Paddle ?

[bradyboy]

We found this in the NE Georgia area
Its a tad under 6 feet tall
The paddle end has a curve wear on one side suggesting it was used to stir against a rounded bottom, may be a still? which is common for the area
Dont know what the type of wood is
The lenghth and the handle end seems odd to me, I dont have a clue
Thanks for the help
Brady

 

[bradyboy]

sorry, I will repost, didnt think the pics 3 would be so big

 

[bradyboy]

sorry additional pic, Im learning as I go

 

[johnnyi]

To me it looks like a homemade cedar canoe paddle.

 

[traderoftreasures]

If not a paddle, a large commercial or farm type stirring device.

only reason i don't think stirring device is because of poly urathane

 

[haybudden2]

The wood type looks more like long leaf yellow
pine. Alot of that in Ga.

Hay2

 

[traderoftreasures]

i have seen similar paddles made like that go for high dollar on ebay. don't be sold short

 

[intimer]

i think it's a super nice shovel! i remember seeing similar back in the old day auctions.

here is a very neat site i found while looking for a picture of an antique wooden shovel

http://www.oldgardentools.co.uk/prophire.aspx#top

 

[intimer]

found T-handle

i pretty sure all wood like yours is very hard to find...period!

 

[johnnyi]

"The wood type looks more like long leaf yellow
pine. Alot of that in Ga."

Thanks Hay. Don't know what I was thinking with cedar

 

[Monty]

Being six foot long it would take a really tall guy to dig with it! It could very well be a home made paddle to stir mash when cooking off a little brew. Monty

 

[Gypsy Heart]

I think its a bread paddle ...to reach into the ovens with....the kind of ovens that were made of bricks

 

[Monty]

Could be an overn paddle but I would expect the end to be somewhat blackened by the extreme heat of a brick oven? Maybe not if it was not used much? Good as any guess. Monty

 

[intimer]

here's a website. i have copied pictures below:

http://www.angelfire.com/journal/millrestoration/artifacts.html

this is copied from the link. read about half way down.

"The millers also would have had grain shovels that were constructed out of a single piece of wood. I have a book that tells you how to carve and make wooden shovels that were used in mills and other industries like the storage of apples. They were cut and carved out of a single piece of wood. Originally all scoops, shovels, paddles and other items were made out of wood that came into contact with grain or flour. They believed for a long time that metal tainted the taste of flour. This superstition turned out to be a good thing because in this way there was no metal to strike the nail head and accidentally make a spark. In this way a superstition lessened the accidental chance of a dust explosion, that brought about hell fire and the end of everything in and about the mill. Sometimes these wooden scoops are found with metal patch repairs covering weak or cracked areas. "

added this: today they use heavy quality white plastic shovels, deleted one picture. just too much.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

An oven paddle isnt blackened....because its not ever touching a fire....it would slide uinder the pans or breads and then pull them out.
When I was in Canada ,I went to an old mining town near Confederate Island....it was a ghost town...evidently a disease had gone through the island and many people were killed. The rest moved off...there were bunk houses,houses a general store ,post office and a two hundred bed hotel...all falling in and in shambles....they also had a mess hall with a large brick oven and they those types of paddles hanging on the oven...the roof was caving in....so I brought one of those paddles home. I later researched the place and found out that the people all moved off in the 30's...which makes sense as there were still letters in the post office boxes with those dates on them.
Since I was only 14 when I went with my dad , I didnt know enough to look around more...except I wanted to bring home a huge iron pot and my dad said "are you nuts...we came here in a canoe" LOL
I read recently that the place was bought by somneone and a lodge and hunting camp was built there...and all the original buildings (or what was left of them burnt ).
Anyway...looks like the paddle I brought home

 

[Gypsy Heart]

An oven paddle isnt blackened....because its not ever touching a fire....it would slide uinder the pans or breads and then pull them out.
When I was in Canada ,I went to an old mining town near Confederate Island....it was a ghost town...evidently a disease had gone through the island and many people were killed. The rest moved off...there were bunk houses,houses a general store ,post office and a two hundred bed hotel...all falling in and in shambles....they also had a mess hall with a large brick oven and they those types of paddles hanging on the oven...the roof was caving in....so I brought one of those paddles home. I later researched the place and found out that the people all moved off in the 30's...which makes sense as there were still letters in the post office boxes with those dates on them.
Since I was only 14 when I went with my dad , I didnt know enough to look around more...except I wanted to bring home a huge iron pot and my dad said "are you nuts...we came here in a canoe" LOL
I read recently that the place was bought by somneone and a lodge and hunting camp was built there...and all the original buildings (or what was left of them burnt ).
Anyway...looks like the paddle I brought home

 

[intimer]

to me bradyboys shovel has a definite curvature in the 'business' end of the shovel.
yes, it is a bit narrow but it is possible it has wore down and then smoothed along the width.
or there could have been a specific task needing that width.
flour is a real mess to shovel. grain? trash from fields separated from grain.

a company may have manufactured the standard size center piece with various widths added to meet different needs.
also yellow pine is substantial and a little heavy.

i think you have a good point of pizza oven usage. i've seen a few of both through my years, but not seen a T handle pizza or bread paddle or one curved.

the story with the "iron pot and the canoe" is fantastic!

 

[traderoftreasures]

but if you look those oven paddles have been peanut oiled and the one pictured above has been poly urathaned up. Poly shouldn't be used in food applications

 

[Tony in SC]

It's a syrup paddle. It is used to stir the syrup while it simmers. It has to be stired constantly or it will scorch. The best syrp in the world comes from North Georgia . Tony

 

[taz42o]

Looks like a boat paddle to me. Maybe a dragon boat paddle.