What is this giant thing i unearthed?

H

Holly_squirrel

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So it's 3 foot if it was stretched out straight.

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It's got this circle thing at the

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Is it just a tractor part or something more? Dug it out from beside the site of a 200 plus year old farm. It's heavy iron or something and it was a good 16 inches down. Did I spend 2 hours carefully digging up scrap metal ?
 

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it looks handmade whatever it is nice find HH
 

nope
 

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Are those two holes in the smaller end? Looks like a hand hammered hitch. Great iron save. I have gone to sites that were hit hard by other detectorists. They were nice enough to leave all the iron behind for me to find. In digging up the iron I uncovered some great finds that were being masked by the iron. And some great iron finds.You never know... Art
 

It may be part of a colonial hearth. In their houses, they had these elaborate metal contraptions meant to be held up by hinges and this would swing back and forth over towards the fireplaces.
 

Dunno, maybe part of a foundry?


Are there any markings?

HH!
 

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I'm not sure what you mean by tbe hand episode , but yes I have ugly working man hands... Lmao.. I'm a farm girl, cut me some slack ... Lol. I'll post a pic of my hand n face when I get a minute. :0.
 

These colonial trammels (couldn't think of the word earlier) were hinged over open hearths. They would have iron or brass pots hang over them and they would swing over the fire then back out. Iron was preferable to wood as the wood would burn thru. Very collectible. Not hugely expensive but people do collect these. Check out local antique stores.
 

@ smokeythecat

That's what I was thinking! And I'm dying to dig up my whole yard to find the other side.. But I got old slag road under my front yard so tbe whole tbing registers as iron . And by now my neighbors must be thinking I lost my mind ... My husband says it looks like we got gophers... Lol
 

Gophers are wonderful. I'm going to the beach to detect on the shipwreck site tomorrow, and Saturday and Sunday. The state road was closed until just now. (Gotta love those live traffic cams). Road was overwashed by Nor'easter Saturn. Probably took the dunes and the newly planted grasses out all over again. Sandy wasted the place.
 

Cool find. ya should see my yard....or whats left lol
 

It really looks like a wire feeder.

They would mount it on a large spool of wire by the 2 holes and thread wire through the eye at the end so that it comes off cleanly.

I'm not sure about that, but it instantly reminded me of some i've seen before on old oil rigs. Of course, most were hand made, so variations are expected.

WM

Upon further examination of the photo, I do think that was the use. It looks like they eyes was worn in a fairly circular pattern as I would expect from miles and miles of steel cable going through it.

If I were a betting man, that would be it.
 

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It is pretty cool as most of it is square stock until it hits the eye area which was hammered out round. I have an old forge. That had a little work in it not much but seems to be made for something specific. I keep thinking hearth.
 

Barbed wire was not invented until the 19th century, if your piece dates to the 18th, then it would not be used to spool wire. But that's a really good guess. George Neuman has pics of similar pieces in his book on early American country furnishings.
 

smokeythecat said:
Barbed wire was not invented until the 19th century, if your piece dates to the 18th, then it would not be used to spool wire. But that's a really good guess. George Neuman has pics of similar pieces in his book on early American country furnishings.
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No, not barbed wire. Just regular old stranded steel cable like would be used for lifting or pulling. Having strung several bajillion (give or take a few million) miles of barbed wire, I have yet to see a wire feeder used.

WM
 

not me
 

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HEY JEFF GORDON YER AVITAR PIC IS LOOKIN MUCH BETTER ! NEW HAIRCUT ?----------------NICE FIND HOLLY---WOULD MAKE A NEAT OUTSIDE PLANT HANGER---HH
 

That is a crankshaft. At an early 20th-century farm site near me there is an old manure spreader next to the barn debris pile, and it has one of those, looks just like it but a little smaller. Here, you can kinda see it in this pic I took.

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this old barnyard is real cool

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