Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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Wabasso Area Beach Sunday Afternoon.
Photo by Scott B.
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Along with the beach photo shown above, Scott B. sent a picture of an old screw he found in that general area about a month ago. The screw is just under two inches long. He wondered how long screws have been around.
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| Old Screw Found by Scott B. |
Thanks for the photos and question Scott.
Witold Rybczynski's book on the history of screws and screwdrivers, One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw, says screws as we know them with threads and heads shaped for a driving tool used to attach two pieces together were used as far back as the 15th century.
On what I believe to be some of the oldest screws that I've found, you can tell that the threads are irregular, unlike those on more modern machine made screws. The next time I run across one of those I'll try to remember to take a good closeup photo of the threads.
According to an article in AntiqueTrader.com handmade old handmade screws started out pretty much like square nails.
... But the form used for the screw was a more or less round shallow depression into which the top of the shaft was hammered flat, producing a screw head. The slot for the bladed screwdriver was cut with a hacksaw.
So far so good. We’ve got the column and the head but what about the ramp, also known as the worm or the threads? Lacking a cold hardened steel die with which to cut the thread, the craftsman had to cut it himself by hand. This was usually done in laborious fashion with a file. When the smith had the length he thought was needed for the job, he simply cut or snipped the threaded shaft.
This entire hand-done process leaves a multitude of clues on the handmade screw, just waiting for our inspection. Starting with the top of the screw, the head, evidence of handwork is abundant. In most cases the head is not perfectly round and is not centered perfectly on the shaft. The hand cut slot is seldom perfectly centered on the off-center head. Below the head, on the smooth portion of the shaft above the threads, is the most likely place to find areas that still show a flat side of the original iron nail stock. This portion of the shaft is almost never totally round or totally smooth.
But the most obvious clue to the handwork is the thread. The pitch, the angle of the thread to the shaft, will vary considerably from thread to thread as will the depth of the cut into the shaft that produces the thread.
The edges are often flat since they were filed into shape, and the tip is invariably blunt since the smith just cut it off. And the overall shape of the entire screw is cylindrical rather than tapered, as is the case in modern screws. Because of the individual nuances and variables in the handwork process, no two handmade screws are identical.
Screws with these characteristics were produced until early in the 19th century. Around 1812 a machine was introduced that made screws on a lathe but the War of 1812 slowed its distribution and development. After the War, the new machine went right to work, turning out virtually identical screws with sharp even threads, but the heads still had to be hand forged and the slots were still cut with a hacksaw, producing slight variations caused by this last bit of handwork.
These new machine-made screws also resembled their ancestors in that they were still almost perfectly cylindrical and had a blunt tip.
The introduction in 1848 of the completely machine-made gimlet screw, with a tapered shaft and a pointed tip, marked the beginning of the modern era in screw production.
Source: https://www.antiquetrader.com/articles/furniture-detective-screws-give-valuable-clues-when-in-search-of-antique-furniture-origins/
---... But the form used for the screw was a more or less round shallow depression into which the top of the shaft was hammered flat, producing a screw head. The slot for the bladed screwdriver was cut with a hacksaw.
So far so good. We’ve got the column and the head but what about the ramp, also known as the worm or the threads? Lacking a cold hardened steel die with which to cut the thread, the craftsman had to cut it himself by hand. This was usually done in laborious fashion with a file. When the smith had the length he thought was needed for the job, he simply cut or snipped the threaded shaft.
This entire hand-done process leaves a multitude of clues on the handmade screw, just waiting for our inspection. Starting with the top of the screw, the head, evidence of handwork is abundant. In most cases the head is not perfectly round and is not centered perfectly on the shaft. The hand cut slot is seldom perfectly centered on the off-center head. Below the head, on the smooth portion of the shaft above the threads, is the most likely place to find areas that still show a flat side of the original iron nail stock. This portion of the shaft is almost never totally round or totally smooth.
But the most obvious clue to the handwork is the thread. The pitch, the angle of the thread to the shaft, will vary considerably from thread to thread as will the depth of the cut into the shaft that produces the thread.
The edges are often flat since they were filed into shape, and the tip is invariably blunt since the smith just cut it off. And the overall shape of the entire screw is cylindrical rather than tapered, as is the case in modern screws. Because of the individual nuances and variables in the handwork process, no two handmade screws are identical.
Screws with these characteristics were produced until early in the 19th century. Around 1812 a machine was introduced that made screws on a lathe but the War of 1812 slowed its distribution and development. After the War, the new machine went right to work, turning out virtually identical screws with sharp even threads, but the heads still had to be hand forged and the slots were still cut with a hacksaw, producing slight variations caused by this last bit of handwork.
These new machine-made screws also resembled their ancestors in that they were still almost perfectly cylindrical and had a blunt tip.
The introduction in 1848 of the completely machine-made gimlet screw, with a tapered shaft and a pointed tip, marked the beginning of the modern era in screw production.
Source: https://www.antiquetrader.com/articles/furniture-detective-screws-give-valuable-clues-when-in-search-of-antique-furniture-origins/
Yesterday I posted a find made by Troy C. He thought it might be a chisel. Here it is again.
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| Item Found by Troy C. |
I asked for opinions on the find, and John C. wrote the following.
Possibly a bronze spike, Just missing the head, It's very hard to find an intact spike of this size, usually 5 1/2 to 6"in, They seem to be very brittle, Most of the ones that I've found over the years are Broken, midway, Or 3/4, But occasionally they do break at the head, as shown in the photo. One thought is, Maybe Someone attempted to removed the spike from a plank, many years ago when much of the wreck was still somewhat intact and only removed the head in the process?
I think John could be right. The tip doesn't look like it is shaped to remove material. It is pretty blunt now, but it does look to me like the tip was intentionally angled both up and down at the same angle. The shape isn't graduated like I'd expect of a wedge.
In the small amount of research I did, I found that it can be more complicated than I expected. That is often the case. The more you learn the more complicated it becomes. For example, there are hot chisels and cold chisels.
Hunker.com presents the following distinction between hot and cold chisels, which might not be as familiar as wood-working chisels.
A cold chisel is a metal working chisel with a solid, hardened steel cylindrical shaft about 6 inches long. The tip is shaped to about a 60-degree angle on both sides to form a wedge-shaped point. It is is designed to cut steel and other metals that have either not been heated or have previously cooled down. The chisel is typically used in conjunction with a steel hammer, such as a ball-peen hammer, or 3-pound sledge.
A hot chisel is exclusively used in blacksmithing. It is used to cut and shape red-hot steel pieces. Since heated steel is many times softer than cold steel, these chisels are not typically hardened or tempered. They are of roughly the same size and shape as cold chisels, but feature a blade that is cut at a 30-degree angle, making them virtually useless for other cutting tasks.
The tip on Troy's has an angle on both sides. It would be nice to be able to take a close look at the head to see if you can tell if the head looks like it was broken off or if it has been struck as you'd expect of any chisel that has been used at all.
If it looks broken, I think I'd lean more in the direction of Troy's find being a broken spike, but I'm still wouldn't be certain.
Thanks John!
Thanks John!
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I posted a mystery object yesterday, and DJ positively identified it.
Here is what he found.
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Helena Rubenstein Lipstick Case.
Photo submitted by DJ.
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That is what it is for sure.
One thing that was confusing me on this one is that I couldn't get it open. Now I know how it is supposed to open so maybe I'll be able to get it open without breaking it.
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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
