Posts: 141 Location: Jeffersonville USA
Thu 03 Apr, 2014 6:13 am
This is a "marking hatchet". It is a timberman's tool used to impress an owner's mark in logs. The blade is for removing a bit of bark so that the mark can be impressed in the wood.
Here are images of a more recent one.
[ Linked Image ][ Linked Image ]
It's funny how everything that comes from the ground and ends up on Ebay is described a weapon, rather than a tool. One would think that our ancestors did nothing but kill one another, rather than cutting firewood or building houses. ;) There is a lesson here.
On the plus side for the buyer; it is a very handsome (18th C?) tool, and he might find a tool collector who would be pleased to own it.
Mac