Another what is this tool request

[Chisteve]

Hi all see photos attached with the knowledge here anyone recognize what it is

I have been told its a barge axe but cannot find anything on the interweb to confirm this

The only similar looking thing I can find is a Whale flensing blade

Its marked I believe to be Long lane and Smith the rest is illegible


Any ideas ??

 

[Hornbeam]

It is a slaters tool for cutting slates

 

[dizjasta]

It does look like a flensing knife and could be worth around £450.

 

[baldkev]

I'll give you a tenner

 

[Chisteve]

It does look like a flensing knife and could be worth around £450.

That would be nice thanks for replying

 

[ps.harris80]

If its a flensing knife finding a whale to use it on might be tricky

 

[Orraloon]

I really dont know what it is other than its for chopping or splitting something. I will just make a few observations to try narrow things down.
The back looks like it has been hammered so is that use or misuse.
A flensing cutter would have attached to a long wood handle so likely would have had a tang or socket on the end.
Looks a bit large and unwealdy for trimming slate. Nothing like a any slaters knife I have seen.
The handle would not be very comfortable so its unlikely anyone would have used it for long periods of time. I would not like to swing that all day long.
Anyhow as mystery tools go its still a mystery.
Regards
John

 

[clogs]

is'nt killing and butchering whales unfriendly now.....

look up the slaughtering of whales in the Danish island of Faroe.......a dispicable act.......

 

[joshvegas]

Based on it being a knife and there is a long lane in Sheffield...

I'd be looking for a tool manucturer that ends in ton, ion or possibly son

 

[John Brown]

I think it's a tape measure.

 

[Adam W.]

Is it made in China?

And of course.

How do you sharpen it?....Asking for a friend

 

[SimonStevensCanes]

it looks like something that would be used away from the body, hacking/chopping at something. Long handle allowing for two hands/lever. Definitely can't see somebody wielding something like that for use on slate tiles, it would be horribly imprecise and therefore deadly.

Looking at flensing knives, they look slightly more precision than this. I wonder if this is just a dirty great meat cleaver. See this example, "hog splitter" certainly seems to fit. Antique hog splitter meat cleaver large 31" long collectible butcher tool early | eBay

It's a stunning piece, I'm quite jealous, although I certainly have no need for such a thing.

 

[Thingybob]

Early electricians wire stripper

 

[--Tom--]

Looks butchery, the Smith part could be the start of Smithfield

 

[ps.harris80]

The back of the blade looks like it's taken quite a beating over time , probably from a hammer or mallet or something similar so probable from an abotuar or butchers.

But probably something completely different.

 

[Chisteve]

Thanks all I am selling it will be listing on eBay shortly the I think it use to have a hook on the end of handle that’s been broken off

I’m thinking it could be for flensing (terrible though) as good for slicing/cutting blubber

The butchery angle also as similar to above

Not really a wood working tool at all it appears

But thanks for taking the time to reply

 

[eribaMotters]

I'd be thinking about a Hedge Laying tool.

Colin

 

[ChrisWiduWood]

There is a F after Smith, a quick google search i found long lane Smithfield's London, so i'm going with A slaughter mans Cleaver.
It quite possibly have been used for splitting a beast in two down the spine. f-dick-14-splitter-cleaver
Nice find

 

[Orraloon]

it looks like something that would be used away from the body, hacking/chopping at something. Long handle allowing for two hands/lever. Definitely can't see somebody wielding something like that for use on slate tiles, it would be horribly imprecise and therefore deadly.

Looking at flensing knives, they look slightly more precision than this. I wonder if this is just a dirty great meat cleaver. See this example, "hog splitter" certainly seems to fit. Antique hog splitter meat cleaver large 31" long collectible butcher tool early | eBay

It's a stunning piece, I'm quite jealous, although I certainly have no need for such a thing.

Think this the closest call so far. Looks pretty much the same thing. Peppa pig will be having nightmares.
Regards
John

 

[Richard_C]

I first thought hedge laying but they normally curve the other way. It could have had a much deeper blade originally, if in daily use and sharpened several times a day it ended up like this.

The likley origin - Long Lane Smithfield - makes something to do with the meat business the best idea. . I had a look at some Smithfield history to see if there was a list of metalworking or tool factories but found no good source, but I did go down a rabbit hole of fascinating if gruesome stuff. It was at one time the prime London exceution site, especially for heretics with stake burning and other things. Swindlers and coin forgers were executed by boiling in oil, not sure if that means they were put in cold oil which was heated or if they were just plunged in to the boiling stuff. Whichever, it seems like the modern punishment of losing a job as a minister for swindling the taxman is getting off lightly by the standards of those days.

So - you might have a tool used for cutting the wood bundles for burning heretics, or even for directly dispatching small-ish heretics. More likely though it's some kind of meat carcass tool.