Surprise!!!!

[coolford]

I'm in the process of building a bookcase type cabinet to go in our master bathroom.  I'm using wood from a black walnut that I harvested about 10 years ago after it was blown down in a hurricane and had cut into boards with a band saw mill.  Rough wood always has imperfections and one just works around them selecting the best pieces.  I didn't realize just what the imperfections were in several boards until when running them through my surface planner one of them didn't sound right.  Thankfully it was just a lead bullet and not jacketed.  The hard to believe part is that it did not damage the planer blades.   

[amecks]

I guess lead being a soft metal didn't hurt the blades.  Phew!  So is the bullet going to remain in place as part of the bookcase?  I think that would be cool.

[Yadda]

Neat! Definitely leave it.

[Bill Houghton]

Lead's pretty soft; not surprised it didn't faze the planer knives.

And, yeah: if you can work it into the design, it'll be neat.  I can hear the stories now, about how you tracked that walnut through the woods before downing it with just one shot.  Just be sure to use a film finish, to keep any lead dust from the house.

[coolford]

Yes, I have one board that has a lead bullet in it that I'm including in the finished work.

[gibsontool]

Cool, that will look real good.

[Northwoods]

It's a good thing you didn't hit this with your planer.  The Wife and I stayed here a few years back.  It seems that the lady of the house had Union relatives and she wanted the cannon ball left there so that the populace would know that she was being shown no favoritism by the unpleasant visitors from the North.

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/39162