Solved! Lead Barrel Tap

[steelheadwill]

Hi All,
Dug this oddity a while back, it is a little over 4",
Corrugations on handle lead me to believe it had a leather grip cover.
There appear to be some casting marks along the centerline.
Lead would be an odd choice of metal for a durable tool, but useful for working with items you don't want to damage.
The wider end of the head is filled with a corklike material, photo #3.
I know that old wooden boat seams were sealed by tapping 'oakum' (waxed/tarred hemp fibers) into them.
Maybe this was a mallet for that purpose?
found at an old boatyard site, so it may be related to repair/refit.
A tough ID, but I believe it definitely served some purpose.
Any ideas or comments are appreciated!
Thanks for looking & HH to all

 

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[ModernMiner]

Re: Lead Mallet, or Boatyard Tool ??

A homemade pipe?
-MM-

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Re: Lead Mallet, or Boatyard Tool ??

It is definitely a keg-tap which has been crushed flat.

The "corrugations" on the "handle" are the threading.

 

[ModernMiner]

Re: Lead Mallet, or Boatyard Tool ??

It is definitely a keg-tap which has been crushed flat.

The "corrugations" on the "handle" are the threading.

Well done TCG.
-MM-

 

[steelheadwill]

Re: Lead Mallet, or Boatyard Tool ??

It is definitely a keg-tap which has been crushed flat.

The "corrugations" on the "handle" are the threading.

Thanks TCG!
I tried tracing the lines before posting to see if they were threads, impossible with the crushed edge,
Any idea on the date of this tap?
Again, many thanks for a Speedy ID
Best to you. Herbie

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

First... I should mention that it is not made of (pure) lead ..because in pure form, that metal is so soft that the crushing would have obliterated the threading.

In your photos, due to color-distortion, I cannot say with certainty what metal the object is made of. It seems to be of the bewilderingly-numerous varieties of "white metal" alloys. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_metal ) Some of the many examples of "white metals" are pewter, solder, babbitt-metal, lead, antimony, bismuth, zinc, tin ...and numerous alloys containing two (or three, or four) of those metals.

Still, your photos show little or no "stress-cracking" of the metal, so I think it is probably a white-metal alloy which contained a significant amount of lead. It may be a lead-&-copper alloy.

We relic-diggers have an understandable tendency to describe the white-metal objects we dig as being lead, or pewter ...but very often, the object is actually neither of those two metals.

Steelheadwill wrote:
> Any idea on the date of this tap?

Unfortunately, due to your tap/spigot having been so thoroughly crushed, there's now no way to know for certain about that. (Its "internal mechanism" might have given us an age-clue, but examining that area of it is now impossible.) White-metal keg/barrel-taps (or, spigots) with the "fine" threading were manufactured throughout the 1800s and well-into the 1900s.

 

[steelheadwill]

Thanks again TCBG,
I'm familiar with the myriad lead/pewter/white metal alloys and the many items that our ancestors made from them.
I Appreciate the help IDing & dating this previous mystery.
My hat's off to you

 

[kuger]

These were all dug in 1850's camps....no presence after 1860's

 

[steelheadwill]

These were all dug in 1850's camps....no presence after 1860's

Great examples & dating Kuger! Thanks