tool identification

[pitch pine]

WIN_20190719_18_17_46_Pro by nick tasker, on Flickr]WIN_20190719_18_17_46_Pro by nick tasker, on Flickr[/url]

Any ideas? I don't think it is for woodworking. It's a bit like a very small froe on a stick with a posh handle. No makers marks and looks like the metal work has been done by a blacksmith.

Thanks for your help.

 

[toolsntat]

Quite possibly a cauterising iron but the ones I have are curved.
Can't find references at the minute but I think a similar tool was used in leaded light work ?
Cheers Andy

 

[Trevanion]

Looks like a really heavy-duty creasing iron for leatherwork, but it really could be anything without knowing its purpose. Could be a blacksmiths homemade cut-off tool for all I know.

 

[pitch pine]

Thanks for the suggestions. It is really heavy duty, around 1/2 inch across where it could be hit to drive it into something. The total length including the handle is 16 inches. It comes from rural Northumberland and one suggestion was a castration tool......

 

[El Barto]

Looks to me like an old spud (bark removal tool).

 

[Alan Smith]

It's called a docking iron. Depending on size they were heated and used to cauterise the cut surface of a tail stump when a horse or lamb was docked.

 

[Bod]

It's called a docking iron. Depending on size they were heated and used to cauterise the cut surface of a tail stump when a horse or lamb was docked.

Could it be a "Firing" iron?
Used to treat tendon injuries in horses. An old idea, not used for decades.

Bod