Featured What is this primitive looking pot thing with a very long handle used for?

Hi,
Well we poured into a large box and then cut it into slabs. The most of it was then just shaved into bits to use as laundry soap. Some of the slabs were cut into hand size pieces to use as soap for the face and body. The only good part was my sister and brother REFUSED to use the soap since there were tiny bits of lye that did not get mixed into soap and it burned. I always scrubbed with it and I never had acne,
My sister and brother both had acne. From the soap or genes I could not prove.
greg

 

I love reading all these memories!

The place was a farm a long time ago. Then it was a florist shop with a large green house building. The green house was attached to the shop and had a second story office.

 

Water dipper? We have a virtually identical one in our shop which makes me wonder if it could be a repro.

 

If it's a repro then it has to be a very old repro. I found it hanging in the barn with decades of dirt and webs on it and, inside of it. I'm curious as to why you think an identical one makes it a repro and not something that was made to sell for whatever purpose it was used for?

 

did he say your's..or HIS is a repro ?
The patina of use on your handle makes it authentically used...repro or not !!!

 

Just conjecture. Any time you see two virtually identical pieces without trying, I think one should question authenticity. There are so many things out there made to look old that one needs to be aware of the possibility of reproductions. Some of these reproductions are now reaching 50 years old or more and have legitimate wear and tear to them. We are also seeing a lot of older items being brought from other countries and being passed off as very old American antiques.

 

Yeah, there was/is a whole industry in europe, particularly GB that are using old wood (200-300 year old wood & furniture parts) to manufacture "antique furniture". I am not saying that this is the case for this object, i really know nothing about it, just sayin it's possible.

 

well in this case, I see a wood handle that was ridden hard & put away wet !

 

Thank you for explaining. I don't have any knowledge about welding or how the connections were made. I remember reading posts where the welding connection was a clue to age and was a curious why that wasn't mentioned on this piece.

 

Just realized that this is iron and steel (missed the part about magnet sticking). Assumed it was copper since the other examples shown are. The way the lip is turned and the vertical seam is formed indicates that the maker had at least some cursory fairly modern tools to make this.

BTW, the one in our shop is also copper so not as similar as I thought.

 

I am voting on maple sugar and skiming off the froth and other stuff as it boils.

 

My neighbor in NH had a sugar house. It smelled so good when they were cooking it off. I remember them using a a square shaped dipper with a shorter handle than this. Not for skimming, for checking the thickness of the syrup as it boiled down.

 

Very close to what he had. His was deeper, higher sides.

 

I've been going to sugar shacks since I was 5......I just don't see the OP's bucket as having been used for maple syrup...
The only thing that goes in the vat that deep is a wood paddle.....all the bucket scoops are shorter.......IMO...

 

Foam scoop..............long handle but no bucket.....no depth !!

 

In this Youtube video there is a skimmer that looks like what my neighbor used, about 2.45 minutes into the video. I must have missed the skimming process, I just remember him scooping some up and letting it pour back in to check for thickness.

 

Green house...now I'm thinking water dipper for rain barrel. It wouldn't need a spout if watering large beds of plants.