LINCH PIN

Cast copper alloy linch pin or wheel key wedge, rectangular in plan with a flattened slightly flanged terminal and square in section at the head end. There is no evidence of the head having been hammered so it is not a punch or chisel, and the terminal is not flanged enough or flat enough for it to be a spade drill bit, even though the square sectioned head might slot into a tool and appears to be deliberately manufactured for the purpose it was intended. The opposite end has been manufactured into a wedge shape but there are no obvious signs of wear. At approximately one third along the length of the pin, the shaft has been bent slightly, suggesting pressure has been applied at this point. It is more likely that this is part of a wheel key wedge or a linch pin to secure the wheel to the axel on a small cart. There has been some substance, possibly lacquer, applied to the surface of the copper alloy to perhaps stop it corroding, which has created a dark brown to black skin.

Walker (1994) illustrates a similar tool bit with a flat flanged terminal widening to a square sectioned shaft that slotted into a square aperture within a wooden handle in plate 10, no.2121, which dates from the Victorian period; but it has a notched attachment at the end of the shaft in order to be held in the handle, and this example does not appear to have had a larger attachment at this end, as the skin of whatever was applied to the object has formed over it along with the corrosion product.

A similar item has been recorded on the database in NLM-5232B6 and identified as a Bronze Age chisel, perhaps mistakenly taken from another record LANCUM-17104C which has been identified as the tang of a Bronze Age chisel, but the secondary identifier has asked the opinion of Dot Boughton and these are not Bronze Age in date.