Bought another wall hanger! This is definitely blacksmith made, but for what. Openings are 1 3/4" and 1 5/8" square and wrench is 15" long. This is probably the oldest wrench in my collection, so far.

I am not saying that it is old but i bet they used them on stone wheels   LOL  BOB W.

I've read that the first wrenches were made like yours. But like any shop made tool I don't know how you can tell when in it was made. Could be centuries old or just a few years.

Maybe a clue to its age could be found in where it was located/found?

I agree with Bus, that could be either end of the age spectrum. If I knew what one would sell for, I'd make a few!!!

From the look of that iron, it looks grainy, is probably wrought iron.  Wrought iron isn't readily available today, but I have enough that I could duplicate that wrench given some time.  However, the shaping, the squareness and those hammer welds, tells me this was done by a very accomplished smith, someone that worked at it every day, and those guys started getting scarce about in the 1950s.   The fact that a very good smith spent the time making it  says it was very necessary to someone, and in those sizes I am guessing it was for buggy and light wagon wheel axle nuts.   Could also been something in a factory, pump house or who knows what.   Most of the time in the distant past, before the local hardware started carrying adjustable Coes wrenches,  first a smith would make a nut, thread it, then make a wrench to fit it.   It also had value to a whole bunch of people that decided to keep it down through the decades, even after the usage it was created was forgotten.  It is a very interesting wrench. 

Thanks for all the thoughts. I bought it at auction in a box of tools that looked to have been dug. I had to clean dirt and loose rust off all of them, but this one wasn't rusted as bad as some. I just like the looks of this one.

My opinion is about the same as John's.  Good smith work.  Looks like wrought iron.   It might help to know what else was in the box -- some families stay together...  I couldn't have passed this one up if I found it in the wild.

Here is what I have left from the box lot. I sold an axe head and a chain swivel. The pick tool on the right may have been made by same blacksmith as the wrench since it has the wrap-a-round weld like ends of wench. Just wish the 1930 NC tag was in better shape.

The one on the left (Don't know what its called) and the one on the right (pickaroon?) + an axe and a chain swivel makes me think logging.

Quote from: Neals on May 12, 2012, 05:04:12 PM
The one on the left (Don't know what its called) and the one on the right (pickaroon?) + an axe and a chain swivel makes me think logging.

Me too.  Yes, that's a pickaroon on the right.  How the wrench fit into that group, or if it fit, is a mystery still.

The piece on the left with the chain link, wasn't it one of a pair driven into a log to pull it?  The one in the middle, I do not have a clue.  Looks like it fit on the end of a pole?