Re: What is this?

Posted by Maine Fordson on November 23, 2010 at 13:09:34 from (74.75.196.56):

In Reply to: What is this? posted by SMHimrod on November 17, 2010 at 10:01:52:

It's the head from a stone-dressing hammer. Originally had a wooden handle in it.

These were very commonly used here in Maine a century ago, when granite was quarried and sent all over the eastern part of our nation for sculptures, building material, curbing, public troughs for watering horses and the like.

Once a rough block of granite was removed from a quarry wall, it was transported to an area where it was cut to size and had the rough surfaces "dressed," or smoothed. If necessary, surfaces could be leveled perfectly flat.

You'll notice that the striking surfaces of this hammer are laminated; the laminated steel pieces could be removed and sharpened or (if extremely dull, or broken/chipped) re-shaped in a blacksmith's forge, then re-tempered, sharpened and put back into service.

I confirmed that the company which manufactured this hammer, [URL=http://www.trowandholden.com/about.php]Trow & Holden[/URL] of Barre, Vermont, is still in business today. Follow the link to find out more about them.

Also, since we're talking about stonecutting, take a look at this demonstration of how to hand-split stone using simple tools.

Ya never know what you're going to find on an old farm...

-- Maine Fordson

This post was edited by Maine Fordson at 14:18:29 11/23/10 3 times.

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