What kind of tool

[Molly]

Picked this up yesterday.  Cannot say I have ever seen one like it.  Definitely hand forged.  Has a well worn antler handle, with a single pin to hold it in place.  "Blade" is about 7 inches long and not marked.  Edge is quite sharp and shows no real evidence of heavy bone cutting use.  A scraper of chopper I suppose of the makers original design and use.

[EricEwing]

its definitely a chopper. and it seems smaller in size too.
the design shows somebody wanted to chop more with power and leverage than precision.
I looked in a book of early American tools and couldn't find it.
Hoping somebody knows!

[Hornbuilder]

I'm thinking its some sort of fodder chopper ?

[Molly]

I can actually think of a variety of practical uses for it and that was much of its appeal.  It will cut like a knife, it could be used to scrape hides, or a hog and definitely to "chop" meats and veggies.  Makes me think of some of those oriental tools they sell in high end kitchen shops.  Maybe it was made by a Chinese frontiersman!

[Hungry Horse]

Molly; 

 Look on web-sites that might show tools used in the whaling industry. I suspect it is a knife used to cut up large pieces of blubber, so it could be added to the try vats, aboard a whaling ship.

   Hungry Horse

[HAWKEN]

It is a froe, used to split logs into shingles.  You stand the log on end , place the blade across the end of the log and strike it with a mallet or maul.  After the first split, continue splitting shingles 1/4 to 1/2" thick........robin

[EricEwing]

I'm not convinced its a froe. its not shaped like one and it doesn't look strong enough to be one.
I can't see it being a hide scraping tool.
My best guess is chopper of some sort, for something tall or needing a fair amount of clearance.

[Molly]

Blade is far to thin for any heavy use.  Photo does not show that however, but it has a thin cutting edge and the top is thin as well.

[PPatch]

Looks mighty like an old timey tobacco leaf chopper to me. When I was a kid I remember one similar to it hanging in grandpa's barn. He grew lots of tobacco back then.

dave

ADD: found one: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/66/51/60/6651602f2c1c6f21d78c7cf37874600e.jpg

[Molly]

PPatch:  Me thinks you nailed it!  Looks a lot alike and it came out of Virginia tobacco country (or at least it used to be).

Thanks, that's what I'm going to call it.

[Molly]

If I had provided a better photo with the detail on the thickness of the blade, you would see it is much to "thin" to be used as such.  The blade is thin like a good knife.  Tobacco chopper is a much better thought.

[BOB HILL]

Not a froe, handle at the wrong angle to get the leverage needed to split shingles and blade to light. A chopper of some kind Tobacco, etc.       Bob

[Hungry Horse]

The handle shape, and the light weight, of this tool do not make sense for a chopper. I suspect whatever it's use, the handle helps  the user either, cut something  that is soft, but quite thick, or, is at an uncommonly low height. It also could be for cutting something contained whitin a deep tray or pan.

  Hungry Horse

[ddoyle]

Curd cutter for cheese making?

[PPatch]

Well with a tobacco "chopper" you don't chop but rock it back and forth through the leaves.

dp

[grabenkater]

I bet it was used to split exactly what it is currently resting on in that photo.

[mark esterly]

I was thinking soap

[Molly]

Like my chair?  The real deal, I might add.  As to the tool, I still like to think of a tobacco chopper similar to the one in the photo of PPatch's link.  But while it may have been made with one purpose in mind, it clearly serves or can serve a variety of functions.  Maybe we'll just call it an 18th century "Kitchen Magician".