A friend sent me these 2 pics, some type of drill bit. Maybe blacksmith made? I'll have to ask him what size it is, but it's in the 2-3" diameter range. I've had a thought of maybe for sand stone grinding stones for the hub?
Three way splitting wedge.
It is a splitting wedge...sort of. It is used to split the wood for barrel hoops. The sharp 'V' edge of the split pieces are then planed down to the desired thickness. I had one of these for a long time before I found out what it was for. The example shown is in better shape than mine was. My example was missing the little tit on the end. The reason for 3 rather than 4 sections was that you got a larger, hence stronger, piece for your barrel.
There is also a smaller version that splits the wood into 4 pieces. These were used for smaller items, like buckets. They have a strange name that eludes me at present. I'll post it when I remember.
I guess that they would be considered a coopers tool.
Mike
I haven't seen it person, to me it looks like a shank for drilling not hammering. that don't mean it hasn't been modified? oh have I split a lot of firewood over the years...
I will text him and see if it looks like the shank has hammer marks.
It's a wooden handle.
It certainly looks like it has a wooden handle. The one I had was solid cast iron but it had no hammer marks on the handle end. As I remember, these were used on green wood.
Mike
Maybe this will help.
Mike
Thanks Mike! you nailed even split the wood to put the nails in!
weren't hoops made from saplings ??
somewhere, I had a foot operated hoop notcher,, they make a V style notch to hook the two ends together.
and I think that I read that they used saplings, and when they dried, they would be tighter. (if memory is working today.)
Quote from: turnnut on May 24, 2017, 07:50:27 PM
weren't hoops made from saplings ??
somewhere, I had a foot operated hoop notcher,, they make a V style notch to hook the two ends together.
and I think that I read that they used saplings, and when they dried, they would be tighter. (if memory is working today.)
Yes, in the olden days they would be soaked in a stream for a few weeks, split in half, and beaten with a mallet to make them supple. There were a few different joints that they used to join them too.
I got this pic from him when he read it's a 3 way splitter hehehehe