Antique Screwdriver Stumper: Hobson's?

I picked up this screwdriver at my Thursday early bird flea market this morning. I didn't discover the marking ("HOBSON'S"), lightly stamped on the shank, until I got it home. I am guessing it's turn of the century into teens. The shank is hexagonal and hand-forged. You can see the imperfection as a sort of spiral in the shank near the tip-forming. The shank tapers before being buried in the handle, the ferrule adding stability and protection. It has a slight crack in the handle that goes under the ferrule, but with a piece this old, that does not detract. Like the sway in the middle of the handle, which is likely from use, I am guessing, not by design. It's a beaut.

Having said all that, initial searches did not yield much information. I found a few vague references to a Hobson in Sheffield, England, known for draw knives. Could be the same. Perhaps our blokes across the pond can tell me something.

That screwdriver gives you choice - use it, or don't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobson%27s_choice

Hobson would be proud, or not.

Can’t give you anything definite Lugz, that’s not a pattern, or maker, I’ve encountered before.

My gut feeling, and it’s only a feeling, is that this tool is of U.S. origin!

Most British screwdrivers, even going way back to the Victorian era, tended to conform to certain patterns. Although there were many of these patterns, this doesn’t seem to confirm to any of them.

A British tool would also most likely be marked ‘HOBSON’ rather than ‘HOBSON’S’!

notlob said:

That screwdriver gives you choice - use it, or don't.

Click to expand...

Classic example of notlob's educated and sophisticated cleverness!

Roberts210 said:

Hobson would be proud, or not.

Click to expand...

Snerk.

Dave455: Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Dave. Very helpful.

It seems like there might be a second head trapped under the ferrule - I wonder if this could be a home made tool?

Gerry

Gerry Clarke said:

It seems like there might be a second head trapped under the ferrule - I wonder if this could be a home made tool?

Click to expand...

The handle looks very much like an early file and tool handle with the bit being ground and inserted into the handle. I've never heard of Hobsons, so I'm not much help.

Gerry Clarke said:

It seems like there might be a second head trapped under the ferrule - I wonder if this could be a home made tool?

Click to expand...

Thanks for your input, Gerry.

The shank was definitely hand-forged and finished, whether in a home shop or primitive factory. I'm still leaning toward the latter, some very early very low-quantity operation, because it's very well-made, and the marking is a die-stamping, not individual letters (too neat and uniform), and I don't know that someone making one tool would make a die-stamp to put a proprietary marking on it, or if they did, that it would include an apostrophe.

As for the end of the shank buried in the ferrule, I noted in my first post that it was tapered as it enters the handle, but I doubt it's another head or bit/blade under there. What I was alluding to was a size and shape more conducive for permanently securing in a ferruled handle end than a 3/8-inch hexagonal shank, or, as UNAIU noted, more like the tang of a file or other tool intended to be held with a handle.

Username already in use said:

The handle looks very much like an early file and tool handle

Click to expand...

It does. Or an early spiral screwdriver handle.