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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: Cambearing on April 26, 2013, 02:23:01 PM
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Greetings! A friend of mine found this in his dad's barn not to long ago, and I am at a loss as to what is was used for. It appears to be a wedge of some sort (shaped like one anyway) with a dull serrated edge. It is stamped with the Iron City star logo. I do know that Iron City was a company formed in 1854 out of Pittsburgh, PA and produced blacksmith tools, hammers, hoes, picks, railroad tools, and vises and was bought by Warren Tool Co. in 1958. They continued to use the Iron City name on products after the aquisition. I'm not even sure this is an antique, but I cannot find anything about this piece. I've found wedges that are somewhat similar, but none has the serrated edge. I'm leaning toward some kind of stone cutting tool. Hoping someone here recognizes it and can help us out.
It is app. 5.5" long, 2.25" tall. The "flat" end is 3/4" across.
Here are pics:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/cam501/IMG_0119_zps1ab195ce.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/cam501/IMG_0121_zps03a90d75.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/cam501/IMG_0122_zpscc986191.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/cam501/th_IMG_0124_zpsc4e65b28.jpg)
Thanks in advance for any help.
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looks like a log splitting maul...
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looks like a log splitting maul...
I thought that too, and it may be. What made me think of a stone cutting tool is that I did find a picture (drawing) of a stone tool that had similar serrated edges on both sides. I'm not giving up, it's gotta be on the internet somewhere! :D
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you might be right...over here in UK,,its called a stonemasons skutch, and it can be fitted with serrated chisels.
i found this early one...
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=stonemason%27s+hammer&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QvR6Ud6mAamq0QW8poGACQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=624#imgrc=RN3nMHTsgg9UDM%3A%3BHifaDJ4Dqdfy_M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fbertan.gipuzkoakultura.net%252Fbertan4%252Fargazkiak%252Fg%252F63.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fbertan.gipuzkoakultura.net%252Fbertan4%252Fing%252F3.php%3B520%3B589
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If you could get in touch with Scotty Fulton from Kentucky, I bet he could help you...I see he has 12,000 hammers in his barn.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/etherfarm/sets/72157623816148611/show/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/etherfarm/sets/72157623816148611/show/)
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Well it isn`t a cutting tool !! Did you put that handle in ?? It is not that old !! I am betting this is a miners tool !! Serrated edge wouldn`t cut but it would crush !! As in what the miners need to extract gold !! Did see a catalogue from 1953 on ebay from Iron City !! Don`t know if it was a current auction or old one though !!
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Well it isn`t a cutting tool !! Did you put that handle in ?? It is not that old !! I am betting this is a miners tool !! Serrated edge wouldn`t cut but it would crush !! As in what the miners need to extract gold !! Did see a catalogue from 1953 on ebay from Iron City !! Don`t know if it was a current auction or old one though !!
Well, it's not mine, but the owner did put a new handle on it (I don't think it had one when he found it) AND (I cringed when they told me) they buffed it up. I will look more into miner's tools, didn't think along that angle because we are in the middle of west Texas and there isn't much (as in practically none) mining around here. Mostly farming and ranching (although some land around here is pretty rocky). I didn't think too much of it when I saw it, thought some the old timers around here might know what it was used for, but none of them could tell us. Of course, around here, what it was meant to be used for and what it was actually used for as are two seperate things! Rural innovation!
The reason I think it is could be an antique is the Iron City logo stamped on it. It's the only markings on it, or the only ones that are still visible, so it could be 40 years old or over 1oo years old, but it would seem if it was the younger, you could find more on the internet about it or something very similar and I am coming up blanks.
But for real, as referred to in the topic subject, someone here really said that it was a meat tenderizer and I had to laugh. I said you be just as effective tenderizing with a sharp flint rock and you don't have to buy rocks! :D
Anyway, thanks for the input, you've given me some fresh ideas on where to look next. I will also check into the Ebay catalogue you mentioned. Also thanks Bigwull and Rauville, will definitely check your links out in more detail. I will post here again if I find anything more. I do feel like I'm a lot closer to finding an answer.
Thanks again.
