Broom making or?? | ||
| Tools and Hardware4742 of 9815 |  |  |
Nelliebellie loves this.
kyratango loves this.
racer4four loves this.
TassieDevil loves this.
vetraio50 loves this.
blunderbuss2 loves this.aura loves this.
Efesgirl loves this.Create a Show & TellReport as inappropriate
Posted 8 years ago
shielc
(1 item)
Donated to our museum along with some broom making equipment. We've decided it's not a broom making knife but we're not sure what it was used for. Blade is about five inches. Definitely hand made. Our guess is early 1900s.
Help us close this case. Add your knowledge below.
Create an account or login in order to post a comment.
i was thinking 'a perfect tool for cutting broomcorn', when i saw Thomas's message here...
Another 1 pic poste that leaves questions. Called a knife, but what edges are sharp ?Ho2, what is "broomcorn" ?
This is a beautifully made cutter; I think it's older than Shielc believes it to be. But: why is it 'a perfect tool for cutting broomcorn'? Any knife can slice off the top of the broomcorn plant. Modern folding corn-topping knives, called "maize" knives, have a 2 1/2" (apx.) straight, wide blade with a round end and they are used for the same job (but for a very different purpose). Broomcorn tops are also sliced lengthwise to get smaller strips which are braided onto the handle of a traditional round broom but this blade would be very difficult to use for that purpose. This knife is more reminiscent of a food chopper which is held with the handle horizontal and the blade is worked straight down on a board or, in the curved blade varieties, in a bowl. I could not find any references to or pictures of a tool of this shape related to broom-making or any other use, for that matter. Some citations please.
Iwonder who J*M was! I bet that knife has a lot of tales to tell!
Undoubtedly John Malkovich.