Whatever this is, it seems to have died a violent death! Shattered Iron?

[turtlefoot13]

Shattered was the first word that came to mind when I started pulling this out of the ground tonight. I don't know what it was but whatever it was, it looks like it literally shattered into pieces or was possibly blown up. All of these pieces of iron were found in an area approximately one foot by two feet. The area was raised and covered with thick moss instead of scraggly grass with rock showing through. If you look at the second pic, you can see the metal is split and not bent or rusted through. Looking closely at some of the pieces, it looks like there are grooves going the length of the metal. The photos are poor and I will try to get better images tomorrow if I can, along with closeups of the grooved areas.

These were found in the same area as my other two posts tonight. The land had a logging camp near with several narrow guage railroad trams going close by in the 1880's-1890's. Since then, it has mainly been a cattle ranch with woodlands, open pasture and hay fields.

I know that idendifying a bunch of small pieces of iron might not be possible but I am hoping that someone might be able to tell me what would cause a piece of iron to shatter like this. If it makes any difference, these pieces of iron feel harder and denser than other iron items that I have dug in this area.

Thanks for the help.
Doug

 

[NGE]

I have hunted in lumber camps in northern Michigan and have found similar pieces. But they were scattered much further apart. I had talked to oldtimers in the area and what they told me was that when some pot bellied stoves had gotten too hot, that some fool would toss a bucket of cold water onto it to cool it down, and the stove would explode . Also, when taking up or laying down track, if a shorter piece was needed, they would build a really hot fire and lay the rail across it. When the rail would get red hot, they would use a homemade chisel (rail spike) and make a groove all the way around the rail cap, then put it back into the fire to get red hot again, then they would pull it out again and toss bucket of cold water on it, and it would crack where it was grooved. A lot easier to do than ya think.........NGE

 

[johnnyi]

nowgittineverything, I love that kind of obscure information on how things were done! Great stuff! Today things have gone in the opposite direction when it comes to fire on the job. The last time I messed with railroad iron was over 25 years ago, but back then the new rules didn't let a S.E.P.T.A. worker use a torch on frozen bolts and steel that was on site. (I guess it was about costs of insurance and fire hazard). Everything, including two inch nuts, heavy #1 strap steel, etc., had to be cut with a hammer and cold chisel or an air saw! Hard grueling work, where a torch would have cut it all like butter!

 

[NGE]

Whenever I would search an old lumber camp, I would look for the largest burned out white pine tree. As most of the land was clear-cut, there would be no large burnt out stumps. There was a reason that tree was not cut to begin with. Some trees had a lumberjack's paycheck hidden (buried) in their roots, so those are always worth checking out. I know a place in Wolverine Michigan (camp) where a rather large ( 8 foot in diameter) is a sawmill blade, unfortunately there was a tree growing up through the center hole in it . I was not about to cut a live tree down to remove the blade..........NGE

 

[goldguru]

I know a place in Wolverine Michigan (camp) where a rather large ( 8 foot in diameter) is a sawmill blade, unfortunately there was a tree growing up through the center hole in it . I was not about to cut a live tree down to remove the blade..........NGE

Would make a neat picture, though.

go back in a cpl years the tree will be dead or about to die.
a tree like that doesnt have much of a future for it wont live long after it fills the arbor hole.