Posted 3 days ago
hotairfan
(389 items)
I went to an auction today where there was a room full of great primitives. most of the items that I put on my want list were too expensive, but, I did manage to buy this primitive hand forged tool. The auctioneer said it was a baker's tool to cut the bread dough into loaves.
I knew that it wasn't any such thing. It was interesting enough by my looking it over before the sale started.
To give you a better understanding of the description, I'll start with the dimensions:
overall length of the blade is 10 "
overall width of the blade is 15"
thickness of blade approx. 1/8" (similar to my PA Goosewing hueing axe)
wooden handle is 12" and fits into a forged socket
the blade is forged from wrought iron and a steel insert is forge welded onto the cutting edge (cutting bread dough doesn't need a hardened edge).
This hardened insets is about 2" deep.
My thoughts as to what it might be is it is a tool used in hueing beams or flooring. After you hue the log with a broad axe, you could use this tool to trim the slight bumps that are left on the log with a more controlled slicing action of the tool. Small bumps would be very annoying on flooring and uneven boards would be easily noticed.
If you know it's proper use, kindly let me know.
Definitely an interesting tool. Nice find!!
You're guess is as good as mine,but it also may be for hide scrapping...Sweet find nun the less..
Primitive pizza cutter ???? Cool tool. I always look forward to your posts.
Hello HF, Very Interesting Tool: Question, does your tool appear have had a ground tapered edge put on the business end of it, or just squared off flat?
LZ
hi LZ,
The blade has a tapered edge on one side (the steel insert side), it is very sharp. Too sharp to cut metal, but a perfect taper and sharpness to cut wood in a slicing manor. It is sort of like the taper on a well edged slick (long, wide & well tapered edged tool like a chisel with a long handle, used for slicing a sliver of wood)
Thanks for your question.... hotairfan
Hi Brando,
thank you for the comment.
It is a good possibility that it is a hide scraper. The weight is there, the width and length of the tool combined with the long handle is also there. This gives me more that I can research. Thank you ....hotairfan
thanks for the comment, Dave
My First WAG is an "Antique Whale Blubber Flensing Knife".
https://roots-revived.com/product/antique-19th-century-whaling-flensing-knife-2/
Blade just seems too wide for one man to push wood with, but maybe not.
LZ
Hi Lz,
Could be, but my doubts keep coming back to me of the inserted hard steel edge. I own a flensing tool and the edge is not necessarily sharp, nor is it hard bladed.
You could be correct, Lz. It wouldn't be the first time that I was out in left field concerning my identifications.
My comment was a joke.the smiley face icon didn't show up, hence the ???. I'm pretty curious as to what you figure out.