Is this a farm implement?

[AreBeeBee]

I picked this up at a rural estate sale last month, and finally got around to cleaning it. It's solidly constructed but has no maker's name.

The overall length is 13 inches. The blade is 8-3/8 inches long, 1-11/16 inches wide, and 3/16 inch thick.

The tip has two bevels that were made by filing. The one on the end is moderately sharp, while the other is dull. Swung by a right-handed person, the bevels would be leading edges to strike something.

The curve suggested to me it might have been made from a leaf spring, but I'm unfamiliar with such.

While it's well made, it lacks the kind of finish & polish that comes from an industrial process (not to mention the lack of a maker's name), so it may be something a blacksmith made.

Any idea what it would be used for?

 

[Sasquatch912]

Someone made a homemade chisel

 

[4xdog]

Looks more like a variation on a froe than a chisel, although it seems kinda short. Perhaps from an old leaf spring?

 

[XJSuperman]

I vote no, not a farm implement.

 

[dchawk81]

 

[AreBeeBee]

Well, my first thought on seeing it was indeed "froe," but it lacked the upright handle, straight blade, and full-length edge necessary for splitting off shakes and such. As a chisel, it lacks a beat-up handle end, and a kaiser knife ("sling blade") is more of a brush hook than this thing is.

My hunch is that it was homemade (which seems clear) and could be used with both bevels sharp as a kind of machete for cutting a corn stalks or vines. Not really a farm implement as such, but something of use on a farm. But let's see what any others think.

(And Billy Bob is really weird.)

 

[RTM]

Looks like it might be a homemade batoning chisel, or bench froe.

Batoning Chisel - Lee Valley Tools

Discover the Batoning Chisel. Buy this product now on our Lee Valley online store.

www.leevalley.com

This is suppose to be a tobacco knife repurposed as a bench froe

1.23 MB file on MEGA

mega.nz

 

[tdkkart]

Looks to me to be something someone made to use with a hammer, like to help open crates with maybe?

 

[AreBeeBee]

RTM — the bench froe (or wood cleaver) looks like a possible. Certainly it could work that way.

 

[Marsim]

Im in with the homemade machete. Sugar cane or something similar?

 

[AreBeeBee]

Im in with the homemade machete. Sugar cane or something similar?

Sugar cane is unlikely -- this came from the north woods of Wisconsin. But it would serve to chop any semi-woody vine or stalk.

It's a sturdy blade, holds an edge, and has one completely dull edge. I can see someone using it for a number of tasks, most of which you've all mentioned. Put one edge onto a piece of stove firewood, whack it with another stick or a mallet, and you got kindling. OR use it to pry open a wood box, perhaps if you push the narrow end into a weak spot. And so on.

We get used to tools that have a single purpose they are optimized for, but farmers have to be generalists when it comes to getting jobs done. And inventive, making their own tools or hiring a local blacksmith to do the job in a neat fashion.

Something like that seems to have been going on with this thing.

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Bad Eye Bill]

I can remember using something a lot like that to top turnips for the farmer next door when I was a kid 10-12 years old. A friend and I worked every night after school and Saturdays until they were all harvested.

Rows and rows and rows of turnips. He fed them to his dairy cattle.

I hate turnips to this day.

 

[bubinga]

Sugar cane is unlikely -- this came from the north woods of Wisconsin. But it would serve to chop any semi-woody vine or stalk.

It's a sturdy blade, holds an edge, and has one completely dull edge. I can see someone using it for a number of tasks, most of which you've all mentioned. Put one edge onto a piece of stove firewood, whack it with another stick or a mallet, and you got kindling. OR use it to pry open a wood box, perhaps if you push the narrow end into a weak spot. And so on.

We get used to tools that have a single purpose they are optimized for, but farmers have to be generalists when it comes to getting jobs done. And inventive, making their own tools or hiring a local blacksmith to do the job in a neat fashion.

Something like that seems to have been going on with this thing.

Thanks for the ideas!

I would probably grind and hone and use as a woodworking chisel.

 

[Roberts210]

I see no evidence of mushrooming on the wooden handle, so it doesn't look like it was hammered much.

 

[AreBeeBee]

I would probably grind and hone and use as a woodworking chisel.

In size the blade comes somewhere between a large chisel and a barking spud or timber slick (handle's waaay too short for these however). But I like the idea of sharpening the two beveled areas to useful edges and then using it perhaps as bench froe or to chop things out in the backyard.

BTW, from the same sale I picked up a hewing hatchet with a crudely fitted handle. The head was thoroughly rusty, but it must have worked just fine — it had lots of chicken feathers stuck to it!

 

[Dagny]

I think it's half of a draw knife.

 

[Prospecter]

Harvest knife. I use mine for lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, beets, turnips, pumpkins, squash. The chisel end gets to the stalk, and the knife edge cleans up the produce.

 

[AreBeeBee]

Harvest knife. I use mine for lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, beets, turnips, pumpkins, squash. The chisel end gets to the stalk, and the knife edge cleans up the produce.

That makes the most sense of all — thank you.

I've touched up the chisel end somewhat and will next work on the knife edge, which is a good bit duller. We don't have a vegetable garden, but I can see uses around the house and property for brush and shrub work.

Thanks again —

 

[southalabama]

Was at Wally World today. Saw one of these. Reminded me of this thread

 

[powerwagon63]

It’s curved like it was made from an old leaf spring

 

[Mikeske]

Looks somewhat almost to me to be made out of a lawnmower blade

 

[AreBeeBee]

Looks somewhat almost to me to be made out of a lawnmower blade

Possible, although 3/16" thick seems a bit thick for ordinary mover blades, but perhaps it came from a heavy-duty machine. Also there's no way to tell if the blade's curve is from the source material or was bent in converting the blade from its original state.

 

[Wolley]

That looks like it was originally a fleshing knife, with one end cut off. They're cheap enough to be modified for other jobs if you need it.

 

[Southern83]

My first thought was a modified lawn mower blade. Will the handle come off easily? Might give more clues.

 

[Farmer J.]

Despite all the continuation of other ideas, as Prospecter said in post 17, it's a Harvest Knife. Easily recognisable to someone who cuts cabbages and other broccoli from the ground.
Although understandably it seems mysterious to those who have never seen one it's still a Harvest Knife!
Yes, it's shaped like a leaf spring and they are sometimes made from that, but it IS a Harvest Knife.
The curve is to easily cut the outer leaves from a cabbage.
The sharp end helps deal with stubborn tough stems.
Harvest Knife... Harvest Knife.. Got it?

 

[Wolley]

That's one tough left handed cabbage knife

 

[4xdog]

Here’s an example of a commercially-made harvesting knife.

Harvesting Knife | Fiskars

Ideal for harvesting produce with thick stalks, Fiskars® Harvesting Knife makes clean, precise cuts and is built to last

www.fiskars.com

 

[dchawk81]

What did the OP's tool say to OP?

"I ain't no hoe."