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I am in NE Texas so I know about rural innovation !! I didn`t mean the ax wasn`t old,, just the handle !! Ax could easily be 100 years old !! As far as the mining aspect,, it could have been acquired from someone or bought with a different use in mind !! I found a hand ax with a serrated edge but it was a firefighters ax !! I am curious about this one so let us know and we will keep looking !!
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I celebrated my birthday today by checking out an auction in town. :D I was visiting with a 90 year old tool collector and remembered your tool. I showed him the photo on my phone, and he replied that it's an "Ice Hammer". Used in ice houses and ice delivery wagons to break off a smaller piece from a big block.
I would question this, but since I'm not quite 90 years old yet, I'll bow to his wisdom. ::)
Just thought I'd pass the information on.
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Well,, Happy Birthday Rauville !!! And wishing you many more !! ;D
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Happy Birthday Rauville...looked on google E...but, damned if i could see that barn.... ;D
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I tried Rauville`s suggestion but nothing matched !! Not even close !!
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I tried Rauville`s suggestion but nothing matched !! Not even close !!
That's why I took his opinion with a grain of salt. I've had what I called "Ice Hammers / Ice Knockers" before, and they were designed for removing the ice and snow from horse's hoofs during Winter.
To me anything intended for working with block ice would be thinner in the blade. I think we can rule this theory out.
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http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id6.html
You might try here !! They have a "whats it worth" feature !! Didn`t see anything like this one but due to dial up,, only looked at first page and it was on Belknap tools !! They have several mfrs listed but not this one !! I would post it there and see if anyone knows what it was designed for !!
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........... and he replied that it's an "Ice Hammer". Used in ice houses and ice delivery wagons to break off a smaller piece from a big block.
I would question this, but .............
I question it also ....... unless they were selling "crushed" ice for Slushies.
An ice saw was used for cutting off a smaller piece from a big block.
And an ice pick will fracture a block of ice quicker than a hammer will.
I believe Cambearing's pictured hammer is a stonemason's hammer because the serrated edge would cause it to "bite" into the rock like a "splitting maul" and not glance, slip or slide away from the intended "strike line".
Most or many types of rock (sedimentary) has a "grain" and a good stonemason knows how to "read" that grain ...... and "splitting" rock is just llike "splitting" wood with the grain.
The above is just my learned opinion, of course.
For all I know that sledge could have been made for "marking" or "branding" the butt end of timber/logs to define ownership or source. Especially during the days when logs were floated downriver to the mills.
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Thanks everyone for the help. I do appreciate it. I'm still looking, but I did find the following which almost the same shape and size, with the same company logo. The only difference I can see is, of course, the serrations and the back seems a little more flared out, but that could have been from being hammered on
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Iron-City-3-stone-mason-mash-blacksmith-hammer-head-vintage-1955-3-/200908156857?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec70f2fb9 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Iron-City-3-stone-mason-mash-blacksmith-hammer-head-vintage-1955-3-/200908156857?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec70f2fb9)
I'm still leaning toward a stone working tool.
Thanks again.
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Thanks everyone for the help. I do appreciate it. I'm still looking, but I did find the following which almost the same shape and size, with the same company logo. The only difference I can see is, of course, the serrations and the back seems a little more flared out, but that could have been from being hammered on
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Iron-City-3-stone-mason-mash-blacksmith-hammer-head-vintage-1955-3-/200908156857?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec70f2fb9 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Iron-City-3-stone-mason-mash-blacksmith-hammer-head-vintage-1955-3-/200908156857?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec70f2fb9)
I'm still leaning toward a stone working tool.
Thanks again.
What do ya mean yer leaning...of course thats what it is...if its not...then i,ll eat Ghoppers shorts,...as long as he,s no in them....at the time.... ;D
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You and those shorts.....I tell ya....... ;D
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I'll toss my hat into the 'stonemasons' tool bin as well .
Looks like a 'forming/roughing' tool , for sandstone , limestone & granite (perhaps from a gravestone/marker shop/crastman .
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Hold on now, I'm not a frequent poster around here, but there will be no shorts-eating on my account! I got enough bad habits without that on my conscience! :D
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Hafta` watch those two !!! ;D