12/9/17 Report - Hoard Uncovered by Roadwork. Finds: Tools of Sailing Ships and Sail Making. Jacksonville Area Conditions.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Hoard Uncovered by Road Project.
Source: See RT.com link below.

A Swedish farmer has been awarded thousands of dollars after roadworks on his land uncovered a Viking treasure trove that included hundreds of silver coins.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.rt.com/news/412305-viking-treasure-coins-sweden/

Thanks to Norbert B. for submitting this link.

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Chris N. said, Here is the rather large needle either Upholstery or a Sail Needle, it was rolling in the surf whence I found it. 

Broken eyelet curved needle point, some corrosion, especially on needle point end. I cleaned up best I could with out destroying item.  

Below are three pictures Chris sent of that needle.

 Found Needle

Pointed End of Same Needle.

Other End of the Needle.

I don't know much about sail making tools, neither new or centuries old, but because of recent posts I've been doing some research and learning a little.  

I found the following on a site having to do with sail making.  The author used the name Savage24.

A sail needle has a 3 sided point, like a leather needle, except the edges are rounded off.
They slip between the fibers of canvas or heavy sail cloth without tearing the fibers...
A properly tempered sail needle will last for years I have some that I have been using for 10-12 years. 
They will cost you a couple of dollars each for the larger sizes, but you get what you pay for.
I would recommend from size 12 - 14 for general use. That's about a 3 to 3 1/2 inch needle that will take the inner strands of 550 cord.
As a sailmaker I use them for sewing sails and sailor stuff, they also make a dandy vent pick for your flintlock. 

Savage24 is talking about needles that you can get today, so they might be a bit different than those used centuries ago.

Another source said,

Sail needles are used for canvas repair work by hand sewing, it is generally much thicker as compared to normal machine needles to provide a comfortable finger grip. The body of the needle is triangular in shape with a sharp triangular point for sewing onto the fabric using minimal force. The eye of the sail needle is also ...
While sails were made on land, I would expect tools for maintenance and repairs to be carried on a ship or brought in after a wreck for various uses.

Here is a good list of sail making tools from the boat-building.org web site (See link below.).

The additional hand tools used by a sailmaker are:

• Sail needle: a strong needle with a sharp triangular point.
• Sailmaker’s thread: strong thread for sewing up the sails, leech ropes and grommets.
• Sailmaker’s palm: a strip of leather with a metal pad with an indentation that is used to force the needle through the sailcloth. The strip is strapped around the palm of the hand.
• Awl, to create a hole in heavy sailcloth or multiple layers of sailcloth before inserting the needle.
• Pliers, for pulling through a needle inserted into heavy sailcloth or multiple layers of sailcloth.
• Seam-rubber: a wooden handle with a strong 'scraper', made from strong lignum vitae (tropical type of wood) for creasing down seams in the edges of the sailcloth.
• Fid: a cone-shaped piece of lignum vitae for splicing rope or opening up holes in the sailcloth. The fid is inserted between the strands of a rope in order to create space through which another piece of rope can be inserted. The fid can also be inserted into a hole in the sailcloth and will open it up wider, so that the hole becomes larger.
• Marlinspike (also known as a marlingspike): a wooden handle with a piece of metal that tapers to a point in the form of an awl and which has a hollow in it and which is intended for splicing stranded rope. The marlinspike is inserted between the strands of rope, a strand is inserted through the hollow section of the marlinspike and is thus fed through the gap in the rope.
• Hollow punch: a metal pin with a round hole at one end with a sharp edge and a flat face on the opposite end so that it can be hit with a hammer. Hollow punches are available in various sizes and diameters to make small and larger holes.

It appears that one of the diagnostic features of a sail making needle would be a triangular point.  I can not usually see that in pictures of either new or found needles.

Although I've learned a little, I'm not yet able to say if the needle in question today is a sail making needle or an upholstery needle or how old it might be.  Perhaps somebody more familiar with those types of items can say.  If so, please let me know.  Perhaps the above information will help some one identify the item.

Here is the link I mentioned above.

http://www.boat-building.org/learn-skills/index.php/en/wood/sail-making/

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Chris N. also sent a beach report from up around the Jacksonville area.  Here it is.

Went out a little bit today,, not very much.. Very sanded in.. this storm is bringing the sand up and covering were all the good material is, except down by the very low water tide line.  I did not stick around to wait.. really early out in the surf in and around Jacksonville. I bet although Anastasia Island and further south conditions may be better...

Bad weather still on the move unfortunate for folks who live in homes by the ocean... Major construction all over Northern Coast from Irma.. there finally establishing Sea Walls for folks who pay for it..

Note* When I find a lot of fossilized bones, larger sharks teeth etc Items I usually get good hits on my detector... "Just a thought".. 

On the Treasure Coast there is lot of thunder, wind and rain this morning.  It looks like we'll just have a two foot surf for a couple weeks on the Treasure Coast.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net