"Early-Mid 19th Century Sickle"

[BeccaRah]

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[DownNDirty]

Nice find-I found one almost identical to it about a week ago that was occupied (my best guess) from the mid to late 1700s through the mid 1800s.

Gotta love the archaeologist's disclaimer/warning in his message; unless you found it on state land that wasn't necessary.

Congratulations on a very interesting find!

 

[CRUSADER]

If I were you I would delete the Signature block of the quoted email. I assume you were on Private Land?

 

[Perses]

Nice find and whatnot, going forward you ought to make it clear that your find came from PRIVATE PROPERTY.

 

[stefen]

Vintage hand sythes (cickles) have been around for centuries and is probably one of the oldest farm tools still used today.

In fact I have one myself...only I can't lay my hands on it right now...remember my dad using a two-handed long-handled sythe for cutting weeds around the dairy.

Still sold today in some agri/farm supply stores...

The link below shows various pictures:

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs...=yhs-mozilla-001&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

 

[johnnyblaze]

Cool find Becca finding your first relic can be exciting

I will tell you CT is the place to be for early relics..I found my best find in my banner in CT..
What part are you in?

~Blaze~

 

[kingskid1611]

That is will make a really neat wall hanger. It looks good cleaned up. I'd find a way to hang it so that it looks like its together. Neat find in those "Private Woods"

 

[johnnyblaze]

Ah Johnnyblaze. I'd tell you but then you know the rest ...
lets just say George Washington slept here
Is that too saucy?

Washington slept everywhere!!
There was not enough nights in his life to sleep everywhere he slept

~Blaze~

 

[johnnyblaze]

Its great to see a female with that knowledge

Any chic who has a favorite pile of rocks in the woods is alright in my book

I look for walls and rock piles nonstop they are old maps..

~Blaze~

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

Town land and State land are very different. If the town allows you to detect and keep what you find, great. I still recommend sticking to private land with permission.

 

[digging440yrs]

Cool relic !

 

[pepperj]

Great looking relic.

It's always good to play knock-knock on a door jam it takes away all the doubt when you have the permission.

 

[stealthycat]

Their removal can compromise valuable archaeological information regarding past land-use activities, such as farming and harvesting.

and yet they'd have never know it was there and it would have rusted completely away had you not found it

 

[johnnyblaze]

I'm not a chic, I'm a saucy wench haha

Ok any Saucy Wench who has a favorite pile of rocks in the woods is alright in my book

One with Insomnia posting at 3:30 am

As far as calling the town dont do it..People enjoy saying no in this country..Even when they have no authority..
It goes like this,woods with no signs saying no trespassing,im in like Flynn..

~Blaze~

 

[Gaspipe]

Ok any Saucy Wench who has a favorite pile of rocks in the woods is alright in my book

One with Insomnia posting at 3:30 am

As far as calling the town dont do it..People enjoy saying no in this country..Even when they have no authority..
It goes like this,woods with no signs saying no trespassing,im in like Flynn..

~Blaze~

yeah good advice on not calling the town that's for sure a certain losing proposition. And as you've realized contacting any archeologist is gonna always get you the same BS response. Never do it. Cool find.

 

[sutphin]

BECCA IT IS A 1700S SICKLE AND ALWAYS REMEMBER , ONLY ARCHEEEZ ARE ALLOWED TO TAKE STUFF AND CRAM IT SOMEWHERE THAT NO ONE CAN VEIW IT EVER AGAIN . I ASSUME THAT IT WAS FOUND ON PRIVATE PROPERTY SO ENJOY YOUR FIND AND IF IM WRONG I APOLOGIZE. I HAD A BAD EXPERINCE WITH ONE THEM ARCHEEEZ AND GUY SAID HE NEVER KEPT ANYTHING THAT HE TOOK HOME TO VEIW AFTER BEING RECOVERED . IDIOT POSTED PICS OF HIS HOUSE AND THE WALLS WHERE ENBEDDED WITH STUFF , END OF STORY ....

 

[johnnyblaze]

Archies,state,town officials are no good for sure..

They just dont have the Sauce.....

~Blaze~

 

[johnnyblaze]

Oh i forgot Becca


The sickle was intended to be used with only one hand. The farmer would hold a ‘hay crook’ in the other hand. The hay crook was simply a piece of wood about two foot long with a hook-like barb, cut into the one end. A natural tree branch or root, with a barbed or hooked end, might be used in place of a manufactured one. The hay crook was used, as an extension of the farmer’s one arm, to pull aside a bunch of the crop, such as wheat, and then he could slice the bunch off near the ground with a side to side, slashing motion of the sickle in the other hand. The hay crook permitted the farmer to safely hold a bunch of the crop without having to worry about getting his hand cut off by the slicing motion of the sickle.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

... There are 2 features, however, that I can't match anywhere.
The first is the notch over the handle. The only explanation or similarity that I've been able to find is on much older blades where notch allows blood to fall off before reaching the handle. In a harvesting sickle, I'm assuming that it might be beneficial for doo or rain to fall off... But wouldn't the wheat mold if it where harvested wet?
The other difference is the metal on the very edge is actually a different color - more silvery in tone - than the rest of the blade and is serrated. There is a clear difference between the two metals.
I would love love love to find a match somewhere with these two features but I'm having no luck.
...

Great find Becca! I dug one this past June with the same "notch" as yours. In regards to the "color" its probably just from the vinegar bath. They may have hardened the edge when it was made, which might have caused it to clean up better and appear to be a different color. I did electrolysis on mine and it revealed some of the blade serrations under the oxidation.

Here is the post with the before and after cleaning pictures. Dug Sickle Page 2, post 18 & 20 have the after cleaning pictures with some blade edge close ups.

Don't know what the point of the "notch" is at the base. Could be by design like you said, or just part of the manufacturing process. Mines missing part of the blade... nice to see how pointed one would be if it was complete.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I'm So Psyyyyched! Thank you! Thank you so much for sharing - if our blades were not - forged? Smithed? - in the same shop then they no doubt existed in the same time or place. Do you have an idea of the date?

I have a funny question about the vinegar bath. Even though I doused the whole thing in denatured alcohol, it seems to still be drying more every day. This brings me to the blades edge... And the separate metal that I mentioned before. Today the separation was clearer than ever. Without myself mentioning it, another person looked at it today and the first thing they mentioned was the two different metals. I'm afraid they're actually separating as the sickle is drying. I'll take another very obvious photo in the morning.

Thank you again for responding. I've been waiting for a reply like this. I'd still love to find away to nail down the date. But you can't always get what you want.

I can only guess on the age of my sickle since I don't really know much about them... other than their awesome to dig! Based on what I found in the proximity of it, I would guess early to mid 1800's. It was in the trash pit along with other things of that era... but there were some Colonial relics mixed in... just the majority was 1800-1850's. Much like horse shoes, I imagine these are hard to date since I wouldn't think "sickle technology" changed all that much. Ha

In regards to the drying issues... Maybe try baking it in the oven to dry it and then applying Crisco. BuckleBoy really knows his stuff with the Vinegar Method that you can check out here. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/cleaning-preservation/190623-best-method-cleaning-iron-relics.html

I do electrolysis and then boil the iron while wet, in a pot of boiling hot wax, on a stove outside. Once all the moisture stops bubbling out its preserved and coated in a very thin layer of wax. I'd try the oven and Crisco first though. I tried ACV and it did flash rust on me fast. Baking soda and a brush should neutralize the Vinegar and help clean the flash rust off before baking and Crisco. If you don't have Crisco you could always spray it with wd-40 after baking too. Drying it should hopefully stabilize it so it doesn't separate or flake.