Summer of 2014 Warning Pic Heavy!!

Bet you sweated for those.... Glad you had a VERY Productive summer.

Ca you tell more about pic 4and the wood in the bin?

You killed it this year! Sweet relics. I'm impressed with the amount of shells/cannonballs.

Awesome summer, congrats on all the hard earned goodies!

Wow what an impressive collection of relics. You had a great summer.

You sure were busy this summer! Fantastic

Awsome relics congrats

Alright man. What a haul! Great finds. Pretty awesome you found the shell and cannonball that way and didn't have to drill them, or take them to someone.

That is a really nice assortment. Congratulations.

Holy Cow!!! A lifetime collection in one summer WTG!

Spectra1 said:

Ca you tell more about pic 4and the wood in the bin?

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I'm not sure what to tell you about pic # 4 It's just a shot of the brass spur I found. I had it leaned up against a large pewter cannon fuse insert so the two pieces are not as one if that is what you were thinking. There is a couple bayonet scabbard tips, part of a bayonet, part of a pewter round ball mold and a bullet or two. Sorry, the pic is kinda fuzzy I was in a hurry when I took these. I had them laid out on the garage floor and the light was bad. I can take some better shots if there is something you would like a closer look at.

OH...And the wood in the plastic bin are small pieces of wood that have lead balls embedded in them. I found this giant pine tree years ago that was dead and nothing but about 40 feet of it standing. One day in a storm the wind blew over a big oak tree and it knocked this big ol stub down. We cut up the oak tree for fire wood and once it was cleaned up I had some time left before dark so I got my machine out to hunt around the area because the dirt was torn up pretty good from where we had been working and from the big oak smashing into the ground.

When I got back the sun was at an angle where it was hitting right on a big part of that old pine tree where it had split open. There in the light right before my very eyes was a light colored spot that just didn't look right and when I got closer I could see part of a bullet. I chopped off the piece of wood with the bullet in it and once I put it away I took the old nautilus and waved the coil over the log and it rang out in a half a dozen other places too. I spent the rest of that day and most of the next digging bullets out of what was left of the log.

In all I got 20 or more bullets out of that tree that day. Then for the next year every time I went by the site I would find a few more. I told my son about it and he told a couple of his buddies and they also found many bullets lodged in that old tree. In all I know there were over 50 bullets, probably more I didn't hear about that were lodged in that old log. I still go by there and peck around and find small pieces of wood with lead in it.

The next year they logged those woods and when they got to the part where that old tree was one of the log skidders was piling up some brush and he uncovered a large part of the upper portion of the old log that had been covered with underbrush and I got him to lay it off to the side so I could have a look see. There right where the tree had broken off from the rest of the tree I found a 12 lb solid shot lodged right in the middle along with about 40 more bullets of all different types in the top part of the old rotted tree. I gave the skidder guy a couple which he gladly took and then took my treasure home.

Out of all those bullets I dug out of that tree I only ended up with about three or four. I had them piled up on my work bench along with the big piece with the cannon shot in it waiting for me to cut up the sections in smaller and neater pieces for display. I also had a loaded 30 lb parrott shell sitting on the bench waiting on me to decide what to do with it. One day when I got home someone had come by for a visit and made up my mind for me and along with it took all the other stuff I had laying out on the bench too. They didn't take anything but my relics and I know it had to be someone I knew.

I am thankful I had already cleaned and cut out a couple of the blocks of wood with bullets in them and had already put in the house. I would have taken the one with the cannon shot in it in the house but I could only see about half of the ball and wanted to be sure it wasn't a loaded before I took it in to be placed over my mantle.

The Wolf said:

Alright man. What a haul! Great finds. Pretty awesome you found the shell and cannonball that way and didn't have to drill them, or take them to someone.

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Well both are still loaded with powder but the wooden fuses were rotted away and after carefully pecking away the crusted dirt in the fuse hole I can see the powder inside. I'd like to get most of it out if I could but it's something about digging around in a loaded shell that makes me a little nervous.

The funny thing about one of these solid shot is that I didn't even have my machine with me when I found it. One day I was out checking the construction site down the road to see what they were stirring up that day and as I was walking by a topsoil pile they had been piling dirt on when I tripped over a big clod of clay that had rolled down the side of the pile. I grabbed a small sapling to keep from falling over and as I did I was looking straight down at the ground and right before my eyes was this round ball. It looked like just another piece of clay at first but as I straightened up and was ready to start walking again I stomped on the round clay ball as I let out a couple colorful words just to let those pieces of clay know just who they were messing with......trying to trip up a man on a mission like that and you get stomped! Yeah right, I knew in an instant that this wasn't the usual ball af clay as the pain shot up through my ankle to my knee then straight up my back to my brain. Damn that hurt I thought and just as I was about to give it a good kick for good measures I saw it was not a clay ball but what looked like a cannon ball. I said no! that can't be......can it????? As soon as I grabbed it to pick it up I knew what I had was a cannon ball.

I guess it was in the dirt they were digging and as they spread it out on the topsoil pile it had rolled out along the side and rolled down the side of the pile knowing I would come along to pick it up.

WTG on the finds! Hope you have that cannon ball soaking to keep the powder wet.

Damn buddy you one hell of a summer.

olddude said:

I'd like to get most of it out if I could but it's something about digging around in a loaded shell that makes me a little nervous.

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Yeah really. We took a shell to Pete down in Chesterfield last year and he cleaned out the powder with a copper/brass nozzle he had for his garden hose. Talk about nervous...... he was standing on top of a puddle of wet gun powder mud, smoking a cig.

Wow olddude! You had a heck of a summer digging! Some terrific finds and even better stories to go with them. Appreciate you sharing with us, and hope you have a great fall/winter diggin

The Wolf said:

Yeah really. We took a shell to Pete down in Chesterfield last year and he cleaned out the powder with a copper/brass nozzle he had for his garden hose. Talk about nervous...... he was standing on top of a puddle of wet gun powder mud, smoking a cig.

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OH Yeah.......so that's how they get the powder out. ( a light bulb goes off in his head) I think I have a brass nozzle. It's one that looks like a fire hose nozzle only smaller. It's not adjustable, just shoots a tight stream so that might work. Prolly have to wait til it gets a little warmer cause it sounds like you could get wet doing something like that.

Did yours have grape shot in it? I don't think either of these I have do but I think it would be kind of neat to get them out and display them next to the shell.