My tools, I wish I'd never started this.....

[Foresterthom]

Hello everyone.

I joined this fantastic forum back last year, said my "how do you do's" and then got snowed under with work, family and life in general. Work's eased off a little this week, so I took the time to start going through my collection to try and catalogue things properly and work out a proper reconditioning schedule as a lot of them need a bit of work to get them back to their former glory. It's going to take some time, the collection is spread over three workshops/barns/sheds in three different counties, (its not as impressive a collection as that makes it sound!)

Mr Papaw Sir, you said you liked pictures when I joined, so without any further ado, if you'd care to use the link below it will take you to what I've managed to get organised so far, I'll be adding to the album as and when I get a chance......I'm dreading going through all my chisels, I honestly don't know how many there are!

Actually that was a fair bit of ado there wasn't it, sorry.

Let me know what you think, your opinions/recommendations/factual corrections would be greatly appreciated.

http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff377/foresterthom/The%20Tool%20Collection/

Thanks for looking, I hope this was the most suitable location for this topic, my collection is mostly carpentry related.

Best regards

Thom

[rusty]

Well, Welcome ..again : )

You have some very interesting edge tools there.....

[Dakota Woodworker]

You have some great stuff there. What is the tool that looks like a bark spud ...it's got a pike hook on the side ,never seen anything like that.

[wvtools]

I think it is an ice chisel/pike used in ice harvesting.  I will have to get out some of my ice tool catalogs to check.  Or I could just wait for Thom to get back to us, but what fun would that be.

[Foresterthom]

Well I've always been under the impression that it was indeed a barking spud, it was how the last owner used it, and it's how I've been using it for the last couple of years.

[johnsironsanctuary]

Great tools Thom and I also admire your handle carving skills.

JIS

[Branson]

I admire every single tool pictured!  Great stuff!  I just can't resist an edged tool.

I'm curious about the two very long bladed axes in the fourth picture.  I picked up one very similar to these from a friend of mine who got it with a bunch of cooper's tools from Italy.  It had never been used, and never even had a handle -- genuine NOS.  What do you know about these?

I don't know that  what you have is a barking spud.  Those I am familiar with have rounded bits, though if you were harvesting oak bark for tannin,  the pick could be useful.  Those I have seen have had handles like a big slick -- shorter, and with a large pad to press with your shoulder.  I know I've seen one of these, but can't remember where, or what it was said to be used for.

Nice bill hooks, too.

Can you tell us more about the individual tools?

[Foresterthom]

Hello all,

Firstly thank you for the compliment John, I've always enjoyed the process of rehandling tools, and always try to copy the original patterns where thats applicable, (I will however contradict myself in a moment) I think the handles are servicable but not necessarily that aesthetically pleasing, there's always room for improvement, but your comments really are appreciated.

I love and use forestry/hedging/wood working tools....does it show?

Branson, the two long bladed axes are both french mortice axes circa 1860-1910, (as I understand them to be, but I'm always aware of my own ignorance) One is unmarked the other is quite unclear but I think it was made in Rumilly, I still need to research it fully and get better pictures of all the collection. I have another two that require rehandling.

The "to be confirmed" Barking spud is also french in manufacture, I was responsible for the addition of the longer handle, (My back starts to complain if I'm peeling more than a couple of poles!) I don't know whether this is a typical pattern, but I have seen another made by Robert Sorby, (Well IH Sorby as was with the hanging sheep mark) with the typical slick handle in a friend's collection so I'm fairly confident as to its use. The french one shown did have the remnants of the original handle when it came to me, but for ease of use the longer handle is ideal for me.

I'm glad you like the billhooks, the Issac Nash belonged to my great grandfather and has been used by every generation of the family since, it is the only material item I'd run back into a burning house to save. It's an absolute joy to use, with no shoulder on the cutting edge, hedging is simplicity itself. I have around 10 billhooks in the collection, all of which get used.

I will spend some time this evening attaching labels and comments to the pictures to give you a better idea of whats there, as it says in the title, I wish I'd never started!

Thanks for looking and please keep querying things that you see and let me know your thoughts.

Thom

[Branson]

>I love and use forestry/hedging/wood working tools....does it show?

I'd have never guessed...

>Branson, the two long bladed axes are both french mortice axes circa 1860-1910...

Quite different from the mortise axes familiar to me (see attached picture) -- I really wouldn't have guessed.  I'm used to mortise axes that are struck.  I gather that these were used more like twybills?  Mine has no maker's mark at all.

The photo of a barking spud is the style I have.  The picture of the page from Eric Sloane shows others of American design.

