goood Find at the FleaMarket

[edr730]

I've had those, but I never saw one a straight handle. Always on a sythe handle. Seems like it would be a hard weapon to use. I guess the grim reaper uses the long grass sythe. Some people did use use them for cutting corn but you needed to catch the stalks with two hands and wrap a leaf around the bundle so it wasn't the best tool. Most everyone used knives, but I recall an old story from the town of my family where a traveling farm worker showed up at a corn cutting contest with something like one of those on his foot. Nobody knew anything about using one of those like that back then. He left the big bragger in the dust...no contest.

[kyratshooter]

I've had those, but I never saw one a straight handle. Always on a sythe handle. Seems like it would be a hard weapon to use. I guess the grim reaper uses the long grass sythe. Some people did use use them for cutting corn but you needed to catch the stalks with two hands and wrap a leaf around the bundle so it wasn't the best tool.

Well that is sure a complete rewrite of agricultural history.

Tools do not endure use for over a thousand years if they do not work well. I believe what you saw was a group of people that did not know how to properly use the tools at hand. The curved sythe was a grain reaper. It was never intended or developed for maze (corn). It was the primary tool for harvest work until 1835 when McCormic developed the mechanical reaper.
There are so many aspects of our social history tied up in that one curved sythe you would not believe it.

The size of a legal homestead established in 1780, was attached to how much land a father with 3 boys could harvest using that curved sythe. That homestead was multiplied into the "township", districts and then into the other political units of our nation.

So much for the effeciency of one tool and its effect on society.

The bill hook? It was probably the first knife issued by the U.S. army, for building entrenchments. It has been around since Roman times and is still made by Gerber today. It must work for something!

[edr730]

I've had sythes that were used for brushy places. The blades were very short and they aren't so good for grass or grains. I don't know the bill hook and I don't think I have seen one that i recall. I thought the bill hook was a different name for the short bladed sythe, but I realize that this is not what you were referring to and I see the constuction of the blade is not the same....Sorry Kyrat

[Skinner]

So Much Info.,But Should I Look Around for a Pole /Handle For It and Clean Up the Blade Or Hack It Use and Use it for Some Knives. LOL ,The Way It Is Right Now It has a Semi-Sharp Edge On It All the Way Around It Execpt Were the Pole Would Attach.walked Around the FleaMarket for About 45 Min.s Carrying it And Trying Not to let it Sit In One Hand Too Long Since It Was Leaving Nice Nick Marks On My Callouses On My Hands (1 way to remove them)
So Put it togther to Use it All I ave To Cut down Is this Travling Bamboo That's All Over the Edge of My Yard and In the Front Yard.
Or
Cut it Up and Make Some Blades from It.

[crashdive123]

For me, I'd restore it to its original function.

[hunter63]

So, did we agree on what the big knife is?

I have one hanging in the garage........Intresting story on how it got there.....But was told it was tobacco chopper. although I could new confirm that.

[shooter_250]

Hunter aren't those blades 13 or 14 inches or so long?.. I have seen and used many of them throughout my life..we called it a brush axe...uh huh, with mustard..

I see several knives in that blade, but then, I like knives,,,

Gonna find one for myself, yep,,,uh huh, with mustard.

God Bless

Lee

[dottie]

I love to find stuff like this at garage and yard sales. I came across some really nice tools for skinning and processing deer a ways back. Really good condition complete with sheaths for just a couple bucks. Nice find!

[hunter63]

Hunter aren't those blades 13 or 14 inches or so long?.. I have seen and used many of them throughout my life..we called it a brush axe...uh huh, with mustard..

I see several knives in that blade, but then, I like knives,,,

Gonna find one for myself, yep,,,uh huh, with mustard.

God Bless

Lee

Yeah, that's about right....No it will be left as is, as it's a antique, so gonna be a wall hanger.

This "chopper" was in a barn owned by kinda of a "collector"....The kind you see on American Pickers....That had passed.
We were hunting on property and the grandsons were there looking to clean out a couple of barns.

