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Bolt Headers

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    Posted 8 years ago

    hotairfan
    (385 items)

    Here are three bolt headers from the 1800's. The one in the middle of the photo has a rams head nut, fastened to a bolt that was fashioned from the header that it is inserted into.
    Making bolts and nails could be considered as a cash crop ( I'm taking liberty by using the term "crop").
    Bolts and nails were made on farms and homesteads by the farmer and his family, including the children (they usually were assigned to making nails). The homesteader sold or bartered this most valuable commodity to merchants or local community members to get cash or trade for needed household items.
    On a trip to Salem, MA, my wife and I went to tour the House of the Seven Gables. The front of the door was decorated and incrusted with hundreds of nails which was obvious that there was no functional purpose other than to let visitors know that the owner of the property had so much wealth that they could afford to decorate their dwelling with valuable nails. The tour guide told us that vanity prevailed even in colonial times, as exhibited by these decorations.
    The reason that many early American log homes no longer exist is the fact that when the homesteader moved to better living areas, they burned the old wood houses and barns to the ground to collect all of the hinges, nails and bolts to use on their new dwellings.

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    Comments

    1. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      Wonder how common taps & dies. Maybe somebody in each community had some & charged for using them. Maybe aliens came periodically to perform that task.
    2. hotairfan hotairfan, 8 years ago
      I think taps & dies became popular with the advent of the American Blacksmith bb2, although maybe aliens had something to do with the art of blacksmithing. I know a few of them, and the blacksmiths that I know of today are in a world of their own, so, you may have something there.
    3. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      From my searches, threading "machines" were not "invented" until after 1750's but can't find a clear date. Before that, guess threads were made by hand, such as filing. Is this a carriage bolt with a square base under the cap ? My interest in this began some yrs ago to figure out the dates of my blunderbusses. Both have crude machine like threaded screws for the locks, tang screw & lock retaining screws, but this doesn't seem to date them because locks were made this way long before the 1750's. The naval(?) gun barrels is mounted with wedges, triggerguard, trigger & ramrod ferrels etc. are mounted with pins thru the stock, except for 2 wood screws for the buttplate, so I'm guessing 1770's-1820. My coach gun has everything everything mounted with pins thru the stock including buttplate except what was mentioned above. I would love to have other opinions thrown my way.
    4. hotairfan hotairfan, 8 years ago
      I was joshing you about the balcksmiths bb2. I really don't know the origin of threads other than it is a combination of two simple machines, the wedge ...... and the incline plane. They could have been around for a very long time. If you find out any more, let us know. the history of inventions are fascinating to me.
      The bolt on the photo has a crudely cut course thread that matches the ram's head nut. The threads in the nut, obviously were fashioned by some sort of tap.
    5. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      OK Hotair, here we go. Actually, some individually made lathes for making metal threads go back to the latter 15th century. It was expensive & so therefore used for clocks, guns & rich people's toys. Over the years, the lathes were improved but the 1st true machine that could be put on the market, came in 1774 & all,or most, lathes had the ability to make threads by 1795. Taps were 1st made by hand filing the flutes in these screws & tempering. Wood screws were a little later on the scene because of the taper than 15th cent. except made by hand. Hand made screws go back to the 1 cent. BC.. So all this doesn't help but give me a ball park figure on my guns.
    6. hotairfan hotairfan, 8 years ago
      thanks for the comeback bb2. God bless and keep you and yours.....
    7. AzTom AzTom, 8 years ago
      I think the aliens did the metric bolts,lol
    8. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      And drugs did the Whitworth system.
    9. Onedtent, 7 years ago
      In 'olden' days burning wooden boats was also common to recover nails, fittings, etc.

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