Black Powder Keg?

[wetcoast]

Hi there fellow pickers and diggers.

I found this today and wondered if anyone knew anything about powder kegs. It appears to be made from oak or walnut with iron bands. Is it for powder or water? How old do you think it is? I think based on the patina and cut of the wood it is from the eighteenth century or early nineteenth century. The handle although old too, I don't think it is original although it is older. I would love to hear some opinions. Thanks

 

[Mud Hut]

looks more like a water keg

Here is one similar in design on fleabay : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tiny-Antiqu...050?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5673ba003a

It is fleabay after all, so take the info with a grain of salt.

 

[AU Seeker]

My guess would be a rum keg, or for some other higher quality commodity than black powder, the quality construction of the keg you have I don't think it would've been used for shipping of black powder, black powder kegs I have seen were of much lesser quality, here's a photo of black powder kegs on display at Colonial Williamsburg Va., as you can see these 18th century black powder kegs are of a much less quality construction than the one you have.

That being said and I not able to really judge the exact size of your keg, if it's as small as it appears to be it could of been also used after it's original contents were depleted as a personal powder flask.

Being cabinet maker I would say by the heavy grain I see on your keg that it is oak or similar, definitely not walnut which has a much much finer grain than oak.

 

[smokeythecat]

Wagon canteen is very possible. Rev war into early 19th century, depending on the tacks and a few other things. Great piece however.

 

[sutphin]

Water canteen that hung under the back of a wagon ?vanzutphen

 

[ARC]

Ehhh Napoleonic powder keg.



It is powder...
Water kegs and such do not have "raised" parts at hole...
they are smooth... for rolling.

Don't wanna really "roll" powder... at least I don't

 

[BosnMate]

I'm no expert, but it looks like it might be a powder keg to me. You would think it would have writing on it, company name and grade of powder, but besides painting on the keg,
there were also paper labels used. There were lots of companies selling powder, and lots of different uses for powder, so the odds are there were all sorts of sizes, and quality of
powder kegs. I'll attach some photos of various powder kegs.

 

[Mud Hut]

I'm no expert, but it looks like it might be a powder keg to me. You would think it would have writing on it, company name and grade of powder, but besides painting on the keg,
there were also paper labels used. There were lots of companies selling powder, and lots of different uses for powder, so the odds are there were all sorts of sizes, and quality of
powder kegs. I'll attach some photos of various powder kegs.

It is powder...
Water kegs and such do not have "raised" parts at hole...
they are smooth... for rolling.

Don't wanna really "roll" powder... at least I don't

I notice, with the exception of one, none of these powder kegs have the "raised part" as mentioned above. The one that does have it is way more pronounced than the one show on the op's keg.

 

[BosnMate]

The chain on the keg is modern machine made, so that was probably added later and shouldn't be allowed to influence what the use was. Rolling black powder kegs would be fine, as long as you didn't roll it into a fire. Black powder ignites, it does not detonate. Using and storing black powder is perfectly safe, unless you expose it to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, at that point you have a problem. I don't know when wood powder kegs were replaced with metal ones as I'm no expert. We don't know what use the pictured keg was put to after what ever the initial use was. Kegs came in all sizes, the hump at the plug is immaterial to it's use, just someone had a better idea. At one time kegs were used for everything, water, wine, rum, powder, flour, crackers, pickles. Some of those had to open at the top, I'm just pointing out that there were dozens of uses for barrels and kegs. Not being an expert, I don't know the difference between a barrel and a keg, my first guess would be open at the top for crackers, that's a barrel, open at the side, that's for powder or liquid, keg, but powder kegs also had the bung at the top in some cases. They came in all sizes, but 25 pounds seems to be common for powder, although there were surely larger and smaller sizes. I just found an ad for a 25 lb. metal powder keg, circa 1883. I might ad that 100 years later I purchased a 25 lb. keg of black rifle powder and it came in a metal keg that looks just like the one being advertised for sale.
https://www.joesalter.com/category/Powder-Cans

 

[tamrock]

A keg designed to contain a number of things and not anyone thing specific is what I believe it is. Kind of like what today's Thermos bottles are used for. Think about all the things you could contain and transport in a Thermos bottle or a keg like you have here?.