The Davistown Museum |
The Ancient Dominions of Maine: An Archaeology of Tools |
| Answers to the Tool Examination. |
| Click here to return to the Tool Exam photographs | Location |
1 | Mackerel plow | TAB1007 | photo | photo | MH |
Curved wood handle with a slate cutter, 7 5/8" long handle, 13/16" cutter, unsigned. |
Historic Maritime III (1800-1840): Boomtown Years & the Dawn of the Industrial Revolution | Fishing Implements |
2 | Bark spud | TAB1005 | photo | photo | MH |
Forged iron, 10 1/4" to the end of the socket, unsigned, 17th or 18th century. |
The bark spud is an essential component in the tool kit of the early settlers of the Davistown Plantation (ax, drawknife, sod cutter, spud, bowie |
knife, and frame saw). |
Historic Maritime I (1607-1676): The First Colonial Dominion | Logging Tools |
3 | Sugar tongs | 81801T8 | photo | MH |
Forged iron, 9 1/2" long, unsigned. |
These elaborately decorated sugar tongs are typical of a tool that might have been brought to America by a well-to-do family during the great |
migration to Massachusetts, 1630 - 1650. |
Historic Maritime I (1607-1676): The First Colonial Dominion | Domestic Utensils |
4 | Crooked knife | 81101T14 | photo | MHC |
Wood and forged steel, 8 1/2" long, 3" blade, unsigned. |
Crooked knives are especially common in northern New England where they were used by Native Americans and European settlers for many |
purposes including basket-making and working birch bark. This knife has been reforged from an old file or rasp, one of early American |
artisans' most important sources of recycled forged steel. The crosshatched carving on the nicely fashioned applewood (?) handle suggests |
a Native American user. |
Historic Maritime II (1720-1800): The Second Colonial Dominion & the Early Republic | Knives |
5 | Wig blower (bellows) | 12900T10 | photo | MH |
Wood, leather, and tin, 6 5/8" long, 2" wide, 2 1/4" tall, unsigned. |
Historic Maritime II (1720-1800): The Second Colonial Dominion & the Early Republic | Domestic Utensils |
6 | Snowball hammer | TCM1005 | photo | MH |
Forged iron, 9 1/2" long, iron handle 4 1/2" long, 1/2" round face, unsigned. |
Also called a snowshoe hammer or snow knocker, this is a prototypical tool used for removing ice and snow from the shoes of horses. See |
Eric Sloane's (1964) "A Museum of Early American Tools" for an illustration of another snowball hammer. |
Historic Maritime III (1800-1840): Boomtown Years & the Dawn of the Industrial Revolution | Hammers |
7 | Grafting froe | TCR1001A | photo | photo | MH |
Forged iron, 8 5/8" long with a 3 1/4" blade, unsigned. |
This tool is refashioned from an old file or rasp. It was a basic necessity for Davistown residents maintaining orchards in the 19th century. |
Historic Maritime III (1800-1840): Boomtown Years & the Dawn of the Industrial Revolution | Agricultural Implements |
8 | Hatchel | TCR4000 | photo | MH |
Forged iron and wood, 25 1/2" long x 4 3/4" wide, unsigned. |
This flax puller has 108 combs. It is an essential component of the flax dressers' tool kit. |
Historic Maritime II (1720-1800): The Second Colonial Dominion & the Early Republic | Agricultural Implements |
9 | Flax hatchel | TAB1013 | photo | MH |
Wood (maple?), iron, 45" long, 16" wide, 34" high, unsigned. |
It was made in Connecticut (?) in the late 17th or early 18th century and brought to Detroit, Maine by the first settlers. This is an essential tool |
for preparing flax for the weaver. After "breaking" the flax, it would be cleaned and sorted with the help of a scutching knife and board, ripple, |
and hatchel and then wound on a spinning jenny. For more information on this process, see the reprint on flax dressing available in the |
Museum files. |
Historic Maritime I (1607-1676): The First Colonial Dominion | Agricultural Implements |
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