What's this home forged tool?

[Leviton]

I paid $1 for it. Now I need to figure out what it is.

It has an 8-inch overall length. The **** section is roughly octagonal (about 3/4" diameter). The front looks ready to do something and is just under 1/4-inch thick.

 

[4xdog]

Looks like something a sculptor might use working stone.

 

[Mick56]

To do checkering on a gunstock?

 

[Roberts210]

My 2-bit guess is a stone or marble tool.

 

[malibu101]

packing chisel for oakum, for leaded joint sewer pipe?

My guess too.
The crosshatch design goes with this thought, but I don't know for sure.

 

[slowtwitch73]

It does look like a checking tool as mentioned but odd geometry..would be a pita to use.

 

[leg17]

Doesn't look like it would cut very well for checkering.
The pattern looks like the patented grip used by earlier Mayhew punches and chisels.
Like maybe the checkered portion was intended to grip something.
I would guess it to be custom made from commercially available octagon shaped hi-carbon, but not necessarily home-made.

 

[Leviton]

Good ideas so far. Thanks. A few additional comments after hearing your input.

There are no hammer marks on the ****, and, I tried it, and, like slowtwitch said, the geometry does not work for hammering.

You can't tell from my photos, but the octagonal faces are irregular and not parallel and not straight. They range from 3/16" to 3/8" in width.

If you set the "head" down parallel to a horizontal surface, it puts the handle at about 45 degrees and the octagonal end fits nicely in your hand with your thumb resting on the sloped part of the "handle".

 

[greg13]

It looks like it could be a custom bend brake adjuster spoon, I have quite a few that I have made.

 

[The Cobbler]

it sort of has the characteristics if a lead oakum caulking tool,but the hatch design me thinks it's probably something else

 

[jessesandy]

Something for leather work/saddle making ?

 

[jessesandy]

This pic showed up under Colonial Cobbler's Tools.

 

[PelicanPines]

Hemorrhoid removal...

 

[SeisMec]

My guess is a leather embossing pattern tool.

Number 60 doesn't have a sharp point like yours, but it is designed to leave a pattern that fades out at the edges - like yours, I think. The cheap Tandy kits I got as a kid came with a wooden mallet - which wouldn't leave hammer marks on the ****.

 

[Maddog3355]

Like others have said ,Knurling or checkering tool.

 

[DD T/A]

Looks like a home modified lead caulking tool.

 

[Leviton]

Thanks for the ideas!

So far we've got:
-Sculptor's tool
-Checkering tool
-Stone or marble tool
-Brake adjuster spoon
-Lead oakum caulking tool
-Leather working tool
-Cobbler's tool

You can't tell from the photos, but, based on handling this, I'm going to say that any of those that require hitting this thing with a hammer won't work. The angle of the tip relative to the angle of the rest of the tool just does not make that practical.

I think that narrows it down to anything requiring just hand-powered operation and leaves:
-Sculptor's tool (if working in soft clay)
-Brake adjuster spoon
-Lead oakum caulking tool
-Cobbler's tool

And, I'm going to add one more:
A home blacksmith just messing around and experimenting with different techniques all in one project?

 

[BFBOB]

It's also vaguely reminiscent of crank neck chisels. I have a set, and because of the offset you can not use a mallet or hammer on them. Push by hand only.

 

[didit]

Could that be a chinking tool for wooden boat building or for sealing log buildings? The only other thing I think it could be is an assembly aid for manipulating parts in a confined space. I have a brake adjuster tool with the same basic shape but it has a thinner, sharper edge for fitting in and applying leverage. The end looks to be designed for a friction push or pull operation of some kind.

 

[Man of Many Vices]

I think it is a caulking related tool, used for the removal of caulking, or the preparation of the surface about to be caulked.