When we stopped to talk to them, (insuring continued permission) they asked a friend and I to take a look.

Lots of old stuff, mostly junk, 55 gal drums full of metal bottle caps, fire hose carriage, lots of old tools, hence the chopper, as I had never seen one.

In the attic of one of the barns were about 25 large wooden boxes with new coffins in them. Really creepy.
A lot of them were old oak coffins with the doors to view the deceased,..... should have grabbed one for my self?

Anyway, my friend picked up a couple of old glass embalming kits in black leather bags as well as make up kit...one bottle was kinda a putty and said "For filling wounds".

Seems this guy had bought out a funeral home, and all the stuff, including barrels full of all different sets of coffin handles, ....You would buy the basic coffin the dress it up with hardware.

The kids didn't seem to care about anything, but I did suggest they contact some one to sell this stuff, instead of just burning down the bars with the stuff in them, which was their plan.
So they did.
That is the story of the long handled chopper.

[shooter_250]

WOw Hunter...They were just going to burn the barn, dang, think of all that barnwood. Some folks don't think in thier mind, a lot of money to be had just salvaging the lumber from old barns, tin roofs too, not to mention the contents..Thanks for the story Hunter.

God Bless

Lee

[hunter63]

WOw Hunter...They were just going to burn the barn, dang, think of all that barnwood. Some folks don't think in thier mind, a lot of money to be had just salvaging the lumber from old barns, tin roofs too, not to mention the contents..Thanks for the story Hunter.

God Bless

Lee

Well as it turned out they did get a guy in to clean it out, probably made a fortune on all those old coffins and stuff......There was a lot of junk, as well, but I do think that they did burn down the barns as there are gone, just a pile of rubble.......

There had been a house, but was gone when I first came across the spot, was up in a ravine, looked like a setting for a Stephen King story,....but there was a spring house, with fresh water running thru it can you could still see some old mike cans parts in the bottom.
I gotta tell ya the whole thing was just kinda unsettling.....I didn't even consider asking about salvage,,,,just seemed like a weird spot.

Maybe that's why I haven't done anything with that chopper????

[shooter_250]

Dang Hunter...I'd love to be able to run a metal detector through that area... I did a little research on the description of those caskets you were talking about, then, there was one of those storage uaction shows that had one...seems those caskets with the viewing openig were not burial casket...apparently back in the day, a body would be placed in one of those caskets in the parlour for the "viewing" period, then the body would be moved into a burying casket as the final resting place. Hundreds of bodies could have lain in each one of those "viewing caskets",,,a low estimated value of a "viewing casket" in "good" condition is around 1200 to 1800 bucks each...how many did you say there were?

God Bless

Lee

[hunter63]

Lee,
There was maybe 15 or 20, all different sizes....The small white ones, for kids was really a bummer.
Some were oak, some pine, some with black valour covering, some white coverings.
There was enough that they were stack 3 high so you had to wind your way thru the maze.......

The crates they were in, were old enough that some of the lumber was 20" or better wide, I would have loved to just get the crates.

The kids, and they were kids (and acted like it),the new relatives that owned the place, did take a couple of coffins for Halloween decorations.

One had a dummy in it, so when you opened it, there was a body(fake) in it. Mind you this was up in a dark barn attic, in the late fall, hot, dusty, with mud dauber nests everywhere, so was a real surprise when you opened it up....was dressed as a Civil War soldier, uniform real? Don't know.

The barrels and boxes had the handles an such were plated, some had different color onyx decorations inlaid on them.

As I said my friend took a couple of embulming kits, all glass suringes, tubes and such.
Make up kits were all dried up, but were in old black leather Dr. type bags.

All thats left there is a older camper trailer and the spring house.

I'll leave looking around there to others, I just got a real bad feeling about the place, like I wasn't supposed to be there....can't explain it any other way.

[crashdive123]

No other explanation needed. Trust your instincts (gut).

[shooter_250]

X2 what Crash said.