Another 7-inch Brooke groundburst

[emike123]

I've been working on putting this beast back together and am almost finished.  It was in 22 pieces, and the 20 iron ones (other two were the sabot and fuse) had to be re-run through electrolysis.

Sham does a nice job putting groundburst shells back together so I thought I'd tackle it.  Bit off a lot in doing so...

This is a long pattern 7-inch Brooke shell fired from the CSS Richmond at Chaffin's Bluff.  Complete ones of these are found dumped from the Richmond at Trent's Reach.

[Lt12pdr]

Very nice job!

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Mke,
   Good work on putting it together, how about a close up of the fuze.
John

[CarlS]

Mike:

Very nice job and very cool relic!  If your first career doesn't work out I think you can make a go of restoration!  Might even get your own History Channel show!

[emike123]

Thanks.  Cleaned it up a little more so the surface color is more uniform and shot some pictures of the Archer percussion fuse for John.  Its a standard Archer but the bottom plug came out and the slider went bye bye with it.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Mike,
    Thank you, a beautiful speciman. I wonder what fuze would have screwed into the threaded hole used by this fuze adapter?
Best,
John

[emike123]

Thanks John.  The fuse screwed into a bushing the same size a watercap fuse adapter screws into.  You can see it screwed into the brass bushing in the 3rd picture from the bottom.  The bushing is secured to the shell but the fuse screws in and out of it still.

This shell was completely filled with cement when I got it.  Each iron fragment had a hole drilled through it for a large nail to secure it to the cement core.  The missing areas were also filled with cement except for in one case a frag from another shell was used in the large hole now visible.  Then the entire piece (not the sabot or fuse of course) was coated in a thin layer of fiberglass or Bondo-like substance before being painted black.  When I got it it was literally coming apart at the seams and so required a complete strip down. 

Another forum member turned me onto this shell.  At first I was very excited.  Then when I realized the magnitude of the effort I was concerned, but now I am happy to have done it.  Thanks to the forum member who got me into this project.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Mike,
  Well your efforts were rewarded, it is a beaut.  I believe my drawing of the fuze was made from your fuze.
Regards,
John

[swest47]

Now that is pretty sweet!