Solid Copper Tool/Functional Item

[mcl]

Hey Everyone,

I found this piece about a year ago and have always been curious about it. After scrubbing some of the grime off, it appears to be made of solid copper. As you can see, it was made from a rod which was bent several times to form a near-loop on one end and fashioned to a point on the other. It is 8.5 inches long as it sits. Based on the appearance, if I had to guess, I'd say it is a stake. But I'm not sure what for. Further, I'd be curious as to why anyone would have made a stake out of copper -- I'm not well-versed on what the advantages would be as opposed to say, iron. It looks to me like it was done by hand based on the bends as well as the crude sharpening of the tip. The area I found it in is sort of a mixed bag. Most of the stuff dates in two time periods, between 1890-1910, and between 1930-1960. Of course there have been other odds and ends as well -- modern junk and Native American stone artifacts.

My goal here is to figure out whether this is anything interesting at all. If its purpose can be identified as something unique to a time period, I'd like to keep it as is. If it is run-of-the-mill junk, I want to reheat it and twist it into a fun, ancient-style copper bracelet.

Hopefully this will be a sufficient number of pictures to give you an idea of what I have here.




















Thank you for any tips!

- mcl

 

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[trikikiwi]

Prior to the 1890s, the land was undeveloped woodlands, according to BLM surveys, topo maps, and plat maps. What supported the town between 1890-1910 was bituminous coal mining. Of course, it also had important staples such as a blacksmith and grocer, for example. The specific spot I found it, according to topographic maps, would have been the location of one of hundreds of company houses rented to miners. In modern times however, the spot is a farming field, and is within 15 feet of a fence line. Between 1910 and 1920, the land (~1000 acres) was vacant, owned by a real estate investor. It was parted out to farmers over time from the 20s onward. Between the 20s and 60s, the area may have had hogs in or nearby (not exactly sure of their confines boundaries), but also may have been used for strawberries, hemp, or fruit trees, according to diaries I've read. After the 1960s, the land has been used strictly for growing crops, except for a period of time around the 1970s when apparently various areas were acceptable community dumping sites.

In terms of what I have found within 20 feet of that spot.. turn of the century brass button cover, clock gears, a doorknob made of stone, hand etched bronze knob, small rail spike, tons of trash, much of which is pottery/glass shards (can't date most of it personally, but some of it was depression-era cobalt blue), modern trash, including 1970s-present soda can stuff, bullet shells, cartridges, projectiles, etc, barbed wire fragments, rusty pieces of broken farming implements -- you name it. The finds reflect all of the time periods listed above, so far as I can tell.

And did they never have a Barbecue?

 

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[mcl]

And did they never have a Barbecue?

I know you're being facetious but.. on the contrary, newspaper articles suggest that in the mining years (1890-1910), there was at least one annual barbecue of massive proportions on the 4th of July catered by the African-American population of the town. It was so large that the rail lines chartered special routes between the town and the nearby state capital for that one day of the year so that out-of-towners could attend the party by the hundreds.

Now.. on a more/less serious note (depending on how you look at it), since I am no closer to determining the identity of this piece, I now propose and consent to an experiment to test your "grilling utensil" hypothesis. I maintain that the piece would make for a poor set of tongs (because they would be too heavy/unwieldy) and a worse kebab skewer (as it is both too thick as well as would would get ludicrously hot). To settle this question (pseudo)scientifically, I am going to test the item both ways this weekend. I'll even let you pick what type of meat I use. Now, using it as a meat skewer is pretty self-explanatory, but since the tongs require some assembly, I present you with my plan for constructing and testing the apparatus in three easy steps:



Looking forward to your choice of meat. Let me know.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

some great diagraming. How did you do that?

 

[mcl]

some great diagraming. How did you do that?

Haha. I made it using a free program called GIMP (GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program), an open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Like everything it has a learning curve, but I wouldn't consider myself "experienced", and drawing that took me maybe 10 minutes, minus the time to find the pictures of the hand and steak.

 

[sutphin]

THATS WHAT MARION BARRY SAID ARC . I WAS THIKING MAYBE A GIMLET.

 

[trikikiwi]

[/QUOTE]

View attachment 1198917

Looking forward to your choice of meat. Let me know.[/QUOTE]

I pick these up quite cheap at my dentist's.

 

[trikikiwi]

HOLD THE CHOPS!!
I may have had a EUREKA moment.

