🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Weird Shaped Hand Forged Item ID?

[USNFLYR]

Found this item caked in rust and mud. I cleaned it up because it was found 3 feet away from where I found a Dandy Button. The area has yielded trapper and logger items. This was found at a shoreline along the Columbia River. The item is tapered from the head and flattens out to the base that has three attachment holes. The 3 1/4 inch cut out gap appears to be sharpened (or has a diagonal cut surface) on one side. The 2 3/4 inch semi triangular head has an indented surface near the tip. It is crudely made and hand forged. I suspect it predates the 20th century. There may have been a hut/cabin on the bluff above the waterline….

Any guesses?

 

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[Gene Mean]

It looks like some type of tilling blade.

 

[pepperj]

View attachment 2171878View attachment 2171879View attachment 2171880View attachment 2171881View attachment 2171882View attachment 2171883View attachment 2171884

Found this item caked in rust and mud. I cleaned it up because it was found 3 feet away from where I found a Dandy Button. The area has yielded trapper and logger items. This was found at a shoreline along the Columbia River. The item is tapered from the head and flattens out to the base that has three attachment holes. The 3 1/4 inch cut out gap appears to be sharpened (or has a diagonal cut surface) on one side. The 2 3/4 inch semi triangular head has an indented surface near the tip. It is crudely made and hand forged. I suspect it predates the 20th century. There may have been a hut/cabin on the bluff above the waterline….

Any guesses?

Might be an early log dog.
Leather was attached to the flat side for pulling.
It could be an early hinge part.
The pointed end hammered into the beam, leather attached to the flat side for a hinge.

 

[USNFLYR]

Might be an early log dog.
Leather was attached to the flat side for pulling.
It could be an early hinge part.
The pointed end hammered into the beam, leather attached to the flat side for a hinge.

Pepper:

Excellent reply. Both ideas have me on "web surfing". Hinge? That is my area of focus!

I notice the same triangle hole pattern in this wrought iron hinge.

 

[Bernitup]

View attachment 2171878View attachment 2171879View attachment 2171880View attachment 2171881View attachment 2171882View attachment 2171883View attachment 2171884

Found this item caked in rust and mud. I cleaned it up because it was found 3 feet away from where I found a Dandy Button. The area has yielded trapper and logger items. This was found at a shoreline along the Columbia River. The item is tapered from the head and flattens out to the base that has three attachment holes. The 3 1/4 inch cut out gap appears to be sharpened (or has a diagonal cut surface) on one side. The 2 3/4 inch semi triangular head has an indented surface near the tip. It is crudely made and hand forged. I suspect it predates the 20th century. There may have been a hut/cabin on the bluff above the waterline….

Any guesses?

Initially I thought old hinge, but then I thought maybe gate latch and then I thought a crudely made log pickaroo… Someone will be along to help, good luck!

 

[DCMatt]

It looks like some type of tilling blade.

Agree. It looks like a tooth off a drag harrow to me.

 

[Bucket Lister]

Might be an early log dog.

😁​

I was thinking hinge plate, then door/gate latch, but...
I'm unclear on the taper...

Is the pointed end on the left or right here?

IDK enough farming or logging--suburban kid.

 

[USNFLYR]

View attachment 2172011😁​

I was thinking hinge plate, then door/gate latch, but...
I'm unclear on the taper...

View attachment 2172012​

Is the pointed end on the left or right here?

IDK enough farming or logging--suburban kid.

Bucket,
The pointed end is on the left.

 

[USNFLYR]

Agree. It looks like a tooth off a drag harrow to me.

Initially I thought it was a prong from a plow. But why the 3 holes? And why would the item flatten out? For strength and stability, the prong would stay thick and solid throughout the design, you'd think. I too, have never been around farms...so I'm on a search now to check out the hunch. Thanks DC Matt the input.

 

[USNFLYR]

View attachment 2172011😁​

I was thinking hinge plate, then door/gate latch, but...
I'm unclear on the taper...

View attachment 2172012​

Is the pointed end on the left or right here?

IDK enough farming or logging--suburban kid.

I think a gate latch or a hinge might be a good rabbit hole for my searches. The tip of the pointed end is curved in (concave), almost like a nail/bolt(rod) slid over it to lock it. The pointed end doesnt appear to have been designed as a sharpened tip. So, I am ruling out that it was meant to penetrate dirt/wood. Also the 3 1/4 inch "gap' (with a diagonal cut) has me perplexed. I'm not saying it is a blade...but maybe it was meant to slide over and close down on wood? So weird....

 

[Bucket Lister]

Bucket,
The pointed end is on the left.

Thank you!

I don't know much about blacksmithing, but since the widest part is the thinnest, would it make sense that it was forged from a piece as thick as the pointed end, and everything else was hammered wider, and hence thinner?

At first glance, I thought that the piece was bent where the notch starts near the point. Now I'm wondering if it may have been made that way intentionally, so the point slid into/under something that fell or sprang into the notch. Yet the holes suggest the piece was anchored/stationary.

Sorry.... thinking "aloud" here.

 

[Bucket Lister]

I think a gate latch or a hinge might be a good rabbit hole for my searches. The tip of the pointed end is curved in (concave), almost like a nail/bolt(rod) slid over it to lock it.

We were typing at the same time!

It appears we may also be thinking similarly. 😁

 

[USNFLYR]

We were typing at the same time!

It appears we may also be thinking similarly. 😁

Too funny! Yup!

 

[Glen's Loyalists]

The crudeness makes me think it was a make-do item. Perhaps a very crude peavy made from a bit of flat iron. The hook would swing from the central hole

But then I noticed on the first picture you show, the center hole is inset, whereas on the second it isn't. So the first picture is the front of the item and it likely mounted against something, which makes me think it was more decorative, and more likely a hinge.