pic of old hammer -our 1st hunt on colonial homesite in sc

[ccclontz]

We went to a historic area of SC yesterday. It is closeby several sites where there are historical markers about battlefields. The house was an old colonial house built in 1700's. The house burnt down 15 years ago & the rubble was buried. There are large pecan trees, a large magnolia tree, apple & pear trees. It is 181 acres total. Some of it is real hilly almost like mountains. I wanted to stay near the old homesite but my husband wanted to venture out into the woods. Near the house the only targets I dug were mostly nails. One was a square nail. One horseshoe which was broke in half, we found both halves. The most interesting thing I found in the woods under 3" of dirt was some type of hammer. I tried to find something like it online but did not see anything like it.It is all metal & is heavy. .See the 2 photos I posted. We were wondering if it might be a blacksmith hammer? Do any of you recognize what kind of hammer this is? We plan to go back but my neices husband is going to mow the grass all around the homeplace spot & disc it up & plant something for deers to eat. It will be easier to find targets with the dirt plowed. Also there is an old pond that I plan to check out. The grass was all grown up and lots of anthills so I want him to mow it before I go back. One thing I noticed was that my husband found some targets that were deeper with the Bandido II Umax where my Silver Umax didn't beep at all. Now I found plenty of targets, but I see he can find some I miss with my Silver Umax. I was disappointed to find mostly nails but at least there was not one single pull tab or drink can. No trash just old farm implement pieces, the hammer & nails. I could have used a 2nd pinpointer since he got way ahead of me down the hill & through the woods. All I had was my detector, a small digger & a shovel with no pinpointer so sometimes it would beep but I could not find the target without my pinpointer with me.

 

[tvr]

Burned down houses leave a ton of nails! It can sometimes be productive to try to figure out what direction the house faced and hunt where you think the entrances may have been, even if digging it all to just clean it up and see what there is. Look for any remaining big trees and think if there is any chance a cloths line may have been there. Look for evidence of out buildings and hunt the path between the house and any out buildings.

No idea what that hammer is. Looks small for most black smith work, but who knows? Nice find and hope you find more!
tvr

Oh ... and where you mention:

One thing I noticed was that my husband found some targets that were deeper with the Bandido II Umax where my Silver Umax didn't beep at all.

It may be that the ground balance adjustment on the Bandido lets him set up more optimally.