Mill a log, find a prize!

[Brmorgan]

So I was finishing of an old Douglas Fir cant that I'd started a couple months ago out at my dad's, and on the last cut I ran across this little gem:

I wasn't really at all suprised though. The bark and outer wood of this log was peppered with 3mm birdshot too which I noticed when I started the log. That DID scare me a bit, because all of a sudden I was seeing metal bits flying around and didn't know where they were coming from. I had a whole bunch of them saved but I can't remember where...

Since the rear end of the bullet was relatively intact, I measured it - 5/16" / 8mm. So I figure it was some variety of a .30 cal or a 7mm. Sure gives you an idea of how it would :censored: you up though.

The fingerjoint mill I used to work at had a board in the office with a bullet in it that had gone thru the planer. That bullet was perfectly intact though, except for the planer damage.

I would imagine this is quite a common occurrence around old Civil War battlegrounds, eh?

 

[Rookie1]

Thats cool.What are the odds of cutting that in half.It didnt mess up you cutters did it :biggrinbounce2:

 

[BobL]

Nice pics Borgan.

Thats cool.What are the odds of cutting that in half.It didnt mess up you cutters did it :biggrinbounce2:

Brass and lead are OK - regular chain will go straight through them. Now if you hit a round containing some depleted U - that would be rather interesting as this is harder than your average nail or mild steel bolt and around the same as the steel in the chain.

 

[woodshop]

Intersting how the bullet left such a rough path in the wood. I've hit several bullets milling so far, but have never chanced upon such an exact plane as to see the path through the wood, what luck. The few I've hit have all been 22 cal though, and thus might not have gone through the wood very far at all, and thus there would be no long path as in yours. That's a fantastic picture. The one I found was buried deep in the middle of a huge white oak. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[BobL]

Nice pic Woodshop.

I've been totally intrigued by BMorgans pic and I'll try to offer an explanation for what possibly happened. The Lead slug is contained inside a brass jacket so its probably a high(er) velocity round ? The allows it to penetrate a long way into the wood where the deceleration raises the temperature of slug to the point where the casing ruptured and the brass jacket folds back over itself. This appears to have happend about where the biggest void occurs in the timber along the line of trajectory just behind where the bullet now resides. With the casing broken and folded back the lead now starts to melt or at least turn plastic and ooze out along the trajectory path. At this point the bullet is finally stopped. Also of interest is the forward compression lines left clearly in the timber on the RHS of the bullet.

Something that interests me is the other largish void along the trajectory pathway. What happened there?

Also why is there no lead scattered along the tractory path? I guess it could have been removed when cleaning the board.

A very unique pic indeed.

 

[MJR]

It looks like one of the newer bonded core bullets. The lead core held to the copper jacket very well. To match the cut with the bullet path is very lucky. Go buy a lotto ticket. You might be able to sell eBay.

 

[Trigger-Time]

Dollar to a dougnut, it's a expanding, hunting type bullet.

Now guessing, happend about 20 years ago.

Gary

 

[urbanlumberinc]

I've got a bullet in my dining room floor. The bullet was real close to the heart center of a huge (54" dbh) 126 year old white ash. I too measured it with a pair of calipers - .25cal. Didn't do any damage to any tooling though as the slug was all lead, no copper jacket.