Very odd looking hinges. Hand forged or machine made? Colonial era?

[FreeBirdTim]

Found a site in the woods that may have been the location of a cabin at one time. No cellar hole, but it's full of nails and other iron relics. Best finds were a large iron ring and what may be two door hinges.

The first hinge is 12 1/2" long and has a slight taper to it, so it's probably a door or shutter hinge. But the second hinge is very odd looking. It's 17" long and does not taper at all. Has a lot of nail holes and the remnants of a couple of nails in it. It curves very slightly, but not enough to be a leaf spring. One side is flat, while the other side is slightly rounded.

What do you think, guys? Colonial era hinges or something else?

 

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[sawmill man]

Theres a place where you can get those now days but i have seen them from long days gone by, so i would not dismiss them as being old. im not sure the new version has any taper.

 

[Clay Diggins]

They are strap hinges. Easy to make and been around forever. Age? Could be anywhere from early iron age to last year.

 

[villagenut]

Most likely hand forged. I love digging old iron, I would clean em up in my tank, they will look great. The ring looks like some horse tack or a hitching ring.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Thanks for the input! I knew they were strap hinges, just never saw one that long that didn't taper.

Just noticed something interesting about the longer hinge. The first two holes are round, but the next three holes are rectangular. Maybe the first two holes were for screws and the rest were for square nails?

 

[kenstein]

Square holes probably for carriage bolts. As mentioned, could be old or not-so-old.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Holes are way too tiny for carriage bolts. They measure 3/16" by 1/8".

 

[Tony in SC]

Smith made strap hinges guessing 1900 or so. I say this because the holes and collars are not uniform.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Found two more hinges today. One of them is a match to the longer hinge I found yesterday. Also found a scythe blade (maybe), a mystery relic with a hook on the end and lots of square nails.

 

[pa plateau hiker]

You're mystery relic is the pin for your hinges. The end is bent over so it wouldn't pull loose from the wood it was attached to.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Thanks for the info, pa plateau hiker! Never saw a hinge pin that looked like that, but you're definitely correct. Very tight fit because of the rust, but it does seem to fit into one of the hinges.

I'll be going back there this week to dig up more iron relics, but I'm still not sure if this spot was a dump site or a cabin...