Nautical spike?

[JohnnyI]

Ther object pictured is six sided, hand wrought brass or copper based metal. None of the six surfaces are of an even (equal) width, and they are all slightly concave. It is about three inches long, about 3/4 inch wide, and obviously broken off a longer piece. The unbroken end (which does not show well in the scan) is slightly rounded. The object has a thick even patina on all surfaces. It is not the caustic surface one sees on submerged objects, but is a much cleaner patina, and is thicker in fact than any shoe buckles, 17th century coppers, etc., which have come from the same location. The surface is almost silicate in nature in many places, and it seems to be of great age.

It was not found at a shallow depth, which may mean it was turned up when a garage was built near the site of the original (1680's) barn, or it may have been deposited later. It is NOT the type of bar one finds in old lightning rod parts, etc., and again, is clearly hand wrought and much older. The location of the find is on the mainland across from the Barnegat inlet (Atlantic ocean) at a site dating to the 1680's.

Does anyone know anything about ancient ship building spikes? I'm wondering if it may be a type of spike which could be driven into a round hole, and because of the twist, would hold the wood fast? What makes me wonder (besides the design) is that if ship timbers were ever salvaged from a 1600's wreck to build structures, this object might have been embedded in one of them and been deposited after the wood eventually deteriorated? Any help from someone more knowledgable on ancient ship building would sure be appreciated. Thanks for looking.
<img src="http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj255/johnirwin_2008/object1.jpg" border="0" alt="object1">

 

[edjcox]

reaming tool or a rock drill but the material is wrong for rock drill. A reamer more likely.

 

[JohnnyI]

ed, like you said, it is the wrong material for either one of those, as either one would be made of steel or iron. As I mentioned, it is extremely old; and by the thick even patina seems older than many or all artifacts of copper alloy i've dug here that date to the early 1700's. Iron was scarce enough here back then, but copper was far scarcer and more valuable. This was part of something that had to hold up to water which is why it is copper alloy.

Since posting I did manage to drag out a 1780's volume on shipbuilding and found this mention of a machine to draw out the keelson bolts. As it mentions their "corrosion", it seems they were made of bronze or brass. I have yet to find any information that describes such bolts, other than mention of the more common square spikes of various sizes used for planking.

<img src="http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj255/johnirwin_2008/chapter1.jpg" border="0" alt="chapter1">

 

[JohnnyI]

Haven't found anything on octangonal spikes yet, but today after clearing out some iron I dug this in the same general spot, bronze square spike this time.(broken off) and about 5 inches long. It pretty much confirms I think, that these may have been stuck in slavaged ship timbers, and were deposited when fire took the barn years ago. <img src="http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj255/johnirwin_2008/shipsspike.jpg" border="0" alt="ship's spike">

Also on my other "whatsit" this week ("is it a buckle"), I found last night (by holding the object at an angle) the name engraved "---- w. birdsall" , a family that had owned the land since the mid 1700's and were several generations of sea captains.