Some of you already know that I've been collecting antique hand forged hearth utensils for many years. Trying to build complete sets from the same blacksmith, it's very difficult to find all the pieces. Alot of my stuff dates to the mid 1700s-early 1800s. I just picked up an INCREDIBLE piece from NY state the other day....a late 18th century (1790s) pie peel (spatula). Look at the size and condition! This would have been used for taking pies, bread and other larger items out of the stone oven...... My hand next to it to show the size.... Beautiful curled hook on the end... I figured fishingpol would like this one.....
There are books and documentation of different styles and trends, a lot of the time the hanging hook or shafts can help determine an approximate age. That can also help identify the smithy, which if you look at the smithys age you can sometimes determine the rough age of the item. I'll have to get some pics of my hearth, I have several complete sets. I had pics on my other phone, I'll see if I can find any on my Facebook.....
That is beautiful. Is there a scarf joint where the wide spatula part was forge welded to the shaft? It would look like a very faint slant near the flat part. Early pieces were made from wrought iron and it has a particular look to it, unlike modern steel. I like to look at old pieces just to see how they were made and what techniques were used. I've seen your collection in past threads and it is real nice. So many of these pieces are lost from their original historic homes. One can only imagine the history and use this has seen. I have a pic of an ash rake for a beehive oven I'll dig up. It is somewhere near 4 -5 feet long if I recall. The beehive oven was pretty massive. Nice score Scotty.
I didn't look at it that close yesterday when it came in the mail.....I'll give it a good look later. Me too......I love that old world craftsmanship. That's one of the main reasons I love these pieces!
