No bottles, but a primitive something

[Poison_Us]

Unless you live in a whaling town, I'm going to have to vote for weather vane as well. It was my first impressions. The back "feathers" are too pronounced to be just decorative. Meant to catch the wind at that size.

 

[Plumbata]

If it was a weather vane it would need a pivot/axis, and none is visible. The weight of the item compared to the small size of the flat face also precludes this general interpretation. Also, that item doesn't look like any whaling tool I've ever seen, and if it was, you would probably be able to tell, as the metal would be more robust. The whittling or lines in "the back feathers" are due to the deterioration of the softer parts in the grain of the wood more quickly than the dense bands. Sandblaster-using wooden craft makers exploit this property all the time. Maybe you folk were talking about something else?

It is a shovel with a "D" yoke wooden handle with the handgrip broken off and the thin wood extensions rotted away (realized this after I posted), and the majority of the thin bulk of the shovel blade rusted away. The triangular piece remaining was the area that was often reinforced on the backside of the shovel, in the area which would be subject to the most mechanical stress, with another plate of metal that covers up the folded and hollow triangular area that is usually left exposed on modern shovels (this area tends to trap dirt and make cutting at the dirt slightly less "clean"). I own a few shovels with this exact method of quality manufacture, and they are very sturdy and well made, though probably not quite as old as what you found. The blade in the last image i posted probably was made the same general way (with reinforced blade) as the one you found.

The "D" yoke wooden handles often had a reinforcing rod through the handgrip and another one parallel below the cutout. Your handle retains the lower reinforcement rod.

I hate to burst your bubble, but it is what it is. If this explanation doesn't convince you I dunno what will. It is still cool, and you ain't no foo for hauling it back. I would have taken it back, and done so with the explicit knowledge that it was a shovel. It is a nifty old piece and would make a very attractive "rustic" decoration. Some decorators pay decent money for "primitives" like that, especially with the weathered look it has.

Perhaps it is a sign from the bottle gods telling you that there are some more rare bottles to be dug in the near future, or perhaps you will find a boatload of stoneware while diving that will require you to use a shovel to salvage? []

 

[Poison_Us]

After further review, the play stands. It's a shovel.[8D]

 

[downeastdigger]

LOL "apon further review", love it

Plumb, thanks for the post, I would never have guessed it as a shovel, but thats the thing I got for sure. I never even considered a shovel, cause it was too short, but as your photo shows, the shovel blade would have extended it another several inches.

You say the reinforcement rods were wood? It seems so inefficient., hard to picture the physics of how it would reinforce the blade. They must have cherished their tools, given how much they used them, and how hard they were to make.

Thanks for taking the time for everyones input. Learned a lot, glad a brought it home!

 

[willong]

That looks like it could be for scraping the blubber off of a whale and cutting it.....id seriously look into it

Nope! It's not a flensing knife; see here: http://www.swanseaheritage.net/article/gat.asp?ARTICLE_ID=444

Will

 

[Gunsmoke47]

My first thought was an oar, with most of the wooden paddle gone. Smoke