Any Idea what it is or used for

[BamaDADx3]

Ok, I have a what is this tool? I purchase at a flea market but have been unable to find anything similar online. I thought some type of can opener, but nothing anywhere I can find looks like it does. Was told possibly made to open cans of Carbide? Brass wouldn't arc or spark? it has no sharp edges and the handle is rosewood. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Safety butterknife, doesn't stab the bread.

 

[Lee Celtic]

Bit to well made to just be a lever for opening cans..

looks more like a book binding tool..

there is one similar used in Beaumontage (was filler that looks like timber used in French polishing) it's warmed and used to smooth colored waxes..

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Safety butterknife, doesn't stab the bread.

You beat me to it.
I was going to say: Safety butter knife. Made of brass. OSHA approved for use in a hazardous or explosive environment.

 

[Cf mtn]

as mentioned above it looks like some stuff i picked up at an estate sale awhile back. the guy was a piano restorer and those tools are used for spreading a wax type of stain/filler. i don't remember exactly what it's called. your looks like a better tool.

 

[Teenager with old tools]

That's what high schools use for homec class and other cutting that cant be done with scissors


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[KRB52]

Proctologist's exam tool.

 

[BamaDADx3]

Still looking for the identification. While I appreciate the comments from the Peanut Gallery, I'm just trying to find out what the tool is or was used for. I've been told a plethora of guesses but no pictures to match up with this one to identify. Like I said above everything from can opener, leather workmen tool. wax spreader??

Anyone ever seen this logo im using? Its off a 8 lb splitting maul head with 8 and V also stamped in the head. I have spoken to the Historian at Woodings and Verona, he cant match it up due to the Eagle above the US stamp. US only is Woodings and Verona. ??? Any help here???

 

[DenisG]

Google "curved plaster spatula". Could have been used for making orthopedic casts.

 

[BamaDADx3]

Google "curved plaster spatula". Could have been used for making orthopedic casts.

Awesome couple have the same shape! TY sir.

 

[rlitman]

Still looking for the identification. While I appreciate the comments from the Peanut Gallery, I'm just trying to find out what the tool is or was used for. I've been told a plethora of guesses but no pictures to match up with this one to identify. Like I said above everything from can opener, leather workmen tool. wax spreader?? ...?

That's because in this case, a picture actually does not tell 1000 words.
The same blade design can be found in both stiff and flexible/springy styles, and it could be made from brass, or a more exotic beryllium bronze. Depending on these details that cannot be seen in the picture, the pictured tool could be one of many different things. You have provided an incomplete set of information to be sure what it is.

 

[BamaDADx3]

That's because in this case, a picture actually does not tell 1000 words.
The same blade design can be found in both stiff and flexible/springy styles, and it could be made from brass, or a more exotic beryllium bronze. Depending on these details that cannot be seen in the picture, the pictured tool could be one of many different things. You have provided an incomplete set of information to be sure what it is.

Well to be honest if I knew what it was and all the details I wouldn't be asking for help identifying it. IT has a stiff blade , no spring to it at all. The finish is brass, not really sure how one would test for exotic beryllium bronze????

 

[neophyte]

I highly doubt that that tool is beryllium copper, unless the picture color is way off. Beryllium copper usually has an orangish color like regular copper, and turns dark brown when oxidized. That spatula looks more yellow like it's brass, or another non sparking alloy like aluminum or nickel bronze. Ampco and Berylco are the two major USA manufacturers of non-sparking tools, but things like spatulas are also produced in brass by other manufacturers for less demanding aplications, usually at lower cost.

The bent tip might have been for a specific purpose, or it might simply have been caused by someong using the tool for a prying job it wasn't designed for, and the tip got bent.

The handle appears very similar to handles you find on miscellaneous knives you see in industrial catalogues made for specific purposes. I'm not sure if the handle is actually rosewood. The picture isn't great, but it looks like it may simply be stained wood, which is commonly used for some if the industrial knives.

Before stainless steel became common, there were specialty bronze and brass alloys that were used for things like fruit knives. Your knife doesn't look that old, but it might be a possibility.

It could also be some sort of art tool for working clay, or mixing paint, etc.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Looks similar to the tool that a drug store uses when they count out pills before they put them in the bottle. They do this on a sorting device that they count pills into a slot, close a cover, put the rest into the larger jar and then the tool has a funnel that fits the new pill bottle.

 

[rlitman]

I highly doubt that that tool is beryllium copper, unless the picture color is way off. Beryllium copper usually has an orangish color like regular copper, and turns dark brown when oxidized. That spatula looks more yellow like it's brass, or another non sparking alloy like aluminum or nickel bronze. Ampco and Berylco are the two major USA manufacturers of non-sparking tools, but things like spatulas are also produced in brass by other manufacturers for less demanding aplications, usually at lower cost.

The bent tip might have been for a specific purpose, or it might simply have been caused by someong using the tool for a prying job it wasn't designed for, and the tip got bent.

The handle appears very similar to handles you find on miscellaneous knives you see in industrial catalogues made for specific purposes. I'm not sure if the handle is actually rosewood. The picture isn't great, but it looks like it may simply be stained wood, which is commonly used for some if the industrial knives.

Before stainless steel became common, there were specialty bronze and brass alloys that were used for things like fruit knives. Your knife doesn't look that old, but it might be a possibility.

It could also be some sort of art tool for working clay, or mixing paint, etc.

I too doubted it was BeCu based on the color, but photos can be deceiving, and BeCu takes on a similar cast when hit with a wire brush (as appears to have been used to clean this). But the fact that it's stiff pretty much rules that out. Nobody would waste BeCu on a stiff spatula. It is commonly used on flexible spatulas though, as well as similarly made stiff knives (for such work as cutting things around gunpowder).

I AM sure the handle is not rosewood. The grain is all wrong.

Ok, so you own a spatula. Being stiff, it could be used for lots of things. Do not assume that because anyone tells you it was used for one specific task, that it was made for only that job. It was not, and could be called on from an artist using it to spread oil based paint on canvas, to working clay, to applying shellac stick furniture repairs when heated over an alcohol burner, to detailing fondant on a wedding cake to many other things.

 

[four.cycle]

"From an artist using it to spread oil based paint on canvas, to working clay..."

I was thinking palette knife when I first looked at it, but "stiff" and palette knife generally don't go together - palette knives are generally very thin, springy blades.
Possibly a tool used to clay molding/sculpturing, but I don't think it would be that fancy - those are usually bare wood handles with cheap ferrules - they get put through a lot of abuse.