🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Antique casing ID and strange logging related pin

[Nathan6309]

Hey everybody. I hit the woods yesterday and, instead of hitting one of my more common house sites, I decided to take a chance and detect the open woods. I didn’t find too much, but a couple of surprising discoveries were made. I found a pretty nice pocket knife, a weird spike that I believe is for logging, and a casing that has stumped me. The casing shows up as a .56 on the digital calipers, similar to a spencer, but it doesn’t appear to be rimfire and is shorter. The casing is flush almost all the way to the bottom and has no confiscation of ever being a centerfire. I was originally thinking that it could be a .42 caliber Pidault and Cordier (Raphael) cartridge, but the digital calipers proved otherwise. It is also around .76 to .8 in tall. Has anybody ever seen a casing like this and does anybody know what the spike could have been used for? Lastly, does anybody recognize this brand of knife and how old it might be? Thanks in advance for any assistance with these relics!

 

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[crashbandicoot]

Your spike resembles a chain repair link.Thread through the ends of two chains and hammer or squeeze shut,also to join two chains to make a longer one.No guess on the cartridge.Knife could be a Barlow,which I believe was both a brand and a type. All guesses you understand.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Forgot my manners Nathan,nice finds!

 

[Nathan6309]

Thanks for the ideas, crashbandicoot! Looking at the chain link, I could definitely see how the link could be opened and then closed again. I also found a length of chain next to it, so that would make the most sense.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Thanks for the ideas, crashbandicoot! Looking at the chain link, I could definitely see how the link could be opened and then closed again. I also found a length of chain next to it, so that would make the most sense.

You can still buy those at the hardware store but yours seems to have a square cross section which would make it older. how much older I don,t know.

 

[Nathan6309]

Yeah, something about the ends scream hand forged. Based on the history of the surrounding house sites/area, I would probably date it anywhere from the 1860s/70s all the way up to around 1910. I would most likely guess somewhere between those two dates.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Yeah, something about the ends scream hand forged. Based on the history of the surrounding house sites/area, I would probably date it anywhere from the 1860s/70s all the way up to around 1910. I would most likely guess somewhere between those two dates.

Very good deduction! I,d agree.