what was it used for?

[relic lover]

I saw a hook just like this posted in relics about a year ago with no real answer. this is also from a early 1800s site the other one still had a shaft of some sort through the hole. it is blacksmith made for sure you can see the layers from the folding process. note the wear in the bend of the hook. my only guess is it has to do with horses somehow the way the tip is bent in could keep it from shaking loose maybe ?? It is 3.5 inches long.

 

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[TreasureTales]

Looks like an early day tow hook to me.

Here's a modern version

 

[Angelo]

If the shaft was of any significant length, it may had been used to slide across to accomodate kitchen pots and pans.

Seen some modern day type of use.

Tony

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Some thoughts. If it has a folded eye like yours does it often means a wood handle of some sort. The wear would indicate metal-on-metal (chain?). If it were to be fastened to a frame - as in some type of horse drawn equipment - it would probably have a flat flange to bolt down rather than a loop that would bend the bolt (and flat is easier to forge).

If it was bigger I'd guess something to grab a chain looped around a log for dragging. But blacksmiths were ingenious folk, as were and are farm blacksmiths who forge whatever it takes to keep the place running. Probably is some type of horse-drawn equipment cleat.

 

[TreasureTales]

The hook form is such a utilitarian design that this item could have been used for all manner of things in its day. We may never be able to pin one specific use to it.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Angelo posted while I was a'thinkin and he may also be onto something. It could be part of a hearth to hang a pot with a bail. Many had a vertical pivioting rod with a horizontal rod (with hangers - I believe it was called a "crane") so the heavy pot could be swung out for placing/stirring/checking/temperature adjustment and the swung back over the coals. Think how your wife would enjoy not having to lean into a fireplace with a 25 lb cast-iron pot and hook it over a "S" hook on a fixed rod to prepare supper. Every home had one in the pre-stove days. That would be a potential colonial piece if you could link that.

 

[TreasureTales]

 

[l.cutler]

Originally I believe it was half of a hinge. It was a spike hinge driven into a heavy post or beam, the other half attached to a door, it had a post that set down into the eye on your piece. They were common in old barns or gates. At sometime someone bent it into a hook for some other purpose.

 

[lumbercamp]

Singletree hook. For quick hookup of reins.

 

[relic lover]

Singletree hook. For quick hookup of reins.

Yes I believe you are on the money. Can't believe I didn't figure it out I can't find a good photo though.

 

[PBK]

Singletree hook. For quick hookup of reins.

Yes I believe you are on the money. Can't believe I didn't figure it out I can't find a good photo though.

Not photos, but...

http://www.lostcrafts.com/Farm/Blacksmithing-13.html

 

[Nail Digger]

Relic Lover, that may have been my post on the hook. Here are the pics again. I believe Charlie P. may be on the right track with the fireplace crane. I had the same idea when I found mine, since it was found in the collapsed fireplace ruins at an early 1800's homesite. Was yours also in or near the fireplace?

 

[relic lover]

Relic Lover, that may have been my post on the hook. Here are the pics again. I believe Charlie P. may be on the right track with the fireplace crane. I had the same idea when I found mine, since it was found in the collapsed fireplace ruins at an early 1800's homesite. Was yours also in or near the fireplace?

wow that is similar but not the post I saw. the rod in yours is quite small for a fireplace Crane, my family home was built in 1792 the fireplace Crane is still in working order it consists of a tapered bar thicker (like 2.5") at the hinge with kick up for a stop on the end no real hook on ours, the pot handle goes over the bar. Plus you would not want any obstruction to lifting a heavy hot pot off the hook and in addition the wear on mine is on the sides as well as inside a place a pot handle could not touch. my find was in the middle if what was the field. The other post was by a girl I think, she called it a "hook thingy". Your find could have been on something burned in the fireplace maybe a broken singletree perhaps. people used to burn things to get iron hardware back including whole houses.

 

[relic lover]

Singletree hook. For quick hookup of reins.

Yes I believe you are on the money. Can't believe I didn't figure it out I can't find a good photo though.

Not photos, but...

http://www.lostcrafts.com/Farm/Blacksmithing-13.html

PBK hey I was just on that site before my last post!

 

[Functional]

Could it be an older version of one of these?



Fireplace Wall Brackets model WH-01 - Single Wall Hook - Minuteman - Single Hook
Price $21.76 (link removed)

Looks like the same item here, (for $6.95): ( link removed )

F.

 

[relic lover]

I just wanted to thank yins for the responses, the more I look at hooks the more I think a definite answer will not be found but I learned a lot so I am thinking it pulled a chain probably as part of a singletree or similar horse/mule drawn devise. To me its a keeper.

 

[WinnGoldDigger]

It looks like a pelican hook. They are used in the oilfield to pick up individual pieces of pipe. One hook goes in each end of the pipe and a crane picks it up. Could be mistaken, though.