# Privy dug cannonball



## appliedlips (Dec 4, 2006)

Thought some of you guys would be interested in seeing a cannonball my son and I dug from a mid 1800's era privy a few weeks ago.It was fused together with some other rusty metal and only had a hunch what was in the mess because of the weight.This is the first I have dug.Makes a great doorstop.Happy hunting,Doug


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## appliedlips (Dec 4, 2006)

Oh yeah,the picture.I knew I forgot something!


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## acls (Dec 4, 2006)

Gotta love those Civil War cannonballs.  Nice find Doug.


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## Gunsmoke47 (Dec 4, 2006)

Way too cool! Congrats! []


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## cc6pack (Dec 4, 2006)

Doug,

 Nice find  those go for about $150.00  at a Civil War Show cleaned. I can send you the formula to clean it if you're interested. It should be close to 4.62 inches diameter for the 12 lb. solid. It was the most common shell used in the CW. Both North and South used them.  Here is a site for CW Artillery.

http://civilwarartillery.com/


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## swizzle (Dec 5, 2006)

Privy dug cannonball?!? LMAO The first thing I thought of was great granpa musta had a diet high in iron. Nice find by the way. [] Swizzle


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## zanes_antiques (Dec 6, 2006)

Well, I might as well put up what I think is a cannon ball too. Maybe someone here can confirm or deny my conclusion. This thing is about 5" in dia. and over 20lbs for sure. It had a ground sprue(seam). I don't mean to use your thread Doug but the oppurtunity has presented itself. If you have trouble with yours rolling around on display maybe a shot of the wood holder I made for mine will be of a benefit to you. I drilled a flat bottomed hole with a forsner bit in the center of a piece of wood and it looks great sitting next to my fireplace iron.


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## zanes_antiques (Dec 6, 2006)

one of the holder. By the way what are the dimensions and the weight of your ball?


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## appliedlips (Dec 6, 2006)

Zane,Cool stand you made!Did you dig that one in a privy?The one I have is really pitted and rusted from being in privy with other iron rather than being in the ground by itself.Mine is a 12 lb.ball I think and is about 4 1/2" in diameter.How did you guys fare in that yard you were digging,did you get anything good after that first day?I know Meech was coming into town to dig,hope you guys did well.Doug


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## zanes_antiques (Dec 6, 2006)

I'm still in there Doug and I am still finding stuff there. Believe it or not I did find a cannon ball there but it was in the shed I took apart and buried. I gave it to a digger friend of mine from Wheeling. This one in the thread though I got from a nice old lady because she knew I liked old stuff.


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## cc6pack (Dec 6, 2006)

Zane

 It's not a cannon ball, you will never see a seam on a real cannon ball. You see a lot this type thing on ebay, a lot of them are used to crush rock in a tumbler. I've never seen an ball in the size and weight you describe. Your's seemed to have an attachement for a counter balance for a crane or something along those lines. Check out the link in my other post to explore CW shells.


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## bottlenutboy (Dec 6, 2006)

it may be a shotfoot for track and field


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## capsoda (Dec 6, 2006)

Naaaa, Shoot puts weight 12 or 16 pounds. You would only put a 20lb shoot once. Then they would call you lefty or righty depending on which arm was left. It aint easy to push 16lbs. Any of you out of shape types or old geesers like me tries it and I'm gonna say I told ya so.[] It will pull things you forgot you had.

 5in 20 pounder is a standard size cannon ball.


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## cobaltbot (Dec 7, 2006)

I have an old shotput it has the 12 for 12 lbs. weight stamped on it.  There were also weights like this for closing gates but I think they would have something welded on to hook a chain to.


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## tazmainiendigger (Dec 7, 2006)

Hey folks I just gotta put my 2 cents in...Here's a mouse that fell in a iron filled privy....haha rrrrrrrright! It is cast iron kinda looks like a cannon ball any clues on this one???


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## tazmainiendigger (Dec 7, 2006)

Petrified mouse on steroids?


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## tazmainiendigger (Dec 7, 2006)

This thing is oooooooold


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## southern Maine diver (Dec 7, 2006)

Hey Taz...

 That is almost as odd looking as an "Obi-Wan" covered in lobsters...[]

 Good to see that you get on to the forum once in a while...[]  That sure is an odd piece you picked up... found anything else lately?[:-]

 Wayne
 It never rains underwater


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## swizzle (Dec 8, 2006)

It looks a bit big for a paperweight so I'm guess its a cutsy looking doorstop. Swizzle


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