The whetstone everyone wants to find! And some other stuff

[Old Pueblo]

Hello everyone, its been a while but Im back now. Ive been very busy but managed to get out and do some more hunting, and I will be posting some of my recent finds and questions about them over the next few days.! I cant remember if there is a place to post your "recent finds", instead of just "todays find", so Im going to post this here.

Anyway, I was out date nail hunting, a few weeks ago, checking out this old corral made of railroad ties a buddy told me about, kind of hidden back there in the desert away from the road, and judging by the looks of the place, this area hasnt seen much use in the past 50 to 75 years. Next to this corral is an old shed, with an awning coming off the side, and underneath there was a bucket of old rusty horseshoes laying on its side and spilling out, about 10 pieces of Indian pottery (mostly plain brown stuff but a few decorated/corrugated pieces can be seen in my photos), some old broken glass and a few other random things scattered about, such as the lid to an old pickle bottle (Not seen in photos) and a modern electrical insulator or two. Anyway, scattered among all that was this whetstone, with all these old dates and initials.

I cant quite tell what the first initials are next to the 1829 date, maybe someone here can make it out? It looks like it says "F. G.", or maybe the "G" is actually a "Q", as my sister suggested? The other sides say "E. P. Q 1866" and "G. L. Q. 1885", which to me could be an indication that this piece was passed down through a family.

Last but not least are 3 new date nails, including a very nice square "1917" diamond head type nail from a telephone or possibly telegraph pole used in the corral, a very nice and unusually short 1931, and the elusive large 1933. I also found a few of the more common nails from the 1920s, and 1930s, not seen here.

 

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[RustyRelics]

Very cool! I have a block of wood that my uncle gave me of railroad tie date nails. How would I go about finding some for myself?

 

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[Old Pueblo]

Thank you and I would look for old railroad ties, still in the railroad or being reused for something else. Here out west we still use them a lot for building corrals and fences, but usually in places like the desert or the prairie, where there isnt many trees around to cut wood from. Back in Kentucky you guys have no shortage of trees but I imagine someone has probably reused railroad ties somewhere. That said, look for old barbed wire fences or livestock pens in towns or areas along the railroads. The further you are from a railroad the less likely you are to see old ties. Or at least thats how it is here in southern Arizona. I have noticed that when Im in an area where there never was a railroad, you dont see as many ties. But when Im in or near a railroad town or by a railroad, they seem to be everywhere. I have also found date nails in ties being used in planter boxes, like a decoration for your yard, kind of thing. And sometimes if youre walking along an old railroad, you will find random ties laying off to the side, sometimes with a nail in them. The best place is old corrals, in my opinion, or an old railroad itself, but a lot of the old railroads have already been ripped up and abandoned and sometimes replaced with a modern railroad. Along railroads that have been torn up, here in Arizona, there is usually a RR tie "dumping ground", where RR companies (or whoever rips up railroads) will dump the ties. The places are always right next to the railroad but I have only briefly hunted two of them nearby, since they are the perfect place for rattlesnake nests, and Ive found more than a few snakes hiding under ties, laying upside down on the ground. So you have to be careful about it, for sure.

 

[Old Pueblo]

Its also good to use a knife and a hammer/nail puller for pulling the nails. Use the knife for carving them out, if you need to, so you're not damaging the nail as you pull it. And the deeper you carve the easier it is to pull the nail. This is not always necessary, sometimes the nails come right out. Ive pulled many out with just my fingers.