XX Crossed two items off my logging camp bucket list!

[highnam]

Luck was on my side this week....I found the log stamping hammer yesterday and if that wasn't exciting enough I got home and started looking through my books remembering a few photos of local log butt markings. I didn't find my stamp on the end of any logs, but to my shock I found a photo of what could be my hammer in the hands of a logger taken 100 years ago by a famous local photographer Darius Kinsey. The photo says. "Fir log, nine feet in diameter, on logging trucks at landing."
I'm sure a company had multiple stamp hammers and my stamp may not be the one in the photo, but It's still neat to know this stamp made it's mark on many Grandaddy Fir and cedar. Aside from a couple I.D. tags this is my only find directly related to the company.
The other bucket list find was a men's ring I found it sifting along with the comb. I believe the ring is green celluloid and has no markings. The comb is hard rubber from the "The Butler hard rubber company"

 

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[weemskat]

That is a awesome find and to find one in a photo is amazing. Congrats and hope you find some other great items.

 

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[DMN]

That would be a find in anybody's book. Will you be hitting that with some electrolysis? If so, post the cleaned find. Just really like those kind of recoveries. It's a real slice of history.

 

[highnam]

That would be a find in anybody's book. Will you be hitting that with some electrolysis? If so, post the cleaned find. Just really like those kind of recoveries. It's a real slice of history.

Thanks DMN, I would like to clean it up, I've had great success cleaning a double bit axe head using straight vinegar. I would be more comfortable with this method, any input would be appreciated.

 

[pa plateau hiker]

I've cleaned a few log stamps with electrolysis. It' a lot quicker then vinegar, only takes a couple days and won't hurt the stamp at all.

 

[highnam]

I've cleaned a few log stamps with electrolysis. It' a lot quicker then vinegar, only takes a couple days and won't hurt the stamp at all.

I have only tried to clean up small items using a salt/Calgon solution in warm water and adding tin foil. Would you mind passing along your recipe for a stamp hammer that has worked for you. Thanks.

 

[PikesPeakCharlie]

I've been hunting an 1880s logging camp for the last 2 years,,,, I knew nothing of logging stamps ,,,,,,,,,, I'll sure be looking for one now !!!! We have found some very nice iron relics ,and dig all signals. Congrats on a very cool find !!!!!

 

[highnam]

I've been hunting an 1880s logging camp for the last 2 years,,,, I knew nothing of logging stamps ,,,,,,,,,, I'll sure be looking for one now !!!! We have found some very nice iron relics ,and dig all signals. Congrats on a very cool find !!!!!

You never know with iron...I have been hunting the camp for two years as well, my first week ever metal detecting I dug anything that made my md go nuts. My first big find in the camp was iron...model 1894 Winchester saddle ring carbine! I've spent hundreds of hours in the camp after that first hook was set. Good luck to you Pikes Peak Charlie, if you find stamp hammer it could be caked with dirt and might not be totally recognizable...I poked at it with a stick and saw the raised initials, then discovered the handle hole.

 

[Mich. Wolverine]

Awesome hammer and pictures. They are one of the rarest of all the logging relics to find. After 20 years I finally found one here in Michigan last summer. Thanks for posting it.
Wolverine.

 

[detroitdigger]

Cool finds.

 

[surf]

​

Howdy highnam,

Sounds like you've been hitting this site Gangnam style. Sorry, couldn't resist.

On a more serious note, I wonder if the stamp might not be for Weyerhaeuser's Longview Timber...

 

[BuckleBoy]

INCREDIBLE piece of history there, and a FANTASTIC photo to go along with it!

Congrats!

-Buck

 

[highnam]

Awesome hammer and pictures. They are one of the rarest of all the logging relics to find. After 20 years I finally found one here in Michigan last summer. Thanks for posting it.
Wolverine.Nice stamp sir...did you know what is was right away? did you ever figure out the company your intials represent? Great to see other examples...thanks for the post.. View attachment 742951 View attachment 742952 [/QUOTE

 

[highnam]

​

Howdy highnam,

Sounds like you've been hitting this site Gangnam style. Sorry, couldn't resist.

On a more serious note, I wonder if the stamp might not be for Weyerhaeuser's Longview Timber...

The stamp says "T L" when struck into the tree. It stood for Tyee Logging Company...awesome pics, thanks for the suggestion...been checking out pics from all over the u.s. and Canada...guess Kinsey didn't take em all

 

[highnam]

INCREDIBLE piece of history there, and a FANTASTIC photo to go along with it!

Congrats!

-Buck

Thanks Buck- have enjoyed seeing your relics since I first started swinging the MD...

 

[lumbercamp]

i have found seven more since i posted these

 

[highnam]

i have found seven more since i posted these

Good gracious lumbercamp seems you've been at this awhile...glad you don't live by me...wouldn't be a stamp left to find.
Good luck to you, good to know there is a few others who primarily hunt logging camps. I'd be interested in seeing the last seven you found...the bird stamp is awesome.

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Whoa that's nice ! Dug example Looks more used then the one in the picture , possibly used for quite some time after the photo was taken .

That is one mighty fine logging relic .

Big Congrats !

 

[lumbercamp]

Highnam, here are the other marks. I gave one of the seven to a friend for Christmas a couple years ago and recently I was given the XX one. Surprisingly, most of the log marks I find are not at lumber camps but along log slides and spur RR grades, The most recent one I found was at the top of a very steep, narrow hollow. You could jump across the hollow in places it was so narrow. But years ago the lumbermen had a slide down it. In most places, high water over the years washed the slide away and you would never know it was there. And at the top was the log mark and a single handle from a cross cut saw. Several times I found one meandering through the woods, no where near any camp or road, nothing to indicate a logger ever being there. My detector is always on from the time I step in the woods. The bird mark was found along a spur RR grade. ...And it's good to see several other people posting old logging relics.

 

[highnam]

Highnam, here are the other marks. I gave one of the seven to a friend for Christmas a couple years ago and recently I was given the XX one. Surprisingly, most of the log marks I find are not at lumber camps but along log slides and spur RR grades, The most recent one I found was at the top of a very steep, narrow hollow. You could jump across the hollow in places it was so narrow. But years ago the lumbermen had a slide down it. In most places, high water over the years washed the slide away and you would never know it was there. And at the top was the log mark and a single handle from a cross cut saw. Several times I found one meandering through the woods, no where near any camp or road, nothing to indicate a logger ever being there. My detector is always on from the time I step in the woods. The bird mark was found along a spur RR grade. ...And it's good to see several other people posting old logging relics. View attachment 744241 View attachment 744242

Thanks for posting those and for the information. I never even considered walking all the old railroad grades....seems like a great way to combine md'ing with antler shed hunting...can you determine a r.r. spike from a hammer without digging every spike to find a hammer... The rail is long gone, but I would assume many spikes would be left behind.

 

[lumbercamp]

Highnam, after you dig so many spikes, you will be able to tell the difference between them and a larger iron relic. But at the same time, you may miss a smaller iron item. RR grades are an excellent place to find a large variety of tools left behind by the laborers. The RR beds would have been dug by hand and any tools they used be have been placed very near to the tracks. They wouldn't toss them away from where they were working. Not to say you won't find tools further away, because you will, but most of my finds are very near the RR bed.