Brass/Copper flotsam

[blackrabbit]

So I was walking my dog on the beach yesterday and came across a old piece of timber. I notices a longe spike going through it and figured it was steel but a little gleam caught my eye. The spike is about one and a half feet long and 3/4 inch diameter. The surf had polished the spike and the top seems to be made of brass and the bottom seems to be pure copper by the color. I estimate the metal weighs about 2 pounds. I brought it home and tried drying the wood it is in out on my wood burning stove but it started off gassing a nasty chemical/petroleum smell. Does anyone know anything about this type of hardware? Could it be part of an old ship or dock? This is the first time seeing a larger metal spike that was not iron/steel.

[Dumpster Diver]

This is interesting...please post a pic.

My guess is from an old ship...does it smell like turpentine?

This would make for a cool contest. Be the first to ID this and win a prize!

[tn-dave]

Very Cool Find..!! - I would love to see a picture also..

[blackrabbit]

Yes it does smell like turpentine so I cut it out of the wood this morning. I hope it was part of a pirate ship! I will get a photo up soon.

[blackrabbit]

So the picture of my friend holding the wood is after I cut it off the main part to carry it home. Then this morning I totally liberated it from the wood because of the turpentine smell. On closer inspection it seems the copper is almost mixed with the brass with some parts rosy copper and some more yellow brass. I can imagine that it was made in a more crude fashion than modern techniques but maybe I just hope it is part of an ancient ship hull. Any info/thoughts anyone has on it please let me know.

[Dr. Cadmium]

A really cool find. Definitely worth more than scrap value!

What you have is part of a shipwreck that is probably at least 150 years old, possibly much older. Before screws were widely manufactured, spikes were used to join sections of timber together. Brass was used because it resists salt much better than iron, which is also why other nautical items are usually made of brass or bronze.

Rarely these will wash up on shore lodged in a piece of wood.

The place to ask about this would be on a forum about shipwrecks, people there would be able to tell you much more.

[blackrabbit]

Cool, thanks!

[tn-dave]

Thanks for the pictures. That's got to be a once in a lifetime find.

[abe]

That has got to be the neatest find that I've seen in a long time.

[Thogey]

That is cool. Could be a very historical find.

The rest of the ship may be near by. Was cutting that timber a mistake?

[blackrabbit]

Everything is historical, but the turpentine smell had to go and I wanted to keep the spike. Their was nothing else identifiable on the wood. In Northern California here lots of wood, some whole redwood tree stumps/burls get deposited on the beach here. I have found pumice rocks from volcanoes somewhere out in the world that floated up on the beach. So I doubt one could track down where this originated. No identifying marks on the metal either.

[Thogey]

Everything is historical.

You are correct sir! That's one I must remember.

"You can't build/drill/develop that, because it's historical"

Perfect!. It would be cool to 'nail' down the general specifics about that stake and make a plaque.

That is one nice nail!

[TheJonasCollegeFund]

Try to imagine how many of those were in the entire ship....wo!

I think you need to take it to Vegas and get on that PawnStars show. You'll be a celebrity!

[Dumpster Diver]

One thing strikes me as odd...There is hardly any patina on that thing. Almost looks polished...

[blackrabbit]

It has been polished by the surf and sand. Also the part stuck in the wood was nice and clean once I cut it out, but it did smell like turpentine.

[Snake42]

Amazing find man. I would love to know where it came from.

[Verbane]

I have watched a few ocean recovery type shows on TV, when they find something they store it in sea water. I would suggest talking to some ship wreck experts to confirm what you have and determine if you should do anything to preserve the spike.

Nice find!!

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Be careful, Black Rabbit. That turpentine smell may actually be creosote! It is very bad to inhale the fumes of creosote.

Cool find. I remember camping on the beaches from Crescent City to Fortuna 36 yrs ago. Awesome place on this planet! The beaches were full of old lumber mill rejects.

Maybe some of those old redwood burls and stumps would have salvage value now. Wood turners love to work with highly figured wood.

[blackrabbit]

The burls and stumps do have salvage value. I have seen people selling them on craigslist and e-bay. I have a nice rack for hanging pans in my kitchen made out of a cool looking slab of old growth redwood I found on the beach. Somebody had already cut up a really big piece and left a bunch of pre cut slabs. I have not tried to go out with a chainsaw yet but may if I found a really cool chunk of wood that I had a good project idea for. If one was really industrious you could make high end furniture out of the salvage wood. People will pay some pretty good coin for artistic natural wood furniture.