Bill hooks ...  I doubt my house could hold a complete collection!  Judging from an 1800s Sheffield catalog, every district in the British Isles had a different, and adamant, idea of the perfect bill hook.  The sort I am most familiar with is the same general pattern as the attached photo.  We have two of these among the artificer's tools and stores, and I have one myself of this pattern, but only about nine inches long.  I believe it to be a vineyard fascine.

[Billman49]

Hi - if you like billhooks (fascine knives), have a look at my website: www.billhooks.co.uk - I've been collecting for 40 years... In my view any agricultiural/forestry/vineyard tool of this type is s billhook, the term fascine knife, although common in the US, should be reserved for those with a military use, (they were used in vineyards long before they were used for making fascines)...

UK barking spuds tended to be fairly simple, just a round or oval blade on a socketed handle - length according to users preference... The one shown looks very much like those from Germany and Austria, with a hooked end (I bought several in the past sold as billhooks, until I found out exactly what they are). The makers mark is typically French, but I cannot make it out confrm the one shown is from France - it look more like a pruning chisel, or even a coupe gui, rather than a barking spud. If you want confirmation post the image on the French Outils Anciens website (http://outils-anciens.xooit.fr/index.php) - on my website is a list of about 4000 French taillandiers, or edge tool makers??

[Foresterthom]

Many thanks Billman,

Funnily enough I have your site saved in my favourites :) there's a great deal of information there. I'll certainly post pictures on the french site to get some confirmed info. I'll have to send you decent pictures of the William Swifts etc that are in the collection too.

Best regards

Thom

[Branson]

>UK barking spuds tended to be fairly simple, just a round or oval blade on a socketed handle - length according to users preference... The one shown looks very much like those from Germany and Austria, with a hooked end (I bought several in the past sold as billhooks, until I found out exactly what they are). The makers mark is typically French, but I cannot make it out confrm the one shown is from France - it look more like a pruning chisel, or even a coupe gui, rather than a barking spud.

I just checked mine, and it has no maker's mark, nor, as I recall, did the one I found for Sutter's Fort close to 30 years ago.  These were used here in California as barking spuds.  Harvesting oak bark for tanning was a large industry here in the mid 1800s.

Fascine knife as a military designation makes great sense!  They were indeed used to make fascines (bundles of poles) for filling, say, holes washed into roads for the quick passage of light artillery, though they were also used for making gambions for breast works in the field.  A battery was issued three fascines from at least the 1850s through the American Civil War.

[scottg]

Really fun to see thanks!! I love carving handles too. Ask anybody... heehehehe
 So, where are you getting handle stock? Is it hickory? Ash?
I can never get handle blanks. I had a guy who was willing to send them once, but the postage killed me.

  I am curious about the bill hooks. Brush axes show up around here some, but never had a billhook in my hand.  What holds the handles on?  They look like stick tangs from here, but that can't be right.
 The tang goes all the way through and either clinched or riveted?

 Bark spuds are known here, but seldom used. Large drawknives is what we use to peel poles here. Too many knots that are too big for a spud to work well.
  I knew a guy who was a maniac on small thin poles with a sharpened square end spade.
  But the big ones are too knotty.
 You need to chop off the stobs with a sharp ax, and then slice clean with a drawknife if you hope to make any kind of smooth surface. Otherwise you'll bust out big chunks of wood.
    yours Scott

[Billman49]

Hi ScottG

Must add some more info to my website... Three ways of handling a billhook:

Socket (open, partial, closed or strapped) - the handle enters a tapered socket is held there by friction plus a rivet or two passing through handle and socket.
 
Scale tangs  - wooden, bone or other scales are rivetted to either side of an extension of the blade - not common in the UK, but seen widely in Italy and on cheap imported billhooks from India.

Tang (also called rat tail tang) - the tang passed the whole length of the handle (usually 6 inches, but on some Welsh hooks up to 9 inches). At the end it is rivetted over a washer, or the end is bent back into the end of the handle while still red hot. Not suitable for long handles, so a socket is used (or in the US and axe type eye)...

There are a few variations on these - some Italalian and Scandinavian sickles have a ferrule and the tang lies along the side of the handle, with the end passing through at right angles, and on some Chinese ones the tang comes out of the side of the (long) handle..

The billhooks appears uncommon in the USA and Canada,  but common in Mexico and South America - a few US edge tool makers offered one,  but the brush axe or brush hook seem more popular. Early settlers from the UK usually had a billhook in their tool kit, and it was common throughout Europe, so settlers from other countries would have been familiar with them. One Italian makers set up in California in the early 20th century, presumabaly to supply local immigrants from Italy.. Otherwise, apart from a few military fascine knives (most of which I have seen for sale are not US made) it has disappeared from common usage...

The closest US made tool is the Woodsman's Pal, and that was designed by a Swiss emigré.....

Bark spuds were not used to remove bark from poles, but to harvest bark from large trees - it was then collected, chipped and used for tanning leather.....