Tools

[bgott]

Howdy! Long time lurker, first time poster. I picked up a bunch of blacksmithing tools the other day and, among the goodies, there are three items I need some help in identifying. There are two hardies and a set tool that have a slot width wise through them. They kinda sorta look like tinsmith's seaming tools, almost. Heck of a description, eh? If I can figure out how to post a picture here I'll have one up in a minute. Thanks!

I posted a pic in the galleries under bgott/new album.

[Ed Thomas]

bgott: Here's the picture for easier perusal.

I see that your question was hit 34 times already and still you have no answer. So I will say also: "I dunno."

The picture isn't quite clear enough to see the detail on the groove, but it looks like it is just a straight slot. With a top and bottom tool, it is possible that it was a special tool for some common needed hardware item which that particular shop provided. In all of MT Richardson's, the only bottom tool I could find even close to this is in Volume 1, page 156 Figure 131. "A tool for bending flat pieces and making T pieces".

However, I can picture some uses for it in a general forging sense. The tool will allow you to make a quick sharp right angle on a fairly narrow piece of steel. It will also set both sides of a ridge that you previously roughed out. And if you forge both edges of a narrow flat bar that fit between the top and bottom tool, they would combine to set the edges AND ensure the two wings were parallel. Imagine a lower case 't'... or a '+'.

Any given blacksmith shop will have as many mystery tools than comprehensible ones if it's old enough, because you make a tool to do a job and might never use it again.

[HWooldridge]

I'll take a guess and say that they are to flatten and true the edge of wagon rims (before rolling), hinges, straps or other flat stock. In other words, they may be an "edge flatter". Did you find any matching bottom tools to go with the set tools?

[irnsrgn]

To bad you don't know what kind of shop they came out of and what they worked on. Lots of times FIFI (Factual Information For Investigation) will reveal what the tool was used for by looking at what was around the shop or the tools when they were found. I have seen similar tools in shops that sharpened so called STAR Drills for drilling in rock. If I had them I would probably use the bottom tools to make the reins on tongs, it will give you a T section to the handles and make them lighter and stronger that way.

Just my 2 cents worth

[Ed Thomas]

Hollis: I thought that middle tool was a hardie tool (bottom tool)? None of them look like good mates for each other, so I just presumed we're seeing a sample, rather than all that were in the shop at one time. The middle tool looks a little like i could be one of the wagon tools listed in Richardson, though.

bgott: Junior brings up a good point... do you know if this was a farming community shop, in town shop, or industrial shop?

[HWooldridge]

You are right, Ed. I did not pay close enough attention and thought the other two were just not hafted. I don't think they are for bending because the one with the handle looks like a struck tool but you never know...

[bgott]

I appreciate the responses. The guy I bought the tools from told me that his grandfather, whom had owned the tools, had retired from Brown and Root back in the '70s. Brown and Root is a major construction company with many divisions so there is no telling what exactly he was doing. An interesting point, the old man was forced to retire at 75 because that was the age limit for the company to be able to insure him. Those tools might have been for a project in the '20s for all I know. They don't have much wear on them so I don't think they were used daily. I guess I'll keep the matching top and bottom tools around as a set and rework the smaller hardy into something else. Thanks!

[Strine]

Point of order Your Worship :wink: As you rightly point out BG the tool on the left is a "Set" tool as it has a handle, but the other two are not "hardies". The hardy hole in the anvil holds a host of special tools only some of which might actually be "hardies". A "hardy" is a tool used for cutting metal; a hot hardy being slightly more finer that a cold hardy, the latter requiring a tougher build to deal with cold metal. I would have called the two tools on the right bottom swages and the one on the keft a top swage. That's according the Strayan vernacular anyway. As for what they do, the previous replies all seem perfectly reasonable to me but I'm only a mug punter really.

[bruce wilcock]

angle iron smithing was a trade on its own ,and in the loco yards tools similar were used for setting down tees and angle olso to clean up plate that had been cut to shape with a cold sett,

then i could be wrong they are proberly to hold cigarette paper whilst you get the tobbaco out,in a well appointed shop one would be at each anvil with a sponge to wet the gum,proberly becouse the sponge was missing we have all been missing the real use

[Ed Thomas]

Bruce, I think you've got it. I rummaged around here and there and believe I've discovered at least some of the missing hints that would have made this obvious.

For instance, if this rum cup holder had been right there, we'd have known that a cigarette paper holder couldn't be far away:




And if we'd seen this tool for efficiently stamping the moistened paper in place and lighting the cigarette at the same time:




But all along, the real clue was right in front of us... the hazards of leaving a lit cigarette on your head while you work:



Now we know.

[Glenn]

Ed did that rum cup holder come from Tony, a fellow that lives on the east coast of England hear an air force base?

[Ed Thomas]

Glenn: Why as a matter of fact it is. Of course, Tony pretends that this grog holder is a special tool

http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints/BP0044Candle_pans_cups_05/BP0044Candle_pans_cups_05.htm

But I think its real purpose is all too plain.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: