Backyard Iron Relics Pt. 3

[romeo-1]

I got back into the backyard last night and had considerable success. I'm starting to think that there was a horse stable and possibly a blacksmith shop on my property. In the pictures you will see two buckles from a horses harness (one iron the other possibly brass), a riding stirrup, an identified iron loop (I've found four of these so far), a large and heavy spatula (anyone know what this would have been used for?), an unidentified piece of iron and an old Ronson lighter. I also dug up many more pieces of scrap iron which are not pictured.

 

[Monty]

Now hold on there a bit bscofield6, aren't you the guy who feuds with the banks over getting rolled coins? If not I apologize, but to me nothing would be more boring than sifting through roll of coins when I could be out detecting. I have a lot of old iron finds laying about, mostly just to look at and wonder about which is part of the mystic of treasure hunting for me. Regardless of whether I keep them or not, I always photograph them and when I run through my pictures they remind me of some good hunts and fun times I've had when I can't get out and hunt due to bad weather, etc. Maybe I'm not directing this at you personally and maybe I'm just curious how many others on the forum reflect on these insignificant finds? When you're an old fart like me, you find yourself being a lot more sentimental about this sort of thing......or maybe it's just the early stages of dementia? Monty

 

[Michigan Badger]

Now hold on there a bit bscofield6, aren't you the guy who feuds with the banks over getting rolled coins? If not I apologize, but to me nothing would be more boring than sifting through roll of coins when I could be out detecting. I have a lot of old iron finds laying about, mostly just to look at and wonder about which is part of the mystic of treasure hunting for me. Regardless of whether I keep them or not, I always photograph them and when I run through my pictures they remind me of some good hunts and fun times I've had when I can't get out and hunt due to bad weather, etc. Maybe I'm not directing this at you personally and maybe I'm just curious how many others on the forum reflect on these insignificant finds? When you're an old fart like me, you find yourself being a lot more sentimental about this sort of thing......or maybe it's just the early stages of dementia? Monty

I think you were very gracious to the kid, Monty. I think all of us have been. Maybe too gracious.

 

[Mona Lisa]

Romeo, it took me over a year to find a nice IRON stirrup like the one you found. I dragged mine home, too.

All those iron objects are interesting to me. I love to try to figure out what purpose they served. It's another aspect of MDing that I never thought I would enjoy. It keeps a little part of my brain exercised.

I do leave ALOT of iron in the woods, though, Badger. At the site I'm working now, I've found 5 axe heads so far. How many axe heads do I need? :P

 

[bazinga]

Now hold on there a bit bscofield6, aren't you the guy who feuds with the banks over getting rolled coins? If not I apologize, but to me nothing would be more boring than sifting through roll of coins when I could be out detecting. I have a lot of old iron finds laying about, mostly just to look at and wonder about which is part of the mystic of treasure hunting for me. Regardless of whether I keep them or not, I always photograph them and when I run through my pictures they remind me of some good hunts and fun times I've had when I can't get out and hunt due to bad weather, etc. Maybe I'm not directing this at you personally and maybe I'm just curious how many others on the forum reflect on these insignificant finds? When you're an old fart like me, you find yourself being a lot more sentimental about this sort of thing......or maybe it's just the early stages of dementia? Monty

Yes, roll hunting is one of my hobbies, but it doesn't interfer with my detecting time at all. Much of it is done when it is raining or too cold to detect. Yes, I could detect in the cold, but the coins will still be there when it's warm outside, so why bother? And my detector isn't waterproof.

Yeah, some pieces of iron are cool.... like parts to old guns, stirrups, etc., but how many rusty horseshoes does a person really need?

I just can't imagine what everyone does with it all. If I had the desire to find stuff like that I could go to anyfield, USA and find 50lbs of rusted iron a day without a problem. I guess I just don't see the point in hunting for stuff that doesn't take any skill to find.

 

[bazinga]

Now hold on there a bit bscofield6, aren't you the guy who feuds with the banks over getting rolled coins? If not I apologize, but to me nothing would be more boring than sifting through roll of coins when I could be out detecting. I have a lot of old iron finds laying about, mostly just to look at and wonder about which is part of the mystic of treasure hunting for me. Regardless of whether I keep them or not, I always photograph them and when I run through my pictures they remind me of some good hunts and fun times I've had when I can't get out and hunt due to bad weather, etc. Maybe I'm not directing this at you personally and maybe I'm just curious how many others on the forum reflect on these insignificant finds? When you're an old fart like me, you find yourself being a lot more sentimental about this sort of thing......or maybe it's just the early stages of dementia? Monty

I think you were very gracious to the kid, Monty. I think all of us have been. Maybe too gracious.

