One of a kind? blacksmith made tool

[lumbercamp]

I found this at a lumbercamp and just got it cleaned up. It is 13" long and evidently made from a file as their are slanted lines on both sides. The tang was made into a hook and the cutting edge has a groove down the middle. and is flattened into a shape as a butter knife. You guys and gals have quite an imagination, so what is your take on this item.

 

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[TreasureTales]

That is one mean looking relic. Haven't a clue about its intended use, but hope it wasn't a doctor's instrument!! LOL

Hook disgorger
Bird gut hook
Multitool

 

[CRUSADER]

Just a guess - a scrapper for getting mud from a horse foot.

 

[j2fun4u]

Not sure but I have made stuff like that out of files for scraping gold out of cracks in rocks
Jason

 

[TreasureTales]

Not sure but I have made stuff like that out of files for scraping gold out of cracks in rocks
Jason

A crevice tool - interesting idea!


Maybe it would help if we knew where this tool was found. At a lumbercamp near a gold discovery site? At a camp that used oxen for hauling logs? At a lumbercamp that contained lots of spent shotshells, for bird hunting? More info, please.

 

[jivey]

Looks kinda like a button hook to me. Used to fasten the buttons on old high top shoes.

 

[silverswede]

Had to have been made for a special purpose and I sure could have used it many times to fish a nut or washer out of the many crannys they fall into when working on a motor.

 

[EDDE]

it was a knife
wood handle log ago wasted away
the curl on the end was to keep the handle on
they still make knives from files
the steel is softened with heat
as it is a little to tough and brittle as it was as a original file
they pound and shape,sharpen it then re-temper it
what it was used for beats me

 

[Jeff G]

Could be a steak turner/knife.

I have a hand wrought steak turner that is a hook on one end of a formed piece of iron. It works great....

 

[Hardy]

This could only be one thing,and one thing only Its a Butter knife and Pickle hooker )
home made camp tools, got to love them! NICE FIND

 

[lumbercamp]

There are some great answers on here. It could have been for any of the above mentioned. I can picture a lumber man picking stones out from under a horseshoe and then turning his steak with it. What the heck, they knew nothing about germs back then.

 

[artemis moon]

could this be a tool for tightening laces on boots or snowshoes??

 

[Bluezman]

I believe EDDEKALB got it exactly. My father had a couple of these but on his the wood handles were always loose, so he made new handles and bent the tynes to a hook to hold them on.
Bluezman