interesting old stuff

[stillfishin]

A small local museum had an auction last weekend. I couldn't keep my hand down as usual. Here's a few items I couldn't resist. Any insight on them?











I believe these are scotch type augers? I bought 4, They all have the same grind to them, and are all in nice condition. Largest was 3" and close to 30" long. Down to 1 1/2" x 18"



This was a pike head I think. Loggers used these on a pole to push logs down the rivers and into the mill from the lake here.





A tapered auger.

I got several more pieces too, stories for another day..

[Dakota Woodworker]

Nice bunch of augers.  I've got one like your biggest one, drills about a 3" hole. No doubt for wood originally but has drilled a lot of post holes in it's later life.

[amertrac]

that pike head would make a perfect weapon on my wall
bob w.

[1930]

I do like that tapered auger as you put it

[stillfishin]

Yes Dakota, thats the biggest I've seen to date. Its 3" on the nuts. The bar to spin it is 28" long and I'm sure you'ld want all of it to spin that bit.

Bob, It'd sure be a heckuva weapon huh? Can u imagine hooking somebody somewhere? I bet they'd come right along... I'll sure trade it to you for something interesting.

1930, that is what they do call those. They were for making holes for tapered shafts to fit in. Like wagon wheels, whiskey barrell bungs, etc. This one starts at 0 and goes to 2" The working length is 6" long. Its in excellent condition but the handle has been replaced with a newer peice of wood I'm sure. Again I'd swap for something.

[Branson]

That one looks specifically like a tap auger, that bores a hole in the end of a barrel to accept a wooden tap.  There are other and larger tapered augers for bigger jobs, bung hole augers for example.

All good stuff!  Looking forward to more pictures.

[keykeeper]

Pike poles were also a longtime used tool in the fire service, used for pulling ceilings and walls to check for spread of the fire or moving hot items if the structure was on the ground to search for victims or origin of fire. Pike poles have many different uses.

[Branson]

The T-handled augers were used for drilling deep and accurate holes.  Mostly, it seems, people identify them with barn building but they were used for all manner of construction.  I have a photograph that shows a couple of army engineers during the Civil War sitting in the trusses of a bridge being built boring through the posts with these, so that the heavy wooden pins could be driven through.  Three were also issued to artillery artificers, in this case for boring the holes for some of the long, heavy bolts used in holding cannon carriages together.