Bring it on haha jk

 

[Buck]

my two bits is this I love to relic hunt what ever I find I bring it home the iron most of the time goes to my wife flower garden it makes the color brighter The gold and sliver coins goes to my flower garden but it is all a bit of history and with out history there is no future Nuff said Buck

 

[Michigan Badger]

Romeo, it took me over a year to find a nice IRON stirrup like the one you found. I dragged mine home, too.

All those iron objects are interesting to me. I love to try to figure out what purpose they served. It's another aspect of MDing that I never thought I would enjoy. It keeps a little part of my brain exercised.

I do leave ALOT of iron in the woods, though, Badger. At the site I'm working now, I've found 5 axe heads so far. How many axe heads to I need? :P

If they're old, sell your extra axe heads on ebay. Some types bring good money. There are many people who love these old pieces and display them in their homes. Museums like to install new wooden handles and place them next to lifesize cardboard photos of lumberjacks or whoever.

Check with your local museum, I keep in close contact with ours.

 

[trk5capt]

ROMEO, Lately Some Of My Best Relics Are Iron, Best Of Luck & Good Hunting. trk5capt...

 

[Rusted_Iron]

bscofield6, to answer your question, not all Iron is created equal. Some iron relics are more desirable than others, but nearly of them are potentially interesting to us relic diggers. The early wrought pieces are the best, but other items such as locks, horseshoes, stirrups, trivets, hammer heads, axe heads, railroad spikes, and others are nice to find as well. Finding iron objects helps reconstruct the history of a site, which I personally find fascinating.

I like coins just fine, but I could ask the same question about coins if we're talking strictly about value- why does anyone keep corroded wheaties that may be worth only 2 or 3 cents, max? If you like coins, why not just go out and buy them? The answer for most of us isn't just the money, it's because we like digging coins. It isn't financially worth my time to go out and dig up a corroded Indian Head cent that I could buy in better condition for $20 from a coin dealer; it makes more "sense" for me to work and take that money to buy the coin. Yet somehow I still find myself whiling away hours at a time in search of coins, and I know you do too. Sure, you might find something really awesome, but you can't bank on that. It isn't about banking, and I think we all know that.

My dug padlock or railroad spike is surely worth more than most of my dug wheaties if I were to sell it, but I wouldn't, because that's not why I hunt relics. Why would I keep a corroded Large Cent that's not even in AG3 condition? The answer is, because I want to. I also want to collect and study old iron.

A lot of us start out coin hunting and then branch out into relics, bottles, gold nuggets, or what-have-you. It's all good. It's cool with me if you don't like relics, I won't be offended. In fact, I'm happy that way. Leave the iron there for someone who's interested in taking the time to document their location and depth, go through the extensive process of conserving them, and piece together the history of a site from them. And while I'm out digging relics, I often find coins anyway.

Happy Hunting,
Chris

 

[bazinga]

bscofield6, to answer your question, not all Iron is created equal. Some iron relics are more desirable than others, but nearly of them are potentially interesting to us relic diggers. The early wrought pieces are the best, but other items such as locks, horseshoes, stirrups, trivets, hammer heads, axe heads, railroad spikes, and others are nice to find as well. Finding iron objects helps reconstruct the history of a site, which I personally find fascinating.

I like coins just fine, but I could ask the same question about coins if we're talking strictly about value- why does anyone keep corroded wheaties that may be worth only 2 or 3 cents, max? If you like coins, why not just go out and buy them? The answer for most of us isn't just the money, it's because we like digging coins. It isn't financially worth my time to go out and dig up a corroded Indian Head cent that I could buy in better condition for $20 from a coin dealer; it makes more "sense" for me to work and take that money to buy the coin. Yet somehow I still find myself whiling away hours at a time in search of coins, and I know you do too. Sure, you might find something really awesome, but you can't bank on that. It isn't about banking, and I think we all know that.

