🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Old hand forged tool?

[cellerfeller]

Dug this in an old logging road not far from a river that had been dammed for log driving in the 19th century. It is 17 1/2" long - the sides of the "wrench end" are 3 1/2" long and form a square. When it came out of the ground I thought it was a wagon wrench but I am wondering if it might have something to do with the sluiceway at the old dam. You can see the grain of the iron running around the square. The handle failed in the middle so it must have had some serious stress put on it.

 

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[pepperj]

Not sure what it was, but it's hand forged.

 

[CreekSide]

Maybe had a hook on the end for rolling the logs

 

[villagenut]

That's the beauty of the blacksmith trade....he could fashion whatever one off tool he needs to get a job done. Could have been made to turn a squared/ hewn piece of timber...or similar squared off piece. It looks like there was a bend in the handle that showed up in the rusting process as a splinter.

 

[Nathan W]

I think it’s a carriage wrench

 

[KSDirtfisher77]

That's the Wrench that took wagon wheels off the axle back in the cowboy/outlaw era. They used a square nut to hold the wheel on.

 

[tamrock]

That's the Wrench that took wagon wheels off the axle back in the cowboy/outlaw era. They used a square nut to hold the wheel on.

Definitely appears so.