What is it?

Part of a ball valve mechanism from a kitchen faucet?

Don't think so. The parting line and sprue marks are still there. Unless it was overmolded with polymers. No holes, either. No way to control it.

Possibly a "raw casting" of a steel ball bearing that never made it to final finishing?

Just curious where you're located and if any steel machining/manufacturing ever occurred in that locale!

Can't wait to see a close up shot of the steel ball.....

No clue of the source, it wasn't native to this area, as far as I know. No marks of any kind that would indicate any post-finishing.

Remember, I'm in the land of many guns, wide streets and narrow minds, Mesa AZ.

65 million years ago.. the earth was struck by a small moon, which ripped the earth in half... and scattered small spheres of melted rock and metal everywhere...

okay, probably not the source, but you never know...

but perhaps if you test the metallurgy (milo?) you can figure out what sort of process formed it. (cast, forged, recipe etc.)

cheers,

Chris

To PlbMak it will be a thing of great wonder that it didn't appear in a Friday afternoon picture quiz.

lyn, sometimes steel shot is used in a tumbler to break down minerals into powder form, such as limestone used for cement products, borax, talc, garnet, some metals/ores, etc. And sometimes they're used to help polish gemstones

Are there any active or closed mineral processing mines near to you? Even an inactive cement plant?

How much corrosion is present on the surface? Any pitting observed? Due to the low humidity in your area the amount of corrosion, or lack thereof, may help determine or narrow down the age of the steel ball.......

Just a thought!

It could be from a ball mill. That's a definite maybe. However, it appears to me that it was never used as such because the two sprue marks and the parting line are still well defined. The surface gives the appearance of having been glass beaded or lightly sand blasted. It's rusty, like it's been outside for years.

There is a cement plant about two miles from here, but nothing closer since we've lived here. That's 36 years.

I'll try to send a clearer picture later.

Just a thought

Three questions:

1) How cold does it get down there?

2) Have you seen any brass monkeys hangin' around? If yes, do they seem unhappy?

3) Is there only one?

[edit] Post Script: I wouldn't put it on the kitchen counter!

OK,

it's 25.40mm across the sprues and 26.1/26.3mm across the parting line.

I'll post the other picture here, now that I can.

No brass monkey balls, and since it's not lead, I doubt that it's a mini ball. You can pick it up with a magnet.

So far the ball mill charge seems most likely, although I've never seen mill balls that were unfinished like this is. I may take it out to the grinder and take some rust off it later. Maybe grind a small flat on it to see what the metal looks like.

Later.

lyn, please don't take your grinder to that ball, as you may damage it. Instead, use a rust remover of some sort.

You may want to contact the local historian in your area to ascertain if this ball may have been manufactured or used in some industrial processing plant somewhere in your region.

Or, you may want to contact a museum that deals primarily with industry and the industrial revolution? May even want to contact the Smithsonian and get there take on the steel ball.

I doubt that it is a mini-ball or a musket ball, as those were generally made of lead, not steel....but hey, you never know!??? Take it to a local gun shop, especially one that deals with antique guns and see what they think it is.

I've decided agains any modification, at this time, even rust remover.

Ball joint off a 47 Ford pick up truck.

No wait, its too small for that. A 42 Ford pick up truck.

It's just one of Pluto's Moons that made it to Earth. That's all.

I don't know what it is, but I've got one too!

OK, mine's a bit different, but it's got a pretty weird back story.

When I was a teenager my parents cut down a 100+ year old English oak tree that was taking up much of their garden. I got the very large job of cutting it all up for firewood.

Anyway, I split one of the big logs and there, somewhere in the middle of the tree, was this steel ball - about the same dimensions as yours - a little smaller.

As you can see in the pictures, I kept the bit of wood that had grown around it.

I have included a ruler in the pictures (one side of the ruler had these really funny units called "inches" on it ?? weird huh? - I included those too for a laugh).

The ball, like yours, is attracted by magnets, but this one has a spike on it which I think is the rusted remains of a steel dowel - like a thin handle - coming off from one point.

So this doesn't solve the mystery, but adds a new mystery Australian dimension...

How astronomical are the odds that you would have split the log in such a way that it was exposed?

Interesting story. Thanks for sharing.

could it have fallen into the crotch of the tree decades ago and then the tree grew around it? could it be from something that was hung on a tree limb and this item may have fallen off it? it looks like a tack, possibly from a saddle or harness. is it silver plated? count the growth rings from it's original location going outward to determind the time period.

This one seems to have been nailed to the tree, which then grew around it.

"AN ALIEN IMPLANT"?

