Carved wooden beam?

[mcb66]

This is a strange item I picked up over the weekend. It is about 6ft long and 3 to 4 inches square. Hand hewn of some type of hard wood and appears very old. The piece on the end swivels and is held on with a blacksmith forged piece of metal. I know that often home made tools are hard to identify. But hey lets give it a shot. Any ideas? ideas?

 

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[bobby5]

Nice find, My wild guess would be an Oar, But I really don't know Jack.

 

[BagLady]

My guess is it was a tongue to a horse/ox drawn piece of equipment. Maybe even a Grist Mill or Sorghum Mill.
The design? IDK. Maybe someone used it as a fireplace mantle and dressed it up with those marks..??

 

[digger460]

If nothing else, I nice piece of folk art! Cool Find

 

[kcm]

I'm gonna guess oar as well. The markings, I would guess, are more for keeping track of time rather than any significant design - sorta like how it's common nowdays to draw 4 parallel lines and a 5th that cuts then diagonally. But still, just guessin'.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Maybe a tiller for a boat.

 

[BagLady]

The piece that swivels is called a single tree. One horse/mule on each side of the tongue, and the single tree is attached to the front bottom of the collar. The broken end is a classic break when something goes wrong with one of the team. It would have slid into a wagon or other farm equipment.

 

[BagLady]

Like this:

 

[d2]

It appears to me to be too big for a single tree. Maybe it came from a wall or shed where someone would be able to doodle while they rested in the shade...d2

 

[mcb66]

I like the idea of a single tree. I just don't think the swivel piece on the end would work. Here is a pic. It's only about two feet long and has a notch cut into it.

 

[DCMatt]

Maybe a tiller for a boat.

That was my first thought as well. Tiller from a small ship...

 

[BagLady]

This last picture doesn't show much. Take a picture from the front of the tongue, showing the entire "swivel piece" please. The hardware is still on it isn't it?

 

[BagLady]

22"-26" singletrees are a common size. Just as with collars, there are different sizes depending on what size your horse/mule is.
Here are a couple of ours.

 

[mcb66]

The piece on the end that swivels is the 2ft long piece with the notch. It is held on with a "pin" that has a loop on one end.

 

[huntsman53]

It appears to me to be too big for a single tree. Maybe it came from a wall or shed where someone would be able to doodle while they rested in the shade...d2

I agree that it is too long as well as too thin to be a single tree! It is possible it is some type of yoke for hitching two horses, oxen or cows together.


Frank

 

[BagLady]

Yes, the 6' long piece that has the design would be the tongue, the short 2' piece would be the singletree, like my pic's. Yours is very crude and old. Each of mine in the pic's are 25"