Some type of drill bit.

[oldgoaly]

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?

[kwoswalt99]

Three way splitting wedge.

[mikeswrenches]

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

[oldgoaly]

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.

[kwoswalt99]

It's a wooden handle.

[mikeswrenches]

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

[mikeswrenches]

Maybe this will help.

Mike

[oldgoaly]

Thanks Mike! you nailed even split the wood to put the nails in!

[turnnut]

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.)

[kwoswalt99]

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.

[oldgoaly]

I got this pic from him when he read it's a 3 way splitter hehehehe