RobertOz, I think I know what you have. The fact it was stuck in a tree and forgotten supports this wild a$$ guess.

From the images, It appears the 'ball' part is closer to the bark. If so, it very much looks like a screw starter used by loggers, timber cruisers, tree trimmers...

If a steel hook or eye needs to be threaded into a tree, a worker will take the starter and, with a swing of the arm, pierce a deep starter hole into a tree. This makes turning the wood screw in quite a bit easier.

All this assumes an amount of the spike has corroded away; the remaining spike is much too short in the images. Can you confirm?

That makes sense (except that it was in a garden - cheeky loggers!)...

But yes - you can see in the wood a trace of where the remainder of the original spike was...

I'll do some reseach on that angle - it's been a mystery for a few years now!

Thanks

Robert

Howdy, off hand, due to the lack of any kind of post casting tool marks, i would say it resembles the steel shot from an old naval shell, I.E. exploding round, "grape shot" type of ammunition, are there any old military installations near your area? Or a train station, maybe it got lost in transit? Also, it could definitely be from a ball mill, excess stock that was never used? Anyways, interesting find, goodluck!

'one of the boys found in the yard' -as in children?

This type of unfinished ballast can be found in children's toys, as in 'weebles wobble but they don't fall down'

cnc

Yes, as in children. Three boys, 5/7/12. There's not much they can't take apart. I'll see if I can find a weeble to mutilate, if it looks like it could be the right size. I realize it could have come from any number of toys.

Lyn, I'm sure that is remanence of a Super Nova from billons of years ago!

From your photo it appears to be iron ore. Have you considered that? If there is a train track close by, they are mounded in cars and lots of the ore falls off as they travel.

Ball mill balls for processing Borax or some other mineral in the Southwest. Looks like it has been discarded in some way, stolen for later sale, or possibly rejected for some reason. Aged look tells a story, very common occurences, have seen often, & aging appearance confirms my thoughts. Any inventory on quantity also can mean a lot. Any RRs or truck routes in the vicinity.? I really do see things like this a lot around mining sites that use crushers and/or ball mills at the source of attraction. Sell them as an oddity, with a bit of color history. I have even did that with sintered iron ore. Milo, are resident Metals Guru will probably agree, Milo, call me & we can do a lunch on Shell's ticket before I leave Holmes County within the month. Respectfully. Don "Luigi" qaqcpipeman

It's from a ball mill

If you put it on the grinder and it appears too grainy consider this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TaconitePellet.JPG

I used to see them in lots of sizes when I was a kid. Kept a bunch for souvenirs but they are all gone now. Most of the ones I had were right at one inch in size. They all had parting lines.

Mine is obviously cast in a mold.

Just curious - could that 'sprue' be a broken screw?

Interesting point.

_{BTW - you any good at crosswords?}

_{I'm astounding at crosswords - given a scribe who can spell.}

Don't think so.

There's a duplicate feature on the other side which leads me to believe that there was more than one cast in a multi-cavity mold.

Ok. only asking because in the pic it has a different hue/crystal/texture/feel, to it, like mild steel verses wrought iron. Have you got a hardness tester handy by chance?

Could be a musket ball.

It's iron, steel.

It is a steel ball that one of the boys found in the yard.

Right! Good job. Thanks.

It looks like a Tuit.

A procrastination prevention device.

Most of us are familiar with the phrase:

"I'll do it when I get a round Tuit."

Me too.

As Zork returned to his home planet millenniums ago after a weekend bender. He told his story, how he graffiti these big pictures on the ground in the southern hemisphere, draw pictures of space ships in the Mideast. and then unloaded his spent fuel balls through out the planet.

What a character.

I was with ya till the spent fuel balls bit......

As Zork was probably a Vogon sent to earth to lay out an intergalactic highway construction project...It is a safe bet that that he dumped his waste processing chamber's contents before hitting hyper space .....

That right you got an ET turd in your hand....

Cheers,

Eric

Tastes like an iron ball to me.

I'm thinking ball mill charge or very remote, but maybe grape shot.

Concidering what Vogons eat it should taste like iron...

YUCK!

Ciao,

Eric

Tastes like an iron ball to me.

Actually Zork mentioned he acquired a pet from planet ozmo which he named "Dumper". Zork complains that he has to walk Dumper often. Dumpers diet is rich in iron.

guess why they named it Dumper?

Is that a iron ball eatin grin I see on you?

I remember an old line that went.."How did you get their legs apart?" Does that fit here?

Looking at your 2^nd photo (at #16) and jdretired's (at #55) - I reckon jdr's cracked it. GA to him.