I was doing some tidying up in my back garden when i found this object hidden amongst the heavy mat of ground ivy.
Does anyone have any idea what it is? As you can see, it has a spike at one