8/18/2023 0 Comments Railroad spike maulThe spike maul is a one-purpose tool and found only in railroad section houses, available only from specialized suppliers. Railroad trackmen–long known as ‘gandy-dancers’–use sledge hammers. Sledge hammers are still available in the shrinking hand-tool sections of either variety of store, but they are not to be confused with the spike maul. Nor the soulless big-box version lurking out in the land of sprawling parking lots that not too long ago were farm fields. You won’t find it in your local hardware store, either the disappearing Main Street variety, with its dusty hardwood floors and a cat lounging on the counter next to the cash register. Less familiar in the common imagination than the shamrock is the spike maul. And–Potato Publishing Company? Maybe for a subsequent effort. But an image of the lowly plant might not have made a powerful logo. A potato would likewise have had fitting symbolism. And considering how railroad building and the Irish-American experience were so intertwined in the second half of the 19th Century, the spike maul also popped into my brain as a ‘no-brainer’–to use an over-used term. The shamrock, of course, was a natural as a symbol for this fledgling effort at spare-room publishing. And SSMPC was given a hiatus and recently revived as Shamrock and Spike Maul Books. Two of the books have since been completed, under the umbrella of Shamrock and Spike Maul Publishing Company, and are now ready for revision. I felt compelled to use it when starting a self-publishing entity a number of years back, as a focus for writing and hopefully selling a historical novel series centering around a fictitious Irish-American family. As a symbol of the resurgence of the Irish people from centuries of foreign domination, it holds meaning beyond its humble beauty. Always, with a little attention, it has come back, usually more green and luxuriant than ever. It has suffered through sporadic watering and being set out in the cold and being starved for sun. Now the little white flowers last nearly year round. It wasn’t until the recent turn of the century (that to me seems very recent) that we had a potted shamrock in our house. Here on the west side of the Atlantic, most of us are more familiar with this little leaf through images than we are seeing or touching the real plant. The leprechaun, the green top hat, the harp–and then there’s the shamrock. As does the spike maul.Īs a day to celebrate, Saint Patrick’s Day is filled with images that are simultaneously hackneyed and cherished. The “T” rail, the offset-head cut spike, and the wood tie go back a long way.
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