Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.28] on Sunday, August 17, 2014 at 22:00:18 :
I have an old chain I use for logs. It has a pear-shaped ring on one end and a slip hook on the other. Both ends were forged onto the chain (no clevises). When I got it, the chain was in two pieces with a bolt holding them together, which soon broke. When I got to putting in a cold shut and welding it, I noticed that ever link has one end fatter than the other. I'm thinking maybe this was a hand-forged chain, or at least some very early machine-forged chain in which they overlap the ends of the rod and forge-weld them together at the end of each link rather than the modern method of butting them up on the side of each link.
Anybody else seen a chain like this or have an idea how it was made? I just thought it was kind of interesting.
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