Object number
51/336
Collection
Creator
Description
An auger is a boring tool used in a variety of woodworking trades, such as carpentry, wheelwrighting and ship-building, to bore long deep holes. It consists of an iron shank with a T-shaped handle at one end and a boring device at the other. A shell auger has a half-cylinder blade with an in-bent horizontal cutter on the nose. This auger has a long shank, stamped 'S. Gilpin. Wesses Mill', which suggests it was used for depper borings, and the handle is stamped with 'M.R.'. It was used at R. Middleton & Sons' wheelwrights workshop in Eddington, Hungerford.
Physical description
1 shell auger: iron shank and blade; wooden handle
Archival history
MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'This shell auger was used in the wheelwright’s shop at Hungerford, and is of a total length of 25.2 inches. Long auger shanks for deep borings often possessed a different kind of handle fixing from the shorter type of auger with its tapered top clenched fixing. In this case a flattened ring forms the top of the shank through which the cross handle is driven. This handle is 12 inches wide. The total length of the square iron stem of the auger is 17.5 inches from the bottom of the ring to the top of the spoon. The spoon is 5.2 inches long and .8 inches in width. The iron shank is stamped ‘S. Gilpin. Wessex Mill’. The handle is stamped ‘M.R.’. // See also 51/55M.'
Production date
1800-01-01 - 1899-12-31
Production period
Nineteenth century
Object name
Material
Associated subject
External document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\35 series negatives\Scans\35_448.tif - High resolution image
