New Guy from Maine

[Mark Ling]

Oh I love bottle digging in old dumps! If only I lived closer.....

It would be pretty cool if you dug up the iron signals, found some wrought ion, an then used It to forge into hardware for the house!

What I've really been whanting to find is a civil war site, like the ones that auquachigger, and nuggetnoggin find. But it's kinda hard to hear in texas, at least not one that's already a historical site. It's hard enough to find homesites that go back to the time of the civil war here, most are from the late 1800's or later.

Sounds like your sitting on a gold mine and don't even realize it....

57 minutes ago, Lou L said:

 

 

An aside: Denis Frechette (has a great YouTube channel DF in the Shop) has recently made a video asking for help collecting images of the craftsmanship of blacksmiths.  I suggested to him that an online forum where people can upload their images and comment on the location and possible age would be really cool.  Any ideas on a digital forum that would allow a group of people to build a catalogue like this and maybe allow blacksmiths to comment?  IFI wouldn't work because images get deleted after a while.  I'm thinking of a permanent database, like an interactive Internet book.  It would be a great reference and would give purpose to the stuff we dig up.

Yesss!!!!!!

                                                                                                 Littleblacksmith

[Steamboat]

29 minutes ago, Lou L said:

There are some go to tricks though.  Always check under the stone at the doorway because people would place a coin there.  Also, search for a depression in the ground nearby, it was likely the outhouse.  Swing your detector from the doorway and follow a logical path the the outhouse.  Almost guaranteed button finding technique.  In a way it allows you to connect to that person who was rushing to the bathroom and trying to get their pants unbuttoned over 200 years ago!

Privy sites are usually good for artifacts, whether accidentally dropped, like coins and popped buttons, or broken items like crockery and other items discarded down the hole. Animal bones and other food remains in the privy are good for clues as to their diet, etc. If the house is old enough, there could be multiple privy sites, since the outhouse might get moved over a new pit when the old pit started to fill up. The ground immediately around our house has been re-contoured in recent decades, so old privy sites would be hard to locate from depressions, since there aren't any. An older neighbor can remember when our house had an outhouse, and earlier ones might have been in the same general area, but she only remembers its approximate location, so you might say it's kind of a 'crap shoot' to discover their locations.

By the way, your mention of a specialized "blacksmith craftsmanship" image database is an interesting idea...worth some thought. 

8 minutes ago, littleblacksmith said:

Sounds like your sitting on a gold mine and don't even realize it....

                                                                                                 Littleblacksmith

Oh, yes, I know that the property has a lot of historical potential and many secrets yet to be discovered and interpreted...you're right about that...it's mainly a matter of time and resources. Since I retired, I'm so busy with various projects/pursuits that I seem to have less free time than when I was working full time. The propane forge that I'm constructing is just one of many activities, and I'm also trying to fit in some other historic research and archaeological excavation work, not to mention home restoration and half a dozen other projects. I'll say one thing though: it's far better to be busy than bored, so I'm not complaining. 

[ThomasPowers]

As I recall "Fence Post Banks" tend to be located in places easily seen from a window in the house and master bedroom and kitchen are the most likely.

If you rebuild the kitchen fireplace you better do some blacksmithing!  A very nice crane for instance---Iron and Brass IotEH has several very nice ones indeed! I don't need to remind you to but in a very modern flue closer to make the room much nicer to be in when you are not using the fire...

Scappi's book has a very nice set of woodcuts in it of his kitchen set up and equipment.  You do need the experience to know that things are sometimes shown out of kilter---the lark spit holders built into the legs of the trivet can't work as shown.  I did a simple variation that works very well. Also the large spit holder for his travel kitchen I modified to be more stable yet demountable for travel.  I profit from the use of these---I've had peacock twice at SCA camping events cooked with the gear I've made---including PeaDucken once.

[Steamboat]

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

As I recall "Fence Post Banks" tend to be located in places easily seen from a window in the house and master bedroom and kitchen are the most likely.

If you rebuild the kitchen fireplace you better do some blacksmithing!  A very nice crane for instance---Iron and Brass IotEH has several very nice ones indeed! I don't need to remind you to but in a very modern flue closer to make the room much nicer to be in when you are not using the fire...

Scappi's book has a very nice set of woodcuts in it of his kitchen set up and equipment.  You do need the experience to know that things are sometimes shown out of kilter---the lark spit holders built into the legs of the trivet can't work as shown.  I did a simple variation that works very well. Also the large spit holder for his travel kitchen I modified to be more stable yet demountable for travel.  I profit from the use of these---I've had peacock twice at SCA camping events cooked with the gear I've made---including PeaDucken once.

Yes, Thomas, I agree that the post hole banks/safes would probably have been within sight of their homes in most cases. Or perhaps under their homes in the soil in a basement or crawl space, or an empty void in a fireplace, etc. I figure that they probably would have wanted a location where there would be no obvious signs of recent activity. I would think that behind some selected stone in one of the ubiquitous stone walls might have been very unobtrusive, and they could have removed and replaced a stone without any obvious evidence of having been there. Most of the old farm fields in Maine were/are surrounded by stone walls made from the stones removed from the field to make it tillable, as I'm sure you know.

