another what is this anomaly

[treasureman]

Any ideas ? When I was washing it under tap loads of red soil seemed to dilute and pour off it. And some red pigment or what ever still stays there. The copper riveted piece was along side it . And looks as though it used to be attached onto it. This does not feel like weak iron. And it's more petrified than rusted . Found in Sandy soil near an old dried swamp land maybe a few hundred metres from the ocean. Just a tool perhaps If so how old and what era ?

 

[treasureman]

And to mention the big ball it's concrete solid tough sand that has over time stuck to it. I also notice more iron and red iron coming through like there is more to the object than just a long him piece of iron. More to the build so to speak.
I have only found one other item in the past that had the same sand solidification around it. And what was inside was somewhat preserved immaculately.

 

[treasureman]

Seems to have a perfect place for the riveted copper piece. It's very heavy too

 

[silver]

Will you give that a Mollassus bath/soak TM ?

 

[Wally69]

Interesting

It looks a bit like a bush knife with the iron sand ball being where the handle is but the thickness doesn't look right. The copper could have been part of a sheath.

Although, the other way around, it has the shape of an Indian sword or machete handle.

Looking forward to seeing how it cleans up.

 

[AtomRat]

I can't help but think the copper cladding and pins are ancient chinese but that's wishful thinking

 

[treasureman]

not too sure what to do. i dont think mollasses soak will cut through the sand ball anytime soon. may weaken it but its as solid as stone almost.
now this was found pretty much in the same area as a canon ball i found from a swivel gun. so maybe as old as this canon ball. and pretty much in the same area as musket ball finds. maybe i should go back there and spend a bit of time looking in the knooks and crannies of this area. still no treasure

 

[treasureman]

maybe mollases soak is in order

 

[treasureman]

On the topic of swords. I found this just over a week ago. It was quite deep and was in an upright position almost stabbed into the ground at some point . I dug it up. And sure enough has something similar to a Handle and looks like an old rusted sword. Any thoughts or just a stake?

 

[Wally69]

Could be

I have had some success busting open rust balls/layers with a light tap of a hammer to reveal the solid item inside, but it is quite an agressive approach.

 

[treasureman]

i may give it a go gentle tapper tapper tapper

 

[treasureman]

well busted it open.
what was inside the ball was black burnt preserved wood. must have been a wooden handle around the iron. nothing intriguing inside just burnt black timber.
aw well

 

[Chewy]

Fire poker maybe?

 

[AtomRat]

Do you recon its possible some of these items have suffered a lightning strike to get blobs of sand that big onto wood?
If you'd like some info on electrolysis which burst the rust off and uses hydrogen and oxygen to bubble its way into cracks to loosen more rust. Its very effective on item like this as long as you have a container big enough to do it in

For example I dug up a very rusted 1" wide rasp / file which was chunky as hell like your sand ball image. I zapped it in the solution overnight and the crust fell off, exposing the wraught iron below which cleaned up using 000 steel wool ( don't have much left.. I keep making pretty fireballs with it ) and it now sits on my 'finds' shelving. Electrolysis also loosened an old USA padlock free to the point of being useable again as well. Some items..depending on how far the have deteriorated, will not last electrolysis

 

[treasureman]

hi atom rat
are you using a car battery charger as the electrical input?
i have used elextrolysis many times in the past and think its great. but with this kind ofsand ball it was too effective. however probably did loosen it to the point where it broke apart easier.
the funny thing was today was when i hit it with a hammer it started fizzing and hissing like heaps of compressed air was escaping and sure enough bubbles started to sizzle fizz out of the ball, me thinking it was going to explode from high compression. but it released ok and i hammered away. it was definitely some wood part to the object in that ball.
and lightening may one point it did hit it and cause it to solidify.

i have the same thoery on why lightening hits trees. over hundreds of years bullets enter trees one way or another and as well as copper nails over time make there way into trees.
could be an easy explanation why lightening hits trees.

 

[AtomRat]

Sorry for my late reply mate. Sometimes use a car battery but scrapped them all so I use a power supply unit from jarcar supplying 17.5 volts to the 'bath' or near 12v. Make sure you don't have an open flame nearby while those bubbles build up

I use an old pc power supply at times as well as I have plenty of them sitting about in scrap bins too and use the 12v or other outputs for projects. You just need to use a jumper pin in the right place and short out the on off button on the large connector which goes to the motherboard. Off my head I can't remember which pins it is but a simple google search will show how.

 

[treasureman]

Are these methods more effective than a car charger or same result ? I hear the more power the better result

 

[Paulmarr]

Hi Treasureman

It is the Amps not the volts which is responsible for a better performing electrolysis baths. I have a power supply that not only controls the voltage but also the amps.
You can use a very small voltage (3 volts for example) but the amps need to be between .8 and 3 amps to get the best results. This also is the case with plating in zinc and nickel which I do in my restoration hobbies... I purchased my power supply and kit from http://www.janekits.com.au/

They are very knowledgable and give free support to customers - they don't make the information free to the public but include an extensive booklet with all the info when you buy a kit.

Cheers
Paul

 

[silver]

Great post TM,... Hope it is a sword !