# carved wooden thing from privy



## digger dun (Jun 13, 2013)

Found this carved woodedn thing in a 1860s-70s privy pit in Bed-Sty, Brooklyn


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## digger dun (Jun 13, 2013)

It's about 2 1/2" tall, and threaded on each end


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## digger dun (Jun 13, 2013)

The top has a little wooden cap that threads into the item. Anybody know what this is?


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## luckiest (Jun 13, 2013)

no idea, it's cool though.


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## mr.fred (Jun 13, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  digger dun
> 
> The top has a little wooden cap that threads into the item. Anybody know what this is?


 Off a clock perhaps![8|]


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## GuntherHess (Jun 13, 2013)

what kind of wood is that? It almost looks like bone or ivory with those fine threads.


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## digger dun (Jun 13, 2013)

GuntherHess, I assumed it was some kind of hardwood by the feel of it in my hand, but I admit I could be wrong. I had it in the freezer for a few months hoping to save it from splitting, and so far that seems to have worked. there is a small crack that has developed along the edge I didn't photgraph. If it is wood, then it is a very dense wood.


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## bostaurus (Jun 13, 2013)

Needle case?


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## GuntherHess (Jun 13, 2013)

how heavy is it?  It sort of looks like soapstone too.  Its dense but shouldn't be cracking.
 When you take the cap off , is there a deep cavity there or very little cavity?

 Ivory can be tested. Heat a needle red hot and stick in it. Ivory will smell like burning hair. Bone wont do much. Wood will burn obviously...


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## digger dun (Jun 13, 2013)

It is heavy in the hand, but I'd rule out stone. I'm starting to feel that it might be ivory. The threaded holes on each end are only 1/4" deep at max. I thought that it might have been a handle to something, like a knitting needle. It came from a privy of mostly feminine cast offs, hair clips, and combs, beauty products, womans shoes, glass douches, and even an engraved dainty gold ring that must have slipped off some ladies finger whislt she reached in to take care of business.


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## epackage (Jun 13, 2013)

I'm with Melinda, needle case....


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## cowseatmaize (Jun 14, 2013)

> I had it in the freezer for a few months hoping to save it from splitting,


I never heard of that. I always thought water expanded when frozen. Is that a freeze drying thing?


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## epackage (Jun 14, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  cowseatmaize
> I never heard of that. I always thought water expanded when frozen. Is that a freeze drying thing?


 Indeed it is...

 From here http://www.westbaywoodturners.com/tutorial/Drying_wood.htm

*Freeze Drying

 We had a very famous turner come from Canada and demo at our club several years ago.  During his demo, we had a discussion about freeze drying.  He asked the very simple question â€œHow come all the trees in Canada still have to be dried?  It gets plenty cold doesnâ€™t it?â€  Seemed to make sense to me, so I really wasnâ€™t interested in this.  I do know that a number of people will through pieces in the frig/freezer to hold the moisture if they get interrupted.  I had a piece of Apricot, which has a very bad habit of moving and cracking.  I didnâ€™t have time to turn it when I got it, so I put it in a bag, and threw it in the freezer.  About a year or so later I â€œfound itâ€.  Dry as a bone, and very stable.  It hadnâ€™t even been rough turned.  So, I do think that Freeze drying does work.  No idea how long it would have to be in the freezer.  But this definitely isnâ€™t practical for any significant amount of wood.*


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## cowseatmaize (Jun 14, 2013)

Interesting but different. 
 Cutting and drying live wood I think is different than 100+ year wood being buried in a moist environment and frozen. Just thinking out loud. 
 The piece in general looks too perfect to be wood anyway but even a semi porous stone or stone with a small crack will hold water and I think be prone to splitting. Maybe the time between digging and freezing makes a difference also. [8|]
 Cool discussion!


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## bostaurus (Jun 14, 2013)

â€œHow come all the trees in Canada still have to be dried?  "
 Because they still have roots and are pulling water from the ground...


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## GuntherHess (Jun 14, 2013)

Needle case seems reasonable. The knob at the top is probably just part of the decoration.
 The bottom cap is missing.


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## digger dun (Jun 14, 2013)

I'm afraid it couldn't be a needle case because the threaded holes on either end are only 1/4" deep. If the hole extended deeply into the body of this thing it could work like a needle case, but that is not how this thing crafted.


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## GuntherHess (Jun 14, 2013)

ok, so it probably a handle then, maybe for a ladies hand mirror


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## cc6pack (Jun 14, 2013)

some type of finial?


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## GuntherHess (Jun 14, 2013)

I was thinking a clock finial at first but I couldn't find any even close.


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## epackage (Jun 14, 2013)

So the holes don't go all the way thru? Then I'm going with finial, threaded on both ends so that different configurations could be screwed together or removed for the desired height and look...


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## cowseatmaize (Jun 15, 2013)

If it's threaded on both ends and a solid body but has and end cap the only thing I can think of is an extension piece for something. It could make it convertible for fitting on a stand or carrying around of a mirror. The end cap would be decorative for the "carry around" time.
 Maye an extension for something like opera glasses also? [8|][8|]
 Look, straws, grasp them! [][]


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