I've learned a good deal about historic fireplaces from that era. I have a pile of fireplace books, and I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days watching (and helping a bit) while one of the best-known experts in historic fireplace and brick restoration repaired some of our fireplace flues. I asked lots of questions, as you can imagine. I also spent some time with a local masonry restoration specialist, who was very forthcoming with information as well. I repaired several of the hearth springer arches off the main chimney arch, designed a very nice chimney cap (not an original design, but it isn't too obtrusive looking), and poured a new base for the planned kitchen fireplace replacement. So I'm gradually gearing up to build a very authentic-looking kitchen fireplace.

The new fireplace would "look" authentic, but I would use a modern flue liner and maintain code clearances to wood, etc. It would also have a separate flue for the beehive oven, but you would not know that to look at it. One of the tricky things is to find authentic old brick, as well as firebrick that looks like old brick, since the original didn't have anything that would qualify as 'firebrick' today. Most of the bricks from the original kitchen fireplace had been hauled away and sold before we bought the house. You can get reproduction brick at a pretty hefty price, but I may have found a good source for some of the real stuff (but don't ask who or what the source is). It's narrower than the usual brick sizes we use today, the mortar joints are narrower, too, and the mortar used back then was a lime-putty mortar, although from what I've been told it can be slightly modified for a bit more immediate strength without changing its white appearance or making it harder than the relatively soft original bricks. The beehive oven located to the side of the fireplace can be a bit complex to construct, and as you mentioned, the fireplace and beehive oven could involve blacksmithing operations for things like the crane, door, hinges, door vent, handle, lintel, etc., not to mention cookware and cooking accessories, which could involve a LOT of time in front of the forge. I'm looking forward to getting to the point where I'm done laying brick and starting to make the iron parts. Heck, I'm still looking forward to when I can start laying brick.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that flue dampers have been installed in all of the currently-working fireplaces. I don't mind upgrades like that, which are not easily visible and don't detract from the historical appearance of the fireplaces.

It would be interesting to see some of the cookware you've made.

[ThomasPowers]

We had a 100 year old house in Columbus Ohio that had 4 chimneys each with 2 flues; but no working fireplaces.  We did use to get bats that managed to sneak past the flue blockers during very cold winters and I had to get used to catching them and rehoming them.  The house was heated originally with vented gas heaters I believe as each major room had a thimble into a flue.  The attic still had one of the original lighting fixtures a combo electric and gas one.  We used the electric side but I never touched the gas side---it wasn't leaking and I'd bet substantial money that messing with the valve would mean it never was gas tight again!   Only other place I had seen combo lights was at the Breakers in Newport Rhode Island.  Ours was much less fancy...

[Mark Ling]

About bricks- if you wander the woods a bit, your bound to Come across an old homesite, with nothing but maybe a few foundation stones, and the chimmeny ruins- made of hand made bricks.

                                                                                    Littleblacksmith 

[Steamboat]

44 minutes ago, littleblacksmith said:

About bricks- if you wander the woods a bit, your bound to Come across an old homesite, with nothing but maybe a few foundation stones, and the chimmeny ruins- made of hand made bricks.

                                                                                    Littleblacksmith 

That's absolutely true. I've run across a number of places with a scatter of bricks from an old fireplace. One problem is that they're often in bad condition, since they tended to be very soft and porous back then, so they absorb water, and and when they freeze, a lot of them tend to crack, spall, and sometimes just turn to powder. Bricks found below the frost line in excavations are often in better shape. However, I've also seen some good ones on the surface. The big issue, however, is that the kitchen fireplace is a really big fireplace, and it will require a LOT of bricks, and they all have to be the same type, color, and size, like the bricks in all of the other fireplaces in the house. They probaby would have come from the same brickyard originally. It's good to have all of the bricks match, not just for an authentic appearance, but for equal performance (expansion, contraction, adherence to mortar, etc.). Consistent size is also very important, especially with narrow mortar joints that will make even minor variations in size very apparent.

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

We had a 100 year old house in Columbus Ohio that had 4 chimneys each with 2 flues; but no working fireplaces.  We did use to get bats that managed to sneak past the flue blockers during very cold winters and I had to get used to catching them and rehoming them.  The house was heated originally with vented gas heaters I believe as each major room had a thimble into a flue.  The attic still had one of the original lighting fixtures a combo electric and gas one.  We used the electric side but I never touched the gas side---it wasn't leaking and I'd bet substantial money that messing with the valve would mean it never was gas tight again!   Only other place I had seen combo lights was at the Breakers in Newport Rhode Island.  Ours was much less fancy...

I can't even remember when I last saw combo gas/electric fixtures...or where.

In the 1800s it was very common to block off a fireplace opening and run a flue through the blocking wall and into the fireplace chimney to convert from fireplace heat to wood/coal stoves, and later, gas heaters. Actually, this saved the fireboxes in a lot of homes, since the fireplaces no longer had fires built in them. Of course, some later homes never had fireplaces...just flues for stoves or heaters. I had such a house in St. Paul, MN. I added a freestanding fireplace so I could enjoy watching some of Minnesota's hardwood go up in smoke while it was keeping me warm.