Do you know what this is?

[wdfifteen]

I do.
I did when I was 9, too, but my third grade teacher does not (or did not, the old bag is probably dead by now). She was teaching us to sing the John Henry song, you know, "John Henry was a steel drivin' man." She told us he was driving railroad spikes. I raised my had and pointed out that, no, he was actually driving a steel. The old bat made me stand in the corner.
I watched my grandfather use a drilling steel when I was little. I knew what a steel was. This is a little one that I used to drill a hole in our house's foundation decades ago - long before consumer grade hammer drills. I came across it while unpacking from our move.
Fond memories of my grandfather, and probably one of the seeds of the contempt for authority that I developed.

[devodave]

A good old star drill, or at least that is what I have always known them as. Should have one in the tool box! Last used to install a ground rod in the concrete floor of the old barn for a welder.

[masraum]

Cool, I'm not sure I've ever seen one.

You can learn something every day, and you're never too old to learn.

[drkshdw]

Never seen one of these. How exactly does it work?

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I do.
She told us he was driving railroad spikes. I raised my hand and pointed out that, no, he was actually driving a steel. The old bat made me stand in the corner.
...probably one of the seeds of the contempt for authority that I developed.

I've met a lot of really smart people who never say a word until asked, and then only just enough to make the point...and I have a feeling that incidents like this are a big part of the reason..
(and I would have gone for the laugh and said something along the lines of what kind of a lesson did John Henry teach us when it killed him to try and beat the steam hammer but that's a whole 'nother story, even though the resulting corner time would have netted the same result)

Anyway, that is a cool artifact; I always thought it was a railroad spike, too!

[devodave]

Set the 4-pointed “Star” tip on the concrete and strike with sledge hammer. Rotate drill slightly and repeat. A hole will slowly be formed.

[dan88911]

Just so I am clear.
Is someone holding it in place while someone else is swinging the sledge hammer?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by dan88911

Just so I am clear.
Is someone holding it in place while someone else is swinging the sledge hammer?

For that little one you just hold it yourself with one hand and hammer it with the other.
When they were boring holes for dynamite to build railroad beds one guy would hold the steel while three or four stood around it with hammers and hit it in succession while the holder twisted it after every blow. They just went around and around in a circle, one guy after another whacking the steel, they had songs they chanted to keep up the rhythm.

[Evans, Marv]

I have one almost exactly like that I haven't used in a long time. I'm amazed there are so many who don't know what it is.

[cornemuse]

As a kid I saw surveyors use these for installing survey points/pins for property boundaries.
Used one with a "drill hammer", about 2½ lbs, not a sledge hammer. They drilled a small hole in sidewalk, packed lead in hole, and hammered in the survey 'pin'.

[MBAtarga]

I remember the episode of Little House on the Prairie when "Pa" (Michael Landon) gets a job working on a crew - I believe for the rail road. He has the task of holding/rotating the steel while another man is swinging the sledge. He had raw palms by the end of the first day.

[Jolly Amaranto]

I have one but have never used a sledge hammer with it. Just hold it in my left hand and flail away at the top with a carpenter claw hammer in my right. I eventually get a hole deep enough for an anchor.

[A930Rocket]

I recognized it, but have never used one.

[BeyGon]

Originally Posted by cornemuse

As a kid I saw surveyors use these for installing survey points/pins for property boundaries.
Used one with a "drill hammer", about 2½ lbs, not a sledge hammer. They drilled a small hole in sidewalk, packed lead in hole, and hammered in the survey 'pin'.

we used these for many years doing just that. Drill the hole, pound lead into it and set the pin/tag/. Up until we started getting battery drills and concrete bits. Ours were just shorter, 6-8"

[devodave]

Ok, vernacular is confusing. When I referred to “sledge hammer”, I was referring to a short handled striking tool with an approximate 2 lb head, also know as a drill hammer or an engineers hammer. What you know as a “sledge hammer”, I have always referred to it as a maul, a long handled tool with an 8-lb to 10-lb head. This is different than a splitting maul, used to split wood. These are how I learned from my dad and I am sure that’s what he learned from my grandfather.

You’d have to trust 2 to 3 guys swinging Lind handled tools while you were holding the steel!

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by devodave

Ok, vernacular is confusing. When I referred to “sledge hammer”, I was referring to a short handled striking tool with an approximate 2 lb head, also know as a drill hammer or an engineers hammer. What you know as a “sledge hammer”, I have always referred to it as a maul, a long handled tool with an 8-lb to 10-lb head. This is different than a splitting maul, used to split wood. These are how I learned from my dad and I am sure that’s what he learned from my grandfather.

You’d have to trust 2 to 3 guys swinging Lind handled tools while you were holding the steel!

Interesting
. The short handled hammer has never been referred to as a "sledge hammer" in my experience. The little ones were just "small sledges." In my experience a "sledge hammer" had at least an 8 pond head and a 3 foot handle.
Anything called a "maul" was used for splitting wood.

[devodave]

Well, I grew up in Tidewater, VA (Portsmouth), so that may have had something to do with it!

[dad911]

Star Drill. I've used them, might have one laying around somewhere.....

[smadsen]

In the 1860's endless miles of railroad tunnels were drilled in the Sierra Nevada Mountain granite, by hand, with similar, only larger versions of that drill. I believe two laborers wailed on that bar with sledge hammers while another held it steady. When the hole was 18 inches or so deep, you filled it with black powder, inserted a few feet of fuse, screamed "fire in the hole," and ran like hell.

When the steam hammer/drill was invented, daily linear footage increased exponentially and the John Henry's on the crew were "re-trained" for more technical work.

[Tervuren]

Doesn't the song say "steel driving man"?