I have a couple of my grandfather's and great-grandfather's "tools". They were blacksmiths, wheelwrights & cart and carriage builders. They had an outfit which I'm sure they built that was kind of like a pile-driver in their shop. A wagon wheel hub was placed on its side on the ground between two pieces of would at the top of which was a pulley. A fifty pound block of oak was raised about 15 feet to the top of the little "elevator shaft" then was released and would come sliding straight down and drive in a wheel spoke that was being held up with its end in a rectangular hole in the hub. The force of the block would drive the spoke all the way in with one blow, avoiding the need for a lot of hammering. The hub was repositioned with the next hole facing up and the next spoke driven in until the wheel was finished.
Anyway, I've got that block of wood with the Roman numeral L on it indicating that it weighed 50 lbs. Besides y'all now, I guess I'm the only one left who knows what that block of wood encased in wrought iron straps was used for.
