6lbgun wrote:
> Pete, in the subject "Rev War Cannon Balls" you mentioned that you could determine whether a 12lb shell is
> a polygonal by the weight. The gentleman that I bought mine off of said that it may be a poly. The wood
> fuse adapter is present. Any help would be appreciated. Weight 8lbs 10.6oz (+ or _ .1oz)
A shell's weight can be influenced by various factors, such as the presence or absence of a metal fuze, presence or partial or complete absence of its powder charge, and "Graphitization" or other types of corrosion.
You said your wood-fuzed 12-pounder shell's fuze is present. A wood fuze adds very little weight, but its presence can indicate that some or all of the bursting-charge is still inside the shell. Has your shell been drilled and pressure-flushed for powder removal? Also, is your shell heavily pitted, and is its iron body "Graphitized" at all? The answers to those questions are important, because based on the weight info you posted, compared with the weight data I've compiled, your wood-fuzed 12-pounder is not a Polygonal Cavity shell, it is an ordinary Common-Shell (simple spherical cavity).
By the way, please permit me make a small correction to what you said about your 24-pounder shell's wall thickness. It cannot have 1.5-inch-thick walls. If it did, it would weigh about 21 pounds, not the 16 pounds 9 ounces you reported. Doing the math of your 24-pounder shell's diameter-to-weight ratio, its shell-wall thicknes is approximately .9-inch. You must have meant the depth of its fuzehole is 1.5 inches.
I think the answer to its non-tapered fuzehole is that it is from the Colonial era and/or it may be foreign-made.
Regards,
Pete