Wrought Iron Fish Hook?

[Eastender]

Today I revisited a colonial site where I recently found a KGI 1724 HP. Sparse debris field, has only yielded the one coin and no buttons. The few nails and iron debris all seem quite crudely made.

This nail is bent usually symmetrical. And I found it within 100 yards of an ocean bay. If not used for fishing, maybe for crabbing since wetlands are nearby. It's nice to get excited about a nail for a change.

 

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[releventchair]

To hazard a guess , it was clenched.

https://blog.lostartpress.com/2016/...Clinching adds remarkable strength to a joint.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Possibly a boat nail. Nails used in traditional boatbuilding are typically clenched.

 

[Eastender]

That makes perfect sense. The only reason why I speculated the possibility of a fish hook, aside from proximity to the ocean, is the relatively poor material culture I am finding. The early settlers were few in number, rural farms, and far away from towns. I imagine they cannibalized many materials. As far as boat building I am now thinking I am passing up nautical copper nails, getting the higher than iron readings but tossing them aside. Since nails are often the bane of detecting I have not given them enough thought.

 

[crashbandicoot]

You may be right!Copper nails were also used and in fact are still used by folks building small craft by traditional methods.Heck,you might get lucky and find a clenching iron which was used on the backside of a plank to cause the nail to assume that shape.There are folks very interested in this kind of stuff.

 

[villagenut]

I Agree that it is clenched

 

[Coinstar magnet]

Clenched it is!