A smith used this for?

[skipskip]

Followed me home, can I keep it?


OCT 150 by skipskip, on Flickr

[Bill Houghton]

Well, that's not bad - but, next time, see if you can entice bills with larger numbers in the corners to follow you home.

That looks like a top fuller, used in making the material thinner, or shaping round grooves.  The handle is used to manipulate it and keep your hand safely away from the hot metal and hammer - but it's not a hammer.  Rather, you hit it with the hammer.

[anglesmith]

I agree a very well used fuller, looking at the rust lines I'd say it is wrought iron! A touch on a  grinder would  confirm, that takes it back to at least the late 1800s when most of the blacksmith's swages and fullers were still self made from wrought iron.
Graeme

[skipskip]

I agree a very well used fuller, looking at the rust lines I'd say it is wrought iron! A touch on a  grinder would  confirm,

I'm new to this very old stuff, what  would I look for with a grinder??

color? texture? 


thanks

Skip

[anglesmith]

Skip. Yes color, shape / length of spark. Wrought iron gives a dull red straight spark with no branchings or explosions? It could initialy be confused with some alloy tool steels, but the "sound" when grinding is totaly different, wrought iron is much softer/easier to grind or file for that matter! I said when grinding, because ringing metal (striking) use to another way the old timer's used to identify their metals.
Graeme



spelling

[anglesmith]

While we have divirged a little from the whatis it question. Another good way to identiffy low carbon (mild) steel from wrought iron when you want to recycle something, is the cut and break test. The difference in the fracture of steel and the fiberous tear of wrought iron is very distinct! It can also tell something about the original quality and or present condition of the wrought iron.
Graeme

[rusty]

Shiny black rust is also a usefull hint, not foolproof, but enough to make you look closer. There is a lot of (shiny) slag in wrought....

Unfortunetly, oily rust is also shiny....

It is amazing how mushroomed that poor thing is, it saw a long hard life....

[lauver]

Just wanted to comment on the general condition of the fuller and the mushrooming in particular.

I'm not a black smith, and haven't met very many of them, but the few I have encountered and observed would never be caught dead with any working tool in that condition.

And, as a self taught mechanic/fabricator/tool collector, I myself would never be caught dead with a tool in that condition.  I don't own any fullers, but I do have a sizable number of hammers, mallets, and other striking tools, and the first thing I do when I acquire a heavily used tool is remove the mushrooming.  Then I dress the striking surface, and finally, dress the cutting/forming edge.  I need both my eyes everyday, all day, and for the rest of my life.

I'm pretty sure whoever owned that fuller was not a black smith or farrier.  More than likely, the owner of that fuller was a hack and probably misused the fuller for everything except what it was intended for.  JMHO.

Your thoughts?

[skipskip]

I agree that this fellow has been abused.

I had planned to grind off the mushroom once I determined what is was.

On the other hand, it may not but worth any more cleaned up, nor be of use to a working smith.

so I pose.. clean it up or leave it be?


Skip

[john k]

You could try to sell it as is, people do like to clean and reshape tools them selves.   If you keep it, it is so worn down, that I'd put it on the shelf as is, to look at now and then.   Lauver is right, the last guy to really use it, was a  hack,  and possibly abused all his tools. 

[Branson]

I agree that this fellow has been abused.
I had planned to grind off the mushroom once I determined what is was.
On the other hand, it may not but worth any more cleaned up, nor be of use to a working smith.
so I pose.. clean it up or leave it be?
Skip

Leave it be.  I tried reworking a hot cut that had been not quite as abused as this fuller, and ended up with nothing usable or worth displaying.  I don't think there's enough metal under that mushroom to make it serviceable, and you would have to grind so much off the working end that it would be cheaper (consider your time) to buy a brand new one from some place expensive.  This fuller has earned its retirement.  It will do better as a display item than it can be made to do as a working tool.

It took a lot of time and hard use to make that mushroom.  The mass of the mushroom doesn't look to be enough for a good striking end, which leads me to believe that it's had mushrooms ground off a couple of times before. 

The mushrooming and the time it would take to reach this level also leads me to think that it was in fact used by a blacksmith.  You can't do that much damage as a weekend warrior smith.  I may not care for the way he kept his tools (and I don't!), but he certainly made this fuller work hard and long.  Maybe until he just tossed it in a scrap heap, wringing out the last bit of utility he could.   Whatever it was, he was doing some heavy work.

[Mac53]

Could have been factory used? A lot of hard work all day long and no one in particular that called it their own...

I agree with Branson though... Seems like even before the mushroom it would be a bit stubby for the original. Typically the striking end (from my experience anyway...) is longer than the actual fullering side.

[leg17]

My guess is that a non-smith used it as a hammer.