Fresh out of the garden

[Mel Larsen]

The Blower thing is a bees smoker with bellows used to put smoke into the bee hives to clear out the bees  before gathering the honey.

[john k]

More treasures, glad the barn didn't fall down.    I have never seen brass hinges on ice tongs, they must have been fancy ones in their day.  The little home brew air compressor, is using a refrigeration compressor possibly from an early deep freeze.   I can remember some running with an electric motor and v belt on the end of the chest.  Now the tank on that compressor is another story.   That is a WWII  Stainless Steel tank.   They were spun, very expensive to build, and used on US Bombers for nitrogen or some such.  I heard that they were  tested when new,  at close to 9,000PSI or so.   That wrap on the tank is original too.   Back 40 years ago every gas station was using one as an air bubble for flat tires.  I have looked for one for years.   Pair of wooden hames, with chain, possibly tug lines for horse harness.   Can remember ever seeing a 3 wheeled lawn mower, they were trying every design possible there at the beginning.   The log dogs go by a lot of names, but can tell you that set was forged.    I can't tell about the sewing machine from the pic, is that a standard of a heavy leather working machine?  How many more truck loads of iron is going to surface in your backyard?   

[OilyRascal]

Thanks yall for the insight.

That wrap on the tank is original too.   Back 40 years ago every gas station was using one as an air bubble for flat tires.  I have looked for one for years. I can't tell about the sewing machine from the pic, is that a standard of a heavy leather working machine?  How many more truck loads of iron is going to surface in your backyard?   

John - spin off into a PM and help me understand better what it is you're seeking here.  I'm just not clear.

I believe those sewing machines were just standard run of the mill machines.......my grandmothers.  I rescued them from the loft area and put them in her garage.  She was pleased to clean on them and offer them to my aunts as keepsakes.

Well - I hauled off a TRAILER load of metals today from the property here......but believe me when I say I'm a pack rat and it was truly scrap/crap.  I'm just about to run out of *obvious* places to find things...the heavy hitters are gone...although just today cleaning up huge stack of old tin I find a wagon wheel hidden between the layers......amazingly still intact with most of the wood in good shape.

[OilyRascal]

A view of the wagon wheel found.  The misc. metal ring shaped pieces found on the property suddenly make more sense after studying the wheel.



A couple of pulley blocks - I'n not clear if they had a common use on the farm.  I guess I would suspect hay into the loft area.




Meat saw, and one I will put to work (and as luck would have it that is a Thorsen wrench hanging to the right)


Single tree - I'd appreciate any thoughts on it's use (traditional use or dressing your harvest).  I'm not clear on the lines of delineation (if there were two versions, or a new found use), but I know a "single tree" is commonly used in these parts to hang your kill and dress it.



And this thing - I haven't a clue.  It has a W or M in a circle stamped on it, along with some numbers I can't make out without cleaning.

[Branson]

14 spokes marks that wheel as an artillery wheel.  Keep digging!

[john k]

Ahh, so nice to peruse pictures after a hard day.  The single tree is a part of the hitch, the part attached to the horse by the tug lines, which run from the collar, all the way back behind the back legs, and to the item pulled by the center ring, (missing here), and attached to the load.  Think of that center ring as the drawbar you want to hitch things to.  Single and double trees can be built up for a multi horse hitch.  Sometimes wagons and carts were pulled without a single or double tree.  By hooking to the center ring, even pressure was put on the tug lines when turning.  That could be an artillery wheel, but weren't they usually bolted thru the fellies?  Good looking hub and most of the spokes look fine, fellies need some assist before it goes back in service.  The two pulley blocks used together with a length of rope are a block and tackle.   Prime muscle multiplier before winches.  Finding that Thorsen wrench is just karma!

[OilyRascal]

Here is today's find.....fresh out of the old greenhouse.  I suppose BOTH sides of my family had their issues putting tools up.  These were at least found inside a box........not that it helped.  The box was found closed, but appeared to have been run over at some point.

Note the differences in the level of plating loss among them.  They're having a bath as we speak - I'll loop back around with better pics of the tools.

[OilyRascal]

Found in the soil of our garden a couple of weeks ago using the breaking plow.  It is marked "Leetonia" over "Made In USA" and "8LB."

I'm not finding a lot of information on Leetonia as a company.  I am finding a Leetonia Ohio, and suspect there is some connection there although I can not confirm.  I am finding some Leetonia mining tools.  Information and pointers always appreciated.

[rusty]

Leetonia tool company, but they were recently bought...

http://www.lfitools.com/

[johnsironsanctuary]

Wow! What a catalog. It looks like the product line is the same as it was 100+ years ago. I'll bet that it great quality at a fair price. Looks like you found a really good hammer Oily.

[OilyRascal]

Absolutely one of the more interesting modern product catalogs I've seen.  Appreciate the info/link, Rusty!

Is it just me, or does this hammer seem out of place relative to the rest of the stuff found here?  Please look over the rusty box full of mech. tools in this context - they were found near the greenhouse and were likely left there full box, forgotten, and grown over.

[rusty]

>found near the greenhouse ...

Just as an aside, the pile of rusted tools with the blackened large rust flakes looks quite a lot like tools I have seen salvaged from mill fires.....

Could just be aciditic soil or something, I suppose...

Any signs there was a small incinerator or burning barrel near the greenhouse?

[anglesmith]

OR, Your hammer head pattern is what is called a Drill hammer used to hand drill (two people, one holding, one striking!) in stone, usually for shot holes. No doubt many drill hammers were use as an ordinary sledge on a regular basis.
Graeme

[OilyRascal]

>found near the greenhouse ...

Just as an aside, the pile of rusted tools with the blackened large rust flakes looks quite a lot like tools I have seen salvaged from mill fires.....

Could just be aciditic soil or something, I suppose...

Any signs there was a small incinerator or burning barrel near the greenhouse?

OK - so the greenhouse is nearer to my grandmother than me.  There *was* a burning barrel over there in that proximity (within 20ft.).  I hauled it off in the last year and bought a shredder after she caught the grass on fire while inside for a nap.  It is also probably noteworthy that the greenhouse was for tomato production in it's day.  I believe tomatoes are fairly acidic....not sure about the plants or environment around them when enclosed.  Where I found the box would have been *inside* the the greenhouse as it originally stood.  1/2 of the 100' span was abandoned many many years ago - it was located in the abandoned half.........along with a 50's gravely, horizontal wood splitter, very old air compressor, and a rotary plow for the gravely.

OR, Your hammer head pattern is what is called a Drill hammer used to hand drill (two people, one holding, one striking!) in stone, usually for shot holes. No doubt many drill hammers were use as an ordinary sledge on a regular basis.
Graeme

Thank you, Graeme.  I will now look to further educate myself on drill hammers.  I'm sure that will be fun to google on and filter.  It certainly makes more sense in the context of the mining tools I was finding in research.  I'm not sure why it would be here.  Any sort of rock (outside some sandstone) is few and far between around here.  Maybe my family purchased it, mistakenly or not, as a sledge. 

[Branson]

OR, Your hammer head pattern is what is called a Drill hammer used to hand drill (two people, one holding, one striking!) in stone, usually for shot holes. No doubt many drill hammers were use as an ordinary sledge on a regular basis.
Graeme

It looks too slender for a drill hammer.  My impression of drill hammers is that they are compact and short for their weight.  I'd call it a single jack, as opposed to the double jack we think of as the standard sledge hammer -- the ones with the full octagon faces.  I have a 3# single, a six pounder on a long handle, and a 12# monster.  All three are much more slender than my 4# drill hammer.