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Description: | Copper alloy and Iron Unidentified Object. A copper alloy tool resembling a hammer with a rectangular striking surface and a wedge shaped peen balancing it. An integrally cast square section handle (30mm square and 200mm long) with bevelled corners has a square aperture of 16mm square at the head end, and a round aperture of diameter 21mm at the base of the 'handle', the latter lined by a snugly fitted cylindrical copper alloy sleeve of 3.5mm thickness. A round section iron rod with a length in excess of 190mm and a diameter of 13mm passes into the lined aperture at the base of the 'handle', and moves freely in and out. At one end it bears a cylindrical socket secured by a transverse pin, with a narrower and tapered screw threaded end projecting. That end of the rod within the hammer handle ends with a square fitting matching the form and size of the aperture seen on top of the head, and presumably prevents the rod from becoming detached from the handle. The rod is now slightly bent. Both the striking head and peen of the hammer are burred by use.Copper alloy hammers may be used where it is imperative to avoid causing sparks, but the projection of the extending attachment to the handle is less explicable. This reporter considers an association with steam powered farm machinery likely. The copper alloy hammer may have been intended to permit the robust adjustment of brass fittings without risking damage from the use of an implement of harder metal. However, the provision for mounting the hammer, and the loosely adjustable extension to its handle, would both seem to constrain rather than facilitate such a use. The object has the appearance of an individually made tool to address a very particular need. This reporter would welcome more informed comment. Suggested date: Post-Medieval, 1850-1900.Length (overall, and at full extension): 410mm, Width (i.e. length of hammer head): 104mm, Thickness (handle): 30.5mm.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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