hand wrought fork

duffytrash

Bronze Member
Jun 10, 2006
1,143
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ohio river
the end is hollow and mushroomed...16x3inches at the tines....
Untitled-8.jpg
 

That's a fish/frog gigger (missing the pole) Gigging - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nice find!

HH
-GC

Sorry but I gotta disagree. A gig would be barbed in order to keep a wriggling fish or frog from sliding off the tines. I believe that is some kinda roasting fork or cooking utensil. It could have had a wood handle at one time. The extra length of the metal is there to keed from burning the handle in a wood fire.
 

At one time it could have looked like this-

gig.JPG

Hard to tell from that photo what kind of corrosion has taken place on the piece over the years. Probably had a much sharper appearance when first made. I disagree with a roasting fork. This piece was made to be used with a long wooden handle. Most primitive roasting forks are all metal with maybe a wooden handle only, same goes with a fire fork, though they were usually made one piece with a loop, hole or hooked end to hang from the hearth. Too small for a pitchfork. I'm gonna stick with an eel/fish gig unless Duffy can see something I can't.
 

since i live on the ohio river theres lotsa towboat stuff comin out lately....i was gonna say this might be a spike pole used on the river by the deckhands...ive never seen one that wasnt hooked but ive seen straight one....it was definatly hand made...i think its has a little age to it...maybe 1920s or so....
 

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