today's collection of flesh eating vermin off my body while there was still enough left to get up the stairs. The next day I got up for my morning coffee and with cup in hand I headed out to the garage to check out my goodie bag to see what was there. I was almost like a kid again heading down stairs to find my Easter basket to see what the Easter bunny had left for me.
Cool!, a new bullet sort of like the ones I found earlier but it only had 3 rings rather than 4 like the others, a few more Gardner's, several of the other 3 ring bullets like I have been finding there and a bunch of really banged up bullets that had found their way into that hard clay bank. I opened my button jar and pulled out the button to see what it was but it had so much junk encrusted on it I could not tell what it was. It seemed a lot heavier than most eagle buttons but I figured it was all the junk piled up on it so I still wasn't too excited about it. I started reading up on how to properly clean something like this because this wasn't just the normal dirt this stuff was really caked on. I used to just brush them under warn water until they came clean but I have been reading lately that is not the best way to do it and yes I do have a number of what would have been nice New York and eagle buttons for the display case but before I was done they were in 3 or 4 pieces.
I tried lightly scraping the face with a tooth pick to get the loose stuff off and after awhile I got down to the meat and a S popped out at me. I knew right then this was no eagle button so I decided to read up a little more and came across a page where someone was using Naval Jelly to melt away the corrosion so I headed off to the hardware store to pick up some.
When I got back I ran upstairs to get started. I put it on the face and let it sit for a minute or two then started rubbing a small area of the face with a tooth pick and after about an hour low in behold once it was rinsed off and dried there before me was a big ol star in the middle. I got on the internet to look up what it might be and before long I was looking at my very own button from the Loan Star State of Texas. I couldn't believe it. I don't have many state buttons so that was really something but for it to be from a state so far away and one that was really more of a supply state for the South than anything else was unbelievable.
It's not perfect because it did have a boo boo on the face but after several hours of work I got it to where you can make out what it is. I'm afraid to try an clean it much more because of what might happen so I may just preserve it the way it is. But if anyone has any other ideas I'm all ears.
Yesterday, I couldn't wait for the sun to start heading toward the western sky so it would cool off enough to make the trip through the woods to my little honey hole but finally, hot or not I was soaked down with deep woods off, had my go bag packed with 2 water bottles, spare batteries, flash lights and other important stuff and I was off again. I have been coming up to the site from a different direction each time so I can hunt up to the spot in order to cover the whole area. I usually try to give it about a half hour of general searching and if I don't find anything I head on in. There is a lot of trash in the area and yesterday I came in from the back side where there is a really big trash pile that has been scattered out over several acres and I started picking up bullets and some modern coins but it was taking too long to sort through all the junk so I decided to head on over to that hill top before it got too late. I wanted to give that area that I found that button a really good going over but once I got close I started to dig bullets one after another and it was almost dark before I finally made it over to the place I found the button. It's really thick right there and hard to hunt even in good light but after digging several more bullets and a couple junk items it was so dark I was having trouble picking my way around. I was feeling my way along when I got a really nice tone right in the middle of a clump of briars and after kicking some of the loose stuff off I got down to business, pin pointed the target and made my incision around the spot. Most of the stuff here is either right on the top, just below the root mat if it is light weight but some of the bullets have been down in the clay a foot or more so I first make a clean cut all the way around a target then try to remove the top layer so I can place it back over the hole when I'm done. Most times it comes right off in a nice neat piece but sometimes the roots just wont budge and you have to rip the whole thing apart. This time the mat pulled right off and as I pulled it off to sit aside even in the pitch dark night I saw it. It wasn't bright and shiny but the way it was laying there what light there was from the sky was reflecting off this little horn like a Hollywood spotlight. Even in the dark I knew in an instant what it was but I still couldn't believe it. It's not perfect either because one end is bent back over toward the center but its my little horn and it's the prettiest thing this old fart had seen all day. Shortly after that I decided to call it a day and head back to the ranch to figure out how to clean it and decide on weather to try and straighten it out or leave it like it is. I'll probably leave it once it's cleaned just like it came out of the hole.
I had posted some bullets on the ID page but someone said I should put it here if I needed help with finding out what these strange bullets are that I have been finding so I'll post a link to my other thread in hopes someone knows what they may be. Thanks!
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=155673
and I love the infantry insignia! Great job with the finds!
I also noticed in your pile of bullets some Garibaldi bullets! These are very hard to find and show up very seldom but when they do you can bet most of them came from a confederates pouch or rifle. They are Italian.