Length of 8.5 inches
Pointed end
Handle for gripping/turning?

They all fit - Stove Pipe Damper Handle

http://tinyurl.com/pavs9uc

 

[mcl]

HOLD THE CHOPS!!
I may have had a EUREKA moment.

Length of 8.5 inches
Pointed end
Handle for gripping/turning?

They all fit - Stove Pipe Damper Handle
View attachment 1199098
VINTAGE CAST IRON STOVE PIPE DAMPER - Google Search

I have no idea how you stumbled upon that, but props for noticing it. I definitely think it has a potential to be something similar, but I spent over an hour searching images, auctions, and historical books/catalogs, and could not find a single stove pipe damper with a copper handle. 95% or more were made of either iron or more recently steel. There were just a few examples which had partial or solid brass handles, although perhaps importantly these were for flue dampers. It definitely is the closest thing so far, so it may very well be something very, very similar.

Going by my previous statements on the merits of copper, I'm wondering if it had something to do with a pipe that might be subject to water corrosion -- perhaps a pipe that occasionally or often passed steam. And either way, whatever pipe it was damping probably couldn't have been very hot because this piece lacks the wire enclosure as well as is made of a highly thermoconductive material.

It could also just be a "grandpa fix" handle as Nitric mentioned, but... The pointed tip appears to serve (apparently?) no functional purpose whatsoever -- so it doesn't make very much sense to me that someone would go through the trouble of tapering the tip for a "jerry-rig" fix. But perhaps someone had a very persnickety wife?

 

[trikikiwi]

...

It could also just be a "grandpa fix" handle as Nitric mentioned, but... The pointed tip appears to serve (apparently?) no functional purpose whatsoever -- so it doesn't make very much sense to me that someone would go through the trouble of tapering the tip for a "jerry-rig" fix. But perhaps someone had a very persnickety wife?

Every example here has a pointed pin.
[url]http://tinyurl.com/pavs9uc[/URL]

So if you are replicating a functional tool, it is highly likely you will recreate the tool with its proper design.

 

[mcl]

Every example here has a pointed pin.
[url]http://tinyurl.com/pavs9uc[/URL]

So if you are replicating a functional tool, it is highly likely you will recreate the tool with its proper design.

I admit I was wrong that the point served no functional purpose. I assumed that based on what they looked like when installed, that that the point was serving no purpose. In that regard, I was correct. The purpose of the point on the handle is that it can be hammered straight through a stove pipe so that you can "easily" line it up. After it is installed, it seems there is no further use for the point. So, if someone replaced the handle, the only reason they would need the point is if the diameter of the new handle was larger than the one being replaced OR you were going to make a completely new hole (e.g., new pipe?). Now, whether copper is a good choice for piercing stovepipe depends on what your pipes are made of and how desperate you are.

Either way, you were right that the point is functional.

 

[mcl]

One more thing I'd like you to clarify if possible, trikikiwi. I have the following image from a pamphlet I transcribed about the coal camp (the area where this was found). It is a drawing (from memory) of the company houses, made about 40 years after the houses were gone. So, it certainly could contain errors. Either way, what I see in the drawing is what looks like a brick chimney. Further, the caption lists several things the homes didn't have including "furnaces". I do however know that they had stoves of some sort, as the pamphlet also related a story about a boy who was hired as a household cook who made a soup, which I assume was on a stove rather than an open fire because the story involves him brushing a cat's fur over the pot. So, is it possible to have a stove with such a damper that led to a chimney? None of the post-mining houses in the nearby vicinity have ever had pipe stoves installed, which means if it is a handle, it had to come from a company house (or have been a dumped item).

 

[trikikiwi]

For some reason, I can't save your new pics to highlight another similarity between your find and the valve handles - but your pics do indicate a bump/notch in the rod which might readily coincide with this feature, as circled.


So, a fourth similarity.

 

[mcl]

For some reason, I can't save your new pics to highlight another similarity between your find and the valve handles - but your pics do indicate a bump/notch in the rod which might readily coincide with this feature, as circled.
View attachment 1199126

So, a fourth similarity.

It's possible, but that "bump" is in the spot where the rod was bent when I found it (and I bent it back by hand). I noticed that too and took a look at the picture I posted of the item on the day I found it, and I'm not sure the same feature is evident in that picture. Possibly a result of my bending the rod.