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1760 Handmade Rope Bed Tightening Tool MaineFarmFind
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1760 Handmade Rope Bed Tightening Tool MaineFarmFind
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Antique, early & wonderfully primitive handmade, hand carved and hand forged wrought iron banded wooden colonial New England rope bed tightening tool with it's original & exceptionally crude axe chopped, whittled and auger bit drill construction, it's original & exceptional hand ax and whittled inserted twisting stick, it's original vertical stress crack on the main tightening shaft, it's original blacksmith made wrought iron band at the top to correct, secure and prevent further cracking to the main shaft, it's original traces of rubbed-on old red paint at the bottom of the tightening shaft and on the twisting stick from the tightening tool being actually used, long ago, to tighten the ropes of 18th century bed(s) that were painted in old red paint & rubbing against them when doing this and retaining an extremely fine old natural worn silky smooth usage, age toned and dry original surface, as found. Maine , 1760, possibly earlier. Guaranteed old and original; this is not a fake or reproduction. Actual weight 2 3/4 lbs. 18 1/2" long, by 17 1/4" wide at the handle and 2 3/4" thick at the iron band. Antique, early & wonderfully primitive handmade, hand carved and hand forged wrought iron banded wooden colonial New England rope bed tightening tool with it's original & exceptionally crude axe chopped, whittled and auger bit drill construction, it's original & exceptional hand ax and whittled inserted twisting stick, it's original vertical stress crack on the main tightening shaft, it's original blacksmith made wrought iron band at the top to correct, secure and prevent further cracking to the main shaft, it's original traces of rubbed-on old red paint at the bottom of the tightening shaft and on the twisting stick from the tightening tool being actually used, long ago, to tighten the ropes of 18th century bed(s) that were painted in old red paint & rubbing against them when doing this and retaining an extremely fine old natural worn silky smooth usage, age toned and dry original surface, as found. We found this singularly fine and early bed tightening tool in the oldest crawl space attic above the original homestead. We regularly find and sell rope bed tighten tools. This specimen is by far the oldest, crudest and most decorative example we have found recently. Times change on the farm and we offer thisâe¦ old toolâe¦ to tighten bed ropes on a "rope bed", so called. Once the bed frame was assembled, rope was strung in a net formula and then "tightened" with this tool to not only hold the bed together but also to form a firm support for "the mattress". That last is in quotes because what we think of as a mattress today is a far, far design transition away from what was "THE MATTRESS" prior to the American War for Independence . The combination of sagging rope and a sagging "the mattress" is often dutifully recorded by travelers. A bed could become a hammock when the rope was loose. This tool was applied to twisting the rope tight and tying the twist tightened rope off, at various spots around the bedâe¦ and with considerable regularity. This tool and it's usage was a domestic task (read necessity) that has vanished from our society. Today a sagging mattress is treated with the phrase "get a new mattress". Back then the rope was tightened and new âe¦strawâe¦ leavesâe¦dried weedsâe¦ was stuffed in the mattress sack. Crude bedding indeed. And a crude yet fundamental tool to do the task. This one is especially finely crude so we take the time to extol these virtues. The shaft is hand twist bit bored and cut at the bottom to fork onto the rope with these bore marks visible. In doing the actual tightening the main shaft cracked up the center. Instead of making a new shaft, a repair was made by putting a hand forged ring of iron to bind the shaft at the top. This is iron band repair is beautiful. The twisting stick, through a second bit bored hole, is a crude true "stick" axe chopped and whittled to a taper to fit the hole with old bark still on the thick end and âe¦naturally usage worn silky sm... 
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