Help with identifying old keys

SarahB

I found these keys on an old farm. They are 4 ¼″ long. Any ideas as to their age and/or what they were used for?

Thanks

SarahB

Here is another pic of the keys.

peerless

I’m not so certain that they’re keys at all, “they” look like some sort of anchor eye-bolts that was attached to a wall perhaps.

oldbiscuit

I’m with Peerless on this, But I do believe it’s off a single or double tree, from a wagon.http://www.drivehorses.com/double_trees,_neck_yokes.htm

SarahB

The ends don’t look like a bolt. It’s some sort of crudely hand-forged thinga-ma-jig that some old farmer used for who-knows-what. Mind you, I found these about about 5 inches under the dirt, on the site of an old farm that’s been gone for about 40yrs.

Donnie

I think that Mark nailed this one. Many farmers had a blacksmith shop on the farm, we did, & a lot of hardware on yokes, single trees, wagons & about any thing else iron was made in the shop…These could have been used in the first yoke shown..A LOT of these items were fit thru the hole & then swaged or hammered to mushroom the end as bolts & nuts were scarce around many old subsistence farms…
The size is about correct for this application……Donnie