Solid metal brick?

blacksambellamy

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So I was diving in Cape Cod bay and found this solid metal brick with my metal detector. Any ideas what it could be ? A magnet lightly sticks to it. No markings on it at all
 

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So on my AT pro machine it reads 60-70..... is there anyway to tell what kind of metal this is ?



In my opinion and experience with the AT Pro and most detectors... a bigger metal object like the one you have found will always ring in the higher numbers. So I’d say the numbers are inaccurate. Just my piece of thought.


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Is it lead or steel? Hit it with a file for a look inside, a magnet should really stick or not.
I have lead bricks just like that.
 
Go to one of those cash for gold places. Many of them have an XRF machine that can tell you the composition of metal pieces.
 
That's really odd. I've seen lead bricks like that in nuclear facilities. Since it's not lead though, hmmmm.
I don't believe they'd use steel on a ship as a counter weight, ballast or the like. Steel is so easily corroded. Lot of work to make a weight, way easier to just pour lead, why steel. That being said, why isn't it all corroded???
Maybe it's some exotic material that's mildly magnetic. Even some stainless steels are magnetic.
As well shaped as it is, you could do a density test. Length x width x thickness equals volume. Then get an accurate weight of that thing. That'll give you a weight per cubic inch, it'd be better to use metrics by the way. Then google density of metals chart.
Say you have it figured out to be 22 grams per cubic centimeter. Look on the chart and compare to find what the material is. Might be a clue.
Could be an exotic metal being shipped as an ingot. Might just simply be a hunk of metal some guy brought home from work for a crab trap weight or the like.
I worked on a shark boat for awhile. We would get cut offs of copper rod about an inch in diameter from a guys work. I'd glue them to firecrackers (M80's). We'd get offshore and set up, light and drop a weighted M80 over the side every ten minutes for the first 45 minutes of drift. Theory being, sharks are attracted to low frequency sounds. We figured we were attracting sharks from 10 miles away. We always caught sharks (yum, Mako) so maybe we were right. But, if anyone dove there, they'd be perplexed as well. "Why are we finding these copper slugs all over?"
 
That's really odd. I've seen lead bricks like that in nuclear facilities. Since it's not lead though, hmmmm.
I don't believe they'd use steel on a ship as a counter weight, ballast or the like. Steel is so easily corroded. Lot of work to make a weight, way easier to just pour lead, why steel. That being said, why isn't it all corroded???
Maybe it's some exotic material that's mildly magnetic. Even some stainless steels are magnetic.
As well shaped as it is, you could do a density test. Length x width x thickness equals volume. Then get an accurate weight of that thing. That'll give you a weight per cubic inch, it'd be better to use metrics by the way. Then google density of metals chart.
Say you have it figured out to be 22 grams per cubic centimeter. Look on the chart and compare to find what the material is. Might be a clue.
Could be an exotic metal being shipped as an ingot. Might just simply be a hunk of metal some guy brought home from work for a crab trap weight or the like.
I worked on a shark boat for awhile. We would get cut offs of copper rod about an inch in diameter from a guys work. I'd glue them to firecrackers (M80's). We'd get offshore and set up, light and drop a weighted M80 over Ed the side every ten minutes for the first 45 minutes of drift. Theory being, sharks are attracted to low frequency sounds. We figured we were attracting sharks from 10 miles away. We always caught sharks (yum, Mako) so maybe we were right. But, if anyone dove there, they'd be perplexed as well. "Why are we finding these copper slugs all over?"


It was fully encrusted a huge blob of black stone. As I chipped it away I found this. Once exposed to the air it began to rust a little. It’s been in the water a long time. I thought about the lobster trap theory but this thing is way to heavy.... nobody in their right mind would put this in a trap.
 
Take a grinder to it and take a picture of the sparks. You can tell a lot about what kind of steel or if it is iron by the sparks that get thrown off.
 
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