Railroad spike maul or?

C

CedarEater

Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
390
Today my boss gave me this railroad spike maul but he called it by a different name which I promptly forgot. He did say that he thought it was a tool for driving railroad spikes and railroad spike maul is what turned up on my google searches. Here is what he gave me.






A drill bit made quick work of cleaning out the eye.




I hit it with the cup brush real quick like.




I haven't put it on a scale yet but there is a number 6 on one side so I would imagine its a 6 pounder.




I am not sure how much more cleaning I am going to do to this. I do need to figure out what size the handle should be though. Any ideas?
 
CedarEater said:
I do need to figure out what size the handle should be though. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I have a bell pattern spike maul. Total length is 33 inches.


This view shows the curve in the handle.


Video using spike mauls.
[video=youtube;3r_cI3kYYhM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r_cI3kYYhM[/video]

Let me know if you want more details on the handle.
 
rjdankert said:
Video using spike mauls.
[video=youtube;3r_cI3kYYhM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r_cI3kYYhM[/video]
Click to expand...

Fantastic! Very noble work. Those men have my respect and admiration! I like how one of them will make a corrective blow to the spike without missing a beat.
 
Once again this forum proves useful. I had a head given to me a while back - now I know it is a "Ship /top maul".
Mine is marked Plumb and a number I can't make out- weighs 4 1/2 lbs.
The eye seems small at just over 1 inch. I was also wondering what handle would have been on it originally.
If it was unmarked I would have probably forged a war hammer/ spike out of it.
Also have a spike maul that I will probably never use - earns a place just for what it is and watching the video posted here.
thanks again
ry%3D400

ry%3D400
 
I have an old shipwright's adze with a very narrow hammer poll on it. Amazes me no end that folks could accurately pound in spikes or wood pegs/dowels with those, but I do know they did! In my foolish youth I often had to hold rebar, spikes or t-rails for someone else to soundly smack with a sledge and by and large that was not a good experience neither for 'holding' nor 'pounding', by rookies.
 
The pin on an adze was used to knock down nails and spikes so they didn't dull the blade. It's a nail set not a hammer.
 
I heard from an old tie hacker the pin was also handy for flipping a square timber without bending over.
 
Square_peg said:
The pin on an adze was used to knock down nails and spikes so they didn't dull the blade. It's a nail set not a hammer.
Click to expand...

That explanation definitely makes sense but still requires that you have good aim and that you use the adze as a hammer.
 
rjdankert said:
I have a bell pattern spike maul. Total length is 33 inches.


This view shows the curve in the handle.


Video using spike mauls.
[video=youtube;3r_cI3kYYhM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r_cI3kYYhM[/video]

Let me know if you want more details on the handle.
Click to expand...

Loved the video. I worked with a couple of drifters in the 70's that knew a lot of work songs. It was nice to work to the chants of those songs. It could make the hardest jobs fun.
 
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