ID - The THING from the garden....

[jimi43]

My wife Annie was digging around in the garden earlier this month and found this horticultural (?) relic...

Partly to test CORRO DIP and partly to restore it for her to use I did a bit of rust removal....

It's a tad pitted but wow is that stuff good. She was really chelated!

Ok Prof...what the hell is it?

Convex under the toe...

...and obviously a bit old but is it Saxon or is it from the Swinging Sixties?

It's hand forged...and beautifully so.

Your ideas most welcome.

Jim

 

[Harbo]

Round ended Mattock?

Rod

 

[WoodMangler]

Your ideas most welcome.
Jim

I think it might be some kind of hoe, for weeding between earthed-up rows (e.g. potatoes).

 

[AndyT]

+1 for a hoe - that's another slope if you want - hundreds of regional or crop-specific variants - but if it's local to your garden why not just stick it on a handle and try it out!

 

[jimi43]

I thought mattocks had a point on the other side...but I may be wrong....

Hoe was my guess...the previous owner was an avid gardener and often lost tools in our (now) garden...which we keep finding...

But this is the oldest one.

Jim

 

[Richard T]

Hoe(s) +1 (hoe hoe hoe)

It's how we used to hoe before we went Dutch. Harder on the back.

 

[RogerP]

Here's a close relative.

 

[Racers]

Hi, Jim

Looks like you found a dirty hoe in the garden :shock:

Pete

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Well, you didn't find it at Christmas, so it can't be a Yo-Hoe.

 

[dickm]

isn't that something like what is called a sjembe in Southern Africa? Seems to be more a digging tool than European hoes, which are more for light cultivation.

 

[jimi43]

If nothing else....it is a great source of jokes! :mrgreen:

If it is a hoe it isn't like the one in your link Roger...it's far thicker...concave on the bottom and pointed with no bevel...so I think it might be a lot older....anyone any catalogue pictures? Prof?

I think it might be difficult this one as Andy says...as it might be regional and difficult to pinpoint. Almost certainly the work of a skilled blacksmith rather than a production item....interesting..... =P~

I certainly will be sticking a nice ash handle on it...and Douglas and I had a discussion on this only today. He seems to think a sweeping curve to give ease of swing...I don't think it would have been straight.

Off to have a dig around Google...weed out a few examples! :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[jumps]

surely whether or not it's concave will depend on which way you fit the handle?

 

[whiskywill]

It's a potato hoe, I think.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-German- ... 0756966996

 

[jimi43]

surely whether or not it's concave will depend on which way you fit the handle?

True Duncan...very true...but it only goes up one way...with the convex part of the shoe facing the user....I think! =P~

WW/WM....I think you are both close....and the "hoe-between-rows" concept...potatoes are a classic example....would fit this better than the German one on FleaBay....as it would prevent disturbance of the peaks whilst hoeing the troughs...or actually recreate them if they are damaged by weather, animals or humans walking over them.

So if we go for that just for now...but leave the options open...I am still trying to track down examples of a similar style.

I may not be successful because it may just be a local blacksmith's interpretation...but it's worth looking. I am also keen on finding the age of this tool...I believe it is quite old and it was rather deep down in a corner so it could have been there decades or even centuries.

My cottage was built in 1846 out of rock from the railway cutting building the London to Ashford line...in fact other cottages closer to the railway were called "Navvies Cottages" as they lived in them while building this section of cuttings and environment. Before then they were open fields with obviously Roman history but also Saxon burial grounds nearby...so it's anybody's guess if this is modern or from then.

I knew I should never have joined TATHS...I'm turning into a strange researcher! :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[AndyT]

Hi Jim

Just to say sorry but I don't have any useful catalogues on garden tools beyond what is in the Sheffield list - which this isn't - or in Alvin Seller's book - ditto. But I'm sure that there is a whole bewildering world of old agricultural/horticultural tools out there, with subtle design differences and refinements which would matter to someone using the things all day long to make a living. But there are limits to this tool history stuff you know... (well, maybe!)

PS - The Belgian old tool museum has a nice page of hoe-shaped tools here - http://www.mot.be/w/1/index.php/IDDOC-MorphologicalUnits.060?language=En - which I think just confirms that there were lots of hoe-shaped tools!

 

[jimi43]

Agreed Andy...and I do have a new "Gabriel" to restore.....(more on another thread later!)

I'll leave this festering in the vain hope that an agricultural tool scholar is in our midst and just stick a decent handle on it and let Annie loose on the spuds! :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[yetloh]

While a mattock normally has a blade on each side, one narrower and at right angles to the other, I don't think this necessarily has to be the case.

I would be surprised if there was not a forum devoted to agricultural and horticultural tools. Also, have you thought about trying TATHS (Tools and Trades History Society)?

Jim

 

[jimi43]

While a mattock normally has a blade on each side, one narrower and at right angles to the other, I don't think this necessarily has to be the case.

I would be surprised if there was not a forum devoted to agricultural and horticultural tools. Also, have you thought about trying TATHS (Tools and Trades History Society)?

Jim

Hi Jim

I just received my TATHS pack so I will contact them too.

Cheers

Jim

 

[toolsntat]

While a mattock normally has a blade on each side, one narrower and at right angles to the other, I don't think this necessarily has to be the case.

I would be surprised if there was not a forum devoted to agricultural and horticultural tools. Also, have you thought about trying TATHS (Tools and Trades History Society)?

Jim

Hi Jim

I just received my TATHS pack so I will contact them too.

Cheers

Jim

You need the Fussell Reprint jim, see the literiture with your pack on previous publications :wink:
Highly recommended 8)
I,m not at home or I would have a look myself :idea:

Andy
By the way welcome to the fold =D> =D>

 

[toolsntat]

Ok, had a look at Fussell's but not close enough.....
The facimile of "The Mid Victorian Elwell Catalogue of Forged Tools" by Richard Filmer, with lots of interesting pictures has a somewhat similar item called a CYLON MANURE MAMOOTIE..... The sizes are 12, 13 and 14" so that would make yours well worn :roll:

Another item is the CYLON SINGLE PICK but at 13" makes it a bit big again #-o

Next would be an OX TONGUE HOE......

Or a well worn BUCK HOE with 5 sizes between 3lb and 5lb .......

None of these show the reverse

Andy