What are these?

[Jason Preglow]

Hey everyone!

I happened upon a lot of these during my evening scavenging run.  Can anyone tell me what they are?

 

Thanks!

[ThomasPowers]

Are they magnetic?  LOCATION? (If I found them on a beach in Belize there might be different possibilities compared to a mineshaft in the desert SW of the USA...)  Do they all have those marks in generally the same place?  Does it appear to be chisel marks or a kerf? 

[Stash]

How big are they? Kinda looks like the old Good n Plenty candy. (or were the black ones Mike and Ikes? I forget now.)

Steve

[Glenn]

More details and better photos (with a size reference) are needed.

[Steve Sells]

looks like a cigar tube

[Frosty]

That's what I was thinking Steve. The other thought would get me moderated.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

I was wondering about pegs for large stone masonry alignment and the "damage" from cutting the mortar joint.

[Steve Sells]

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

That's what I was thinking Steve. The other thought would get me moderated.

Me too, I thought the same tho it could be a microchip like they use to tag dogs

[Frosty]

Must be what it is then.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jason Preglow]

I found this in Michigan actually...ann arbor area.

It is magnetic, and it's a solid slug.  The mark made by the cut is not typical.

It's about 1/2" wide and 4-5" long.

I found a whole collection of them in a plastic bin out for the trash.

[Frazer]

I can't tell if it's a reflection or a seam down the length from casting, but did you try spark testing it to see it it's cast iron or steel?  

[ThomasPowers]

Can you ask the person who threw them out?

[JHCC]

Railgun ammunition?

[ThomasPowers]

Could you use explosively driven piezoelectrics to provide burst power to your rail gun and avoid the massive battery or capacitor pack?

[Shabumi]

If you were in cattle country and they were magnetized I would guess magnetic bolus' for cows. They sit in the bottom of the first stomach and catch stray bits of metal that the cow eats and keeps it there instead of letting it pass through the rest of the intestinal tract. We've used them a couple times when we put our cows in a pasture that has alot of old fencing in it. 

Non-magnetized... perhaps a bolus to help keep an iron horse running strong

[arkie]

If a cow eats enough metal bits to coat the magnetic bolus, how do you get it out?  Wait for the cow to die or go through the meat processing plant?

[Farmall]

could be for a magnetic stirrer used to mix chemical solutions.  Drop them in the solution to be mixed, and when the stirrer is turned on, it has a magnetic in the base that spins and this makes this one spin.  I've got some about 2 inches long.  They come in various sizes for various sizes of beakers and other glassware

[Shabumi]

6 hours ago, arkie said:

how do you get it out?

You dont. I just sits there collecting. As the bits of metal rust, The rust passes without harm, but the bolus stays. You could gather it at harvest time, but it is generally considered a consumable. We would check to see if we had bolussed a cow by bringing a compass, if it pointed moo north, then the cow had been done.

I've seen the scrap iron pile at our local mobile butchers home shop. You'd be surprised what a cow will swallow. Along with the expected bits of wire and nails I've seen fencing pliers, pocket knives and a couple horse (pony) shoes in that pile, all still stuck to the bolus'.

[SLAG]

Mr. Farmall,

The magnetic stirrers, used in labs, were called  "fleas".

They are usually coated with an outer plastic layer.

SLAG.

[horse]

True that Shabumi. I grew up in my father’s slaughter house more literally true than I would like to imagine. Emptying stomach contents was part of the process. Almost always in dairy cows as I recall. I think beef cattle were usually harvested before being affected by “wire”. 

[Shabumi]

Yeah, they swallow first and chew later.

We dont have to worry about the steers or the sale calves, but we have to take precautions so our mother cows don't get hardware disease. They free range on forestry ground (legally) in the summer, and in their range is a ghost town and 2 other town sites that had burned or decayed away, so you never know what they will pick up. 

[JHCC]

Just trying to get more iron in their diet.

[arkie]

19 hours ago, Shabumi said:

We would check to see if we had bolussed a cow by bringing a compass, if it pointed moo north, then the cow had been done.

I've seen the scrap iron pile at our local mobile butchers home shop. You'd be surprised what a cow will swallow. Along with the expected bits of wire and nails I've seen fencing pliers, pocket knives and a couple horse (pony) shoes in that pile, all still stuck to the bolus'.

That's about the craziest thing(s) I've ever heard!  Never leave home without your compass.  Learnt somthin' new today. 

[Frosty]

I guess you've heard a vet explain to the new kid what the long plastic glove is for. It was an eye opener when I asked, then Dad made me watch. Ewwww!  

Frosty The Lucky.

[arkie]

Mike Rowe on "Dirty Jobs" got the job of using the glove several times....really tough to watch.  Double "Ewwwww!"