# What is this antique iron tool? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420 "2012-02-20T14:29:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420/61 "2012-02-24T07:23:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Almost everything is, except for smithing and stone tools. But that handle would make a mess of the face of a wooden mallet if you struck it much. I suspect no striking is intended at all. > > I’m not exactly buying the explanation. My extensive knowledge of coopery (that’s barrel making right? :)) would indicate that it isn’t used to make hoops, which would be either metal, or thin flexible strips of wood. Maybe it was useful for rough cutting or shaping staves though. But they would have been hand worked afterwards to get the angles and shape correct. I’ve never actually seen wooden barrel hoops, but making them out of thin strips sounds like a recipe for failure - they have to be able to keep all the staves constrained. Splitting wood along the grain doesn’t require a great deal of force, especially if it’s a straight grained piece like you’d get from a sapling. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420/62 "2012-02-24T07:35:09Z")
In the post above yours I mentioned that some wooden barrel hoops were made from inch thick material. A 1/4 inch strip of green long grained wood would be very flexible and strong. Simple hoops like that were probably limited to small barrels. The heavier wooden hoops were also bound with twine impregnated with tar. This stuff is pretty interesting, and if I’m not careful I’m going to end up with a set of cooper’s tools that I won’t be using. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420/63 "2012-02-24T08:04:06Z")
Looking at a few examples of barrels with wooden hoops, it looks like this tool would indeed be used to split sapling or coppiced staves into three parts, then the inner (pointed) edge shaved flat - probably with a drawknife or spokeshave - that way, the outer surface of the hoop would be the newest growth layer - resilient and resistant to splitting. If green timber was used, it may have been possible to form the hoops without any heat or steam. In some examples I found, it looked like multiple thin hoops were used instead of a few big ones - and they were whittled down at the ends and sort of knotted around the barrel staves like withies. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420/64 "2012-02-24T08:06:21Z")
On the point about ruining mallets, I guess it’s possible that they were just considered a consumable item - especially if you’re working with wood anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420/65 "2012-02-24T16:28:03Z")
i have seen such wooden hoops on a wooden bucket. The joints I saw were made without fasteners. One end had a longish slot, and the other end had shoulders cut leaving an approximately spade shaped tongue on the end. By twisting the hoop out of plane, the tongue could be passed through the slot, but when around the barrel, the ends locked together. I have seen similar functiong fastenings on belt buckles and jewelry findings. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420/66 "2012-02-24T17:03:51Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Here it is, a [Cooper’s Hoop Cleaver](http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-coopers-hoop-cleaver-rare). This one has a knob on the end clearly for hitting with a mallet. This was used for wood hoops, which were primarily used before 1800. So the tool in the OP could be very old and rare. I’m not sure how it helps cut wooden barrel hoops. The wooden hoops could vary from thin strips of flexible wood to inch thick material that had to be heated and bent on a form. Not necessarily old. There is a current eBay [listing](http://www.ebay.com/itm/1913-Coopers-Tools-Whites-Axes-3-Way-Splitter-Adzes-ad-/120757641547) for a page from a 1913 H. G. Lipscomb & Company catalog listing a “Cooper’s Three-Way Splitter” in cast-iron for $10/dozen. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420/67 "2012-02-24T17:33:38Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Not necessarily old. There is a current eBay [listing](http://www.ebay.com/itm/1913-Coopers-Tools-Whites-Axes-3-Way-Splitter-Adzes-ad-/120757641547) for a page from a 1913 H. G. Lipscomb & Company catalog listing a “Cooper’s Three-Way Splitter” in cast-iron for $10/dozen. That one actually closely resembles the OP’s find. Without some markings on the actual tool it may be difficult to determine the origin of any particular tool. By 1913 those tools were probably being mass produced and wouldn’t have the value of something much older. But almost any pre WWII is a valued collectible. And in 1913, the last generation of coopers may have been at work. I saw one note that there were at least 50,000 coopers in the US in the late 1800’s. The number must have dropped rapidly from that point. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420/68 "2012-02-25T05:59:04Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Your website should be banned. :mad: I want the bomb distributor. Note to Homeland Security - just kidding 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-antique-iron-tool/613420.md?page=3)