Old hand forged knife?

[Soundhunter]

Found this detecting an old Indian Rez from 1700's. The blade is 7 inches long and 2 1/4 inches wide.

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Looks interesting.. BosnMate, Creksol or Kuger should be able too help you on this... To me it doesn't look like a knife but it very well could be, can't wait for an ID. Good luck!

 

[kuger]

Is one part of the blade sharp?Being forged it is tough,as it wouldnt have to follow any general form or shape.I am at a loss,with the rather large piece on the end as well...why?What purpose would that serve on a knife

 

[Soundhunter]

The knife club here where I live all believe it's a knife but wanted to get some more opinions. Thanks

 

[Soundhunter]

The blade did come to a point. It's double edged and thin. I can only think the pigtails, one is broken off could of been for strikers.

 

[turtlefoot13]

Was that found at the site of an Indian village, trading post, fort or ?

 

[BosnMate]

I can see where the handle was forge welded to the blade, but can't figure out what the blacksmith had in mind when he built it.

 

[Soundhunter]

Yes it was the land the Yeopim Indian chief lived. You can google the tribe and you'll find out where I found it.

 

[Hellvis676]

Definitely a knife I'd say, looks like its intended purpose would have been more for food preparation than any kind of combat.

 

[Soundhunter]

Somebody told me that too here where I live. Thanks...

 

[creskol]

Although the handle configuration is a bit odd, the blade portion reminds me of some of the colonial dough scrapers I have seen.

 

[rock]

It does look interesting.

 

[taz42o]

Maybe it was some type of strap that has rusted away and just resembles a knife. That piece on the end is a 1700s rams horn nut .

 

[Soundhunter]

Nice pics of the nut bolts... Thanks for your opinion!

 

[mical66]

let me throw another option out there , and i am not saying this is what it is , i am asking if it could be.
it seems no one has mentioned farming implement , American Indians were amazing farmers , could this be some type of tilling or planting spade ?
the nut looks like it has the curl so you could finger tighten it easier, and would be awkward on the end of a knife handle so i was thinking at the end of a long handle maybe like a hoe ?

 

[taz42o]

Maybe a crude knife made from an old saw blade or just the remains of a saw blade?

 

[huntsman53]

let me throw another option out there , and i am not saying this is what it is , i am asking if it could be.
it seems no one has mentioned farming implement , American Indians were amazing farmers , could this be some type of tilling or planting spade ?
the nut looks like it has the curl so you could finger tighten it easier, and would be awkward on the end of a knife handle so i was thinking at the end of a long handle maybe like a hoe ?

I believe that you may be on to something here! It does have the appearance of a crude plow blade in which two or three plow blades would have been mounted on a bar attached to a horse, mule or oxen pulled plow assembly.


Frank

 

[cheese]

Looks like a light duty cultivator point. Some of the old farm attachments used this type of nut to hold them in the frame so that you could tighten it by hand, then stick a screwdriver or piece of a rod, or whatever through the hole and get some leverage to tighten it further (according to what I was told by the old farmers widow about a handful of them I found along with the pan head plow bolts in an old barn years ago). It also has a square shank as if to fit the square carriage bolt holes in the cultivator frame. I just don't see a shoulder for it to tighten up against, so I'm not 100% convinced that's what it is. Here is a hand cultivator that uses something like this:

Possibly bolted to a frame like this:

Or another similar one: