long pole with bent circle handle

[BobinSouthVA]

dug this today in a field where I pulled some 3 ringers and some eagle cuff buttons, so I decided to post it here. My guess is its just a hole digger, but than again I don't know much

The end is flat and it looks like the top (circle area) had been hit with a hammer. Pretty sure it was straight at one point in time but that is just a guess.

Thanks for looking and HH

 

[Burnt Chimney]

Closely resembles a guy wire rod or tie down , Just a guess
BC

 

[jgas]

Coal shute scraper Tool used to pull coal down in to the furnace. I really don't know. jgas

 

[Diggerbarns]

That is a coal furnace poker.I remember we had one when I was a kid many moons ago.Used to poke up the fire when it would die down.

 

[mrjosh]

Closely resembles a guy wire rod or tie down , Just a guess
BC

Same thought

 

[Tubecity]

That is a coal furnace poker.I remember we had one when I was a kid many moons ago.Used to poke up the fire when it would die down.
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I agree, used to settle the burning coals. Then you sift the ashes thru the bottom
before adding more coal into the furnace.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I dont remember them but I googled it and this was all I could find.

 

[stefen]

That is a coal furnace poker.I remember we had one when I was a kid many moons ago.Used to poke up the fire when it would die down.

Absolutely. Its a poker...Part of a fireplace set...I have one at home and at the cabin...

 

[SkyPirate]

Looks like a rod they sink into the ground and tie a rope to to hold something down

 

[SkyPirate]

That is a coal furnace poker.I remember we had one when I was a kid many moons ago.Used to poke up the fire when it would die down.

Absolutely. Its a poker...Part of a fireplace set...I have one at home and at the cabin...

That's a pretty long and heavy fireplace poker

 

[richm]

Here is a branding iron I have, about 40" long...Rich.

 

[BobinSouthVA]

That is a coal furnace poker.I remember we had one when I was a kid many moons ago.Used to poke up the fire when it would die down.

Absolutely. Its a poker...Part of a fireplace set...I have one at home and at the cabin...

That's a pretty long and heavy fireplace poker

yeah thats the only problem with the poker/fireplace set idea. its almost the length of my truck tailgate and you would probably look like Lou Ferigno after a season poking with it

 

[watercolor]

When I was growing up in the early 1950's, my grandfather was a janitor for an apartment building
that used coal for firing the boiler in the furnace. I remember him using an iron "poker" like the one
you found to spread out the burning coal in the furnace before he could shovel more in. And if I
remember right, this poker was taller than he was.

Anyway, that's the first thing that comes to mind.

 

[Burnt Chimney]

Coal burns so much hotter than wood you would probably want a longer handle for sure . But by the same token the ring end looks a little small to use as a handle and it appears it has been beaten on as driven into the ground.
BC

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Coal burns so much hotter than wood you would probably want a longer handle for sure . But by the same token the ring end looks a little small to use as a handle and it appears it has been beaten on as driven into the ground.
BC

it sure looks like it has taken some continuous beating which would make me lean to some kind of tie down.

Just FYI. I have an aerial photograph of the area from 1937 and the field was still just a field back then. No structures in sight. Albeit where I found this may have no correlation to where or how it was used.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Tie down anchors screw into the ground. I agree someone hammered it in but I dont think that was the original purpose. Would a broken branding iron fit the area?

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

I have to agree with the mindset that it is for fire - but not a fireplace - but for those big old coal furnaces we used to have in the basement.

We had several, and, at night, we used it to "bank" the fire for the night - getting everything in just the right spot, so it would burn all night.

Eventually, the old coal furnace became a "thing of the past" and we got an oil furnace, and the pokers were relegated to many other uses, from dog tie-outs to being pounded into the ground to run a stringline for the new addition.

It had the smaller handle on the end, too.

B

 

[stude]

Was this found close to any railroad? This looks like a piece of brake rigging from a box car.

 

[AU24K]

Doan' know, but when I was a kid, I used to watch the guys from the city or utility companies who pulled up manhole covers in the road to look down into the abyss for who knows what.
Anywho, that looks like the things those fellas used to pull up the manhole covers with...

Scott

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Tie down anchors screw into the ground. I agree someone hammered it in but I dont think that was the original purpose. Would a broken branding iron fit the area?

Not sure there has ever been much livestock in this area.