Small wooden versions are commonly used by basket makers to split osiers (willow) - I would think this tool too heavy for this task, and too unwieldy, even for splitting large saplings to make barrel hoops. In France, where this is still carried out, the most common tool is a billhook or froe, and the sapling cut into two, not three pieces - the barrel hoop is semicircular in section...
The weight of this woould seem ideal for splitting short dry logs for use on the fire or in a stove, especially indoors, where wielding an axe would not be a good idea... I've not checked out the links above, but I would guess that if identified as a barrel hoop splitter, it has been mis-identified...
I think close, but no cigar.
First, It needs to be, and seems to have been, struck with a mallet -- cast iron just won't take the abuse from a hammer or the poll of an ax or hatchet.
Second, it has been identified by a source that really ought to know.
The osier's trade, like the wickerer's trade, is trying to do much the same thing here as is the cooper -- making strips from a branch or a billet. (and thanks for the pics of the osiers!! Great stuff that I've never seen before!) Seems to me that the osiers' tools kinda prove the point, being made in much the same configuration.
I think it is too complex and too particular for splitting short, dry logs, though I did consider that option. But it's too particular for such a task. I use a hatchet, have for over 50 years, just as I learned from my grandfather, who learned from... You get the picture. Splitting fireplace or stove logs into kindling doesn't need this kind of sophistication.
