Magnet fishing mystery

[Tigerdude]

I have found some really cool things before but I keep finding these things. Look like keyholes. Here are the clues. One , I am in a very old bayou, plenty of steamboats, pre and post civil war. Two, they built boats, including steamboats where I fish. Three, there an old wooden bridge burned and another replaced. There is also a railroad just after civil war but upstream by about 50-75 yards. It's not a big item but I would like to figure it out.

 

[BigWaveDave]

No clue what they could be...
But the good news is, we now have a new Magnet Fishing Forum....
Check it out when you can....

 

[Tony in SC]

I see a type of these on old wagons, wooden grist mills, and other wooden machinery. They are placed under the head of a bolt to spread the force on the wood like a washer?

 

[kcm]

Looks like they could be used for hooking chain links to.

 

[Tigerdude]

I will. I am fortunate to have some really old spots to fish. I'll post on the new forum.

 

[old digger]

They kind of look like scale weights?

 

[Keith Jackson]

I was going to go with weights, not necessarily scale weights. You would use the slot for hanging them on something. The look kind of like the weights that are used in tractor pulling.

 

[kingskid1611]

Me thinks like Tony in Sc. On old wooden planked bridges these are place to help enforce the wood so that the weight is transferred more equally.

 

[Tigerdude]

Good responses. I'm leaning to washers. But remember, I also found in the last 3 weeks, 4 cotton bale hooks in same area used to load cotton bales on small steamboats.

 

[marion moore]

ME TO, SCALE WEIGHTS, MARION

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Some type of shim?

 

[Bruce R]

They look like auto body shims to me

 

[Tigerdude]

Update on an old post. A friend sent very old pic of cotton bales on a boat. These were clips to attach with a rope bales to each other. There is actually a smaller piece broken off hence the reason I found them in the bayou.

 

[olroy70]

from an oil coil?