What's this tool?

[Queen of Spades]

Can anyone throw any light on what this is? It was bought in a batch with other things at an auction of old garden hand tools. The blade isn't angled, it has a straight long wooden handle and is very sturdy, but what is it and what is it used for?

[taff]

it looks like a variation of a hoe, but it probably isn't ;0

no help here....

[Aberdeenplotter]

Can you show a photo of the whole tool including thehandle/shaft please?

[Kleftiwallah]

It's for getting boy scouts out of horses hooves. Simple.

Looks a bit too substantial for a hoe.

Cheers, Tony.

[PyreneesPlot]

Giant spanner? Or giant's spanner...

[veggiechicken]

A big bottle opener?

[lottie dolly]

as it has a handle on it,long or short,suggests it's for digging something out/up,but how wide is that thick bottom bit,and is the whole in the middle just to make it lighter,plus,doe's it look like it could have been sharpened it it's hayday,

[veggiechicken]

But how long is the handle/shaft? Did it ever have a proper handle? Is it for close work or standing uppy work?

[pauco]

Onion hoe??? Just a thought.


paul.

[Jeanied]

It is a bit difficult to tell from your photo what kind of blade that is. But if it is sharp, could it be an asparagus cutter?

[Queen of Spades]

Thanks for all your replies! The "blade" bit has been sharpened, the handle is straight, like a hoe, and is about 4' long. It seems to have been forged from one length of iron, you can just see where the ends are joined and hammered into the blade bit. Does look like a hoe-type implement, but it isn't at an angle to the handle, so you'd have to be nearly lying down to use it! I like the hoofpick idea but wouldn't like to get too near the horse (or the boy scout) that it would fit, and it would be a very large, peculiar-shaped nut if it's a spanner! Like the bottle opener idea too, that bottle I would like to have. Don't think it's for asparagus, as you cut that with a serrated blade don't you? Onions, yes, possibly, our best guess was turnips, slice off root and lever it loose with the ring bit. Seems a slow way of harvesting though.

[Jeanied]

Do you think it might be a barking iron - part of woodland crafting?

[alex-adam]

Can anyone throw any light on what this is? It was bought in a batch with other things at an auction of old garden hand tools. The blade isn't angled, it has a straight long wooden handle and is very sturdy, but what is it and what is it used for?

It certainly appears blacksmith made rather than factory produced. I would say it is some type of spud-hoe.

Might be worth contacting this site : Old Garden Tools, Vintage and Antique Garden Tools Collection

They will surely know what it is and may even offer you a decent price for it.

a-a

[veggiechicken]

Like that website a-a - thanks!
It looks a bit like the weeding hoe at image p here Weeding | Virtual Museum

[Barking Postlethwaite]

Like that website a-a - thanks!
It looks a bit like the weeding hoe at image p here Weeding | Virtual Museum

We think you have lit on the answer. My father-in-law, who was a head gardener before most vegetables were invented, reckons it is a local craftsman-made version of what he would recognise as a "thistle dodger", used for undercutting and chopping into the roots of thistles and other large annual weeds. It could be used on rough ground, but was most useful for clearing thistles in pony paddocks.