Do any dopers know what this old large iron tool / artifact is? (with photo)

Article and photo here

Looks like a rock remover to me. Basically a crowbar.

Looks like a hay hook to me.

I wonder if it is for prying things apart? A crowbar, but not for removing, for breaking. Rocks, maybe (but I don’t think there are many rocks big enough to pry apart in Pungoteague).

I shoulda stopped and looked - I drove by there yesterday.

Something for lifting storm grates would be my guess
Declan

Way too large, and hay hooks have a sharp point on them to dig into the bale you’re grappling:

https://www.google.com/search?q=hay+hooks&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS453US453&es_sm=122&biw=1209&bih=1035&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0CKEBEPwFKAFqFQoTCMWl2ued7cYCFQykiAod5C8C2A#tbm=isch&q=hay+hook

The storm grate tool seems like a good guess to me. Or some similar purpose.

The iron circle looks like an attachment point for a rope or a chain. It could be a logging hook.

http://www.rubylane.com/item/316717-10737/Early-1900x27s-Hand-Forged-Iron-Logging

Looks like a gate latch for someone with really mean cattle, or possibly dinosaurs.

Much too hefty for that purpose. Unless you were lifting 2 ton bales of hay! :slight_smile:

My vote is for drain/manhole tool. Most rock crowbars are straight, although there’s nothing that says they have to be. They’re also long and this one is short, it wouldn’t get much leverage.

Manhole crowbars are about that size, I see one company advertising them in 24, 30 and 36 inch sizes. He’s holding it at his side and it just touches the ground, it seems to be the perfect length.

What’s the purpose of the iron ring at the end then?

Something says shipbuilding to me or some other nautical purpose on old steamships.

Perhaps a hook to help load or secure cargo? I think it’s too big for manhole covers or drain grates.

It was found in the woods after all. The ring bothers me, too much investment for a simple decoration or to hang on a wall. Otherwise I’m was going to say something with the railroad.

Given the nautical nature of the area, and the large ring, perhaps a portion of a broken anchor?

I wonder if several men, each using one of these as pry bars, could raise a section of railroad track long enough for another man to level the railroad ties underneath?

The ring makes more sense if you consider that it helps you carry the thing around all day long.

I’m going to say a pry bar / lifter at a stone quarry. The ring would be hitched to horses. There were quarries in the area in blacksmith days.

I’m seeing it as being used to get large stones raised just a few inches so one could then place more conventional lifting devices under them.

A railroad tool is possible too…

Could that be used to lift up/tear up stumps? The round part just looks like a handle to me.

Edit: kind of short for that. You’d probably want more leverage, even if something that shape could be used for that.

Gandy dancers used pry bars to straighten sections of track that had become misaligned:

the railroad worker’s pry bar didn’t have a handle on the end, or as pronounced a “toe”. They were also typically longer:

As someone who has done that exact thing (link has pictures) several times within the last year, I can tell you that the last thing you want is any extra weight. Your basic rail tools will be a long pry bar with a little bend at the end (sometimes with a notch so it can also be used as a spike puller), rail and tie tongs, and a very large wrench. Not light work, either - 4 people (2 each on 2 rail tongs) are expected to move a 39’ piece of rail. That’s on the order of 250 lbs per person. No wonder this type of work has been mechanized and later automated.

I’ll stick with a drain grate or manhole lifter. “Manhole hook” images look pretty close:

https://www.google.com/search?q=hay+hooks&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS453US453&es_sm=122&biw=1209&bih=1035&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0CKEBEPwFKAFqFQoTCMWl2ued7cYCFQykiAod5C8C2A#tbm=isch&q=manhole+hook

Plus, I found it convenient to bend something about that size and shape out of a section of rebar to lift the cover on my water meter to read it.