My dug padlock or railroad spike is surely worth more than most of my dug wheaties if I were to sell it, but I wouldn't, because that's not why I hunt relics. Why would I keep a corroded Large Cent that's not even in AG3 condition? The answer is, because I want to. I also want to collect and study old iron.

A lot of us start out coin hunting and then branch out into relics, bottles, gold nuggets, or what-have-you. It's all good. It's cool with me if you don't like relics, I won't be offended. In fact, I'm happy that way. Leave the iron there for someone who's interested in taking the time to document their location and depth, go through the extensive process of conserving them, and piece together the history of a site from them. And while I'm out digging relics, I often find coins anyway.

Happy Hunting,
Chris

I never stated that I didn't like relics... I stated that why keep some of that stuff that in all reality, is just pure junk? Horseshoes? What value do those hold? I cannot find one on eBay worth anything. I can understand the decorating sense behind them, because I have seen it done quite nicely before. What history do they tell you? Yup.... these pioneers sure did have some horses... I bet it's how they got around haha jk

Like I said, some stuff is actually worthwhile to keep, but not a lot of it.

I honestly don't know why I keep the wheat pennies, but I just do. The only reason I enjoy finding them is because generally silver is right around the corner, and I like silver. I'm also trying to create a complete wheat penny set. Yeah, boring story, I know, haha.

As for buying the coins from a dealer, that's not the same as finding them. But then you will argue about it being the same way with iron. But, you can find those relics just laying on top of the ground at pretty much any farm field you visit. I could take you to old RR tracks where you fould be finding spikes by the 55gallon drum full just laying there in nice, neat, organized pile from the old RR tear downs.

 

[HobBob]

Just to change the subject...
Badger, thanks for sharing that poem about the village blacksmith. That's a nice way to add some unexpected value to the discussion.
Carry on....
HH,
Bob

 

[romeo-1]

Thanks for the kind words...as I stated before I have pretty thick skin so it will take more then a little negativity to discourage me ...I have completed my excavation of the backyard and will now start on the forty acres across the street. My father in law found two buttons from an 18th century french uniform while plowing thirty years ago. This was one of the sites of the Acadian expulsion so I am confident I will find some interesting artifacts there...stay tuned!

 

[bazinga]

Thanks for the kind words...as I stated before I have pretty thick skin so it will take more then a little negativity to dscourage me ...I have completed my excavation of the backyard and will now start on the forty acres across the street. My father in law found two buttons from an 18th century french uniform while plowing thirty years ago. This was one of the sites of the Acadian expulsion so I am confident I will find some interesting artifacts there...stay tuned!

40 acres?!?! WOW! That is going to take weeks and weeks just to go over it all if you hunt for several hours a day... and then you have to go over it again... and again... and again... because a spot is never hunted out! Good luck!

 

[Rusted_Iron]

I never stated that I didn't like relics... I stated that why keep some of that stuff that in all reality, is just pure junk?

*sigh*

OK, you win. Dug iron is junk, we have no reason to keep it, only coins are worth keeping. Carry on.

 

[Buck]

Yea Yea One mans Junk is another man treasure Buck

 

[bazinga]

Haha, I love it when people get carried away and take offense to things.... this post has certainly brought a chuckle to myself

 

[Buck]

Haha, I love it when people get carried away and take offense to things.... this post has certainly brought a chuckle to myself

your post says that you are hero member But you act and talk like spoiled rich farm Boy a hero no a zero for sure.nuff said Buck

 

[Rusted_Iron]

You just wait, bscofield6 may yet come over to the Iron Side.

I see potential in you, young jedi. Feel the power, my son.

 

[bazinga]

Haha, I love it when people get carried away and take offense to things.... this post has certainly brought a chuckle to myself

your post says that you are hero member But you act and talk like spoiled rich farm Boy a hero no a zero for sure.nuff said Buck

Hmmm... come meet some Indiana farmers... rich and farm boy don't go hand in hand around here.... They certainly have to work their tails off to make money.

But if only I were spoiled rich... man oh man that would be awesome.... but I don't think my life style would really change at all if I did have all of the money to spend... I will still be eating off of the dollar menu, that's for sure, haha

 

[bazinga]

You just wait, bscofield6 may yet come over to the Iron Side.

I see potential in you, young jedi. Feel the power, my son.

Shhhh.... that's our little secret haha