Tool Talk
Blacksmith and Metal Working Forum => Blacksmith and Metalworking Forum => Topic started by: Branson on March 24, 2015, 08:46:58 AM
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I'm still outfitting the artificers' tool chests for the mountain howitzer. I'm down to a few hard to find tools. But I just got one of the hardest to find tools on eBay. Since the mountain howitzer was intended to accompany cavalry units, everything was packed into chests that were carried on pack horses. The chests required changes in a number of the usual tools to conserve space. One of the changes was to put the creaser and the fore punch (for making the grooves and nail holes in horse shoes) at opposite ends of the same handle. One of these surfaced some months ago on eBay, but I got seriously out bid. Recently another showed up, and I got it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Antique-Double-Head-Blacksmiths-Hammer-Vintage-Tools-Hand-Forged-/261796059916?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=SaYAhAIzK8xuTSX18vSmMi0%252Bme4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
This one is much later than the Civil War; the heads are obviously drop forged. The army was still issuing this tool in 1915 (and probably through the First World War) as it appears in the 1915 farrier's manual, presumably to flying columns of one sort or another.
Pricey? A bit. But it's still substantially cheaper than the $100 it cost to make the creaser for the light artillery artificer's tools.
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Congrats! Clever way for them to save space and weight too.