Mystery tool ?

[micktoon]

 I have had this tool lying around for years , I can not even remember where I got it from, probably a car boot sale ? I have shown it to a few people that collect tools etc and no one has a clue what it actually is, it could be from any trade and the small notch cut out at the far end of the 'blade' right hand side ( just visable )  may have been not original and added later ? 
  It looks old and is of general good quality it has no makers marks at all, its iron with wood handle and brass ferrule, its well made , the edges are not sharp and the 'blade' part is sort of a triangle section, the underside of what you see is flat.
 Any ideas anyone ?

 

 If anyone wants more info or more photos just ask.
 Cheers Mick

[Bigbadbugga]

My guess?

It's for bailing straw, the blade is pushed through the bale and the notch hooks twine so it can be pulled through.

Or in a similar manner to tie bales to a trailer for transport.

[lordedmond]

Cheese sampler ?

Stuart

[awemawson]

 Not really long enough for even the small hay or straw bales, anyway the twine goes round rather than through a bale. I was going to say it's for stitching Hop bags before they get sent to the brewery - certainly for piercing and sewing something that is fairly coarse and deep. Could even be for stitching wool 'sheets' (actually sacks with very wide mouth) used when shearing sheep.

[Arbalist]

Similar, but a bit too big to be a Fid!? 

[ausdier]

What about a tool for seperating rope/wire rope to be able to splice it or back splice it ?
Something similar to what I saw once being used by someone who used to do large wire rope splicing.

[Fergus OMore]

Somehow I suspect that this is possibly originates from- a wait for it laddie , a French Napoleonic bayonet.

There is one way to find out- oh, yes. Take it up to the Bagpipe Museum in the Chantry in Morpeth. to test it against chanters of Highland or Half Long bagpipes.

And no, I'm not out of my tree. That was the British use of these items!

[Anzaniste]

What about a tool for seperating rope/wire rope to be able to splice it or back splice it ?
Something similar to what I saw once being used by someone who used to do large wire rope splicing.

In 40 years in the steel wire rope industry I never saw a splicing spike (or fid) with a posh wooden handle.

Fergus' bayonet theory has possibilities looking at the groove that could be a blood channel ( I couldn't think of a less gruesome way of putting it)

[Pete W.]

The shape of the handle suggests to me that the tool is intended to be both pushed and pulled.

Surely someone here can tell us awl about it?          

[chipenter]

It looks about the right length for thatching but I don't suppose there are any thatchers on here .


Jeff

[vtsteam]

That handle looks very similar to the one on my cabinet style phillips screwdriver, and seems opposite what almost weapons call for as a grip. Would a person palm it in combat? Think of your required arm position back behind your ear, or underhand at your thigh, and easily deflected and knocked away unlike a haft grip. Also no guard.

Better an ice pick, drill, awl, tapered reamer, skewer, or tapping device. That type of handle is designed to amplify a twisting motion of the hand.

[micktoon]

Evening all , well still no positive ID, I have looked up the thatching tools before and its does not look like anything they use, an old saddler has also said its nothing they use. I thought the rope type splicer tool sounded good but it looks like that has been ruled out too by Anzaniste .............. I think it looks like it is designed to be , pulled , pushed and twisted.
 The bayonet resemberlance has been mentioned before, maybe its been made out of an old bayonet but it must still have been made to do a job ?  ................... Sooner or later someone must know what it is for sure ..........I hope 

 Cheers Mick

[Bluechip]

Doughnut reamer ???
 
Dave

[Fergus OMore]

Mick,
        If the thing is not identified, perhaps you could contact me. I'm going down to Knuston Hall with my wife in the near future. I'll have a word with the woodworker.

As far as I know, however, there seems to be little or no thatching there at present.

[Pete.]

It's for fitting the cord in Parka hoods.

[ieezitin]

Punching holes through heavy stitched canvas making a hole for bronze grommets in sail making.

Anthony.

[Fergus OMore]

I've just finished watching the Antiques Roadshow which contained a painting of a Captain Kirk of the Militia- holding a rifle and three flute bayonet.  Perhaps it is worth a further look.

Regards

Norman

[BillTodd]

I've just finished watching the Antiques Roadshow which contained a painting of a Captain Kirk of the Militia- holding a rifle and three flute bayonet.  Perhaps it is worth a further look.

Regards

Norman

After a second look, I wonder if it could be a repurposed bayonet blade too:)

As to use now, thatching seems most likely. I'll ask my neighbour, who used to be a thatcher, when he gets back from holidaying.

Bill

[Fergus OMore]

With a bit of luck, we will be at Knuston Hall shortly but I'm still favouring the bayonet. I've done a bit of sailmaking and tentmaking and - no, not that. There is no sense in a fluted bodkin unless it was something else.

Regards

Norman

[sbwhart]

I've just finished watching the Antiques Roadshow which contained a painting of a Captain Kirk of the Militia- holding a rifle and three flute bayonet.  Perhaps it is worth a further look.

Regards

Norman

I thought Captain Kirk used a phaser or photon torpedo 

Seriously though I've seen old cabinet makers screw drivers with similar handles, traditionally they made their own tools as part of their apprenticeship I wonder if that is what it is just a screw driver made from and old bayonet.

Stew 

[Arbalist]

Whatever it is I think it's purpose made. I don't think it was ever on the end of a rifle as it's too heavily built for that.

[JD]

Gentlemen, on a different track, looks like this tool is designed as a hand implement, a Poleaxe of some sorts perhaps, used by front line foot soldiers of yore to bring down Knights on armored horses, or used in the earlier style of slaughter house.
  John
 

[vtsteam]

One question that might produce a helpful hint of the purpose is, how were the edges sharpened? Is there any evidence of asymmetric sharpening? That might favor a drill, reamer or awl. A symmetric edge would favor a puncturing tool, weapon, or butchering tool. A flat edge would favor something used as a fid or needle.

One other thought...the handle may have been added later and whatever it was originally, re-purposed. That would help the weapon theories explain the odd hold, at present.

More fuel for the fire:

Ice pick, or re-purposed fence ornament.

[JD]

If this tool has been re-engineered could it have been on the end of a long pole?

[micktoon]

Evening all , thanks for all the interest in the mystery tool, a few good ideas but every time someone comes up with a good idea of what it could be , someone else says 'no its not one of them' 
  I can post more photos but a few points about the tool, The edges are not sharp so does not look like reamer or drill , I think the best suggestion so far (even though it has been said its not one) is the rope splicing idea, I could see it doing the job in twisting through the rope segments and even hooking a twine back through, so I think it would work as this type of tool and maybe someone made it out of a bayonet ?.................. but the handle looks worn and used yet the blade is not worn and polished smooth like you think it would be if it had been pushed through rope again and again 
 So its still a mystery tool at the moment so keep guessing lads 
  I have heard from one person not from the forum who says he may know what it is and seen one being used but is checking before he says more ....... he wont say more at this point but is quietly confident...................... he worked in the weaving mill trade.
 Cheers Mick

[Bangkok Mick]

My Uncle was a thatcher in Ireland and I used to work with him when I was a lad over a summer holiday but I never saw anything like that.
Typically thatchers would sharpen both ends of a length of stick say 750mm long and twist it in the middle to make a U or V shaped nail and nail one lot of straw or reed over the next, I never saw him using tying wire or twine.

[Bangkok Mick]

There is a groove in it similar to a bayonet so application for piercing meat is a high possibility, there is also a hooked end that could be used for pulling a thread or wire back through a hole and a push/pull handle, could it be a butchers implement for sowing up large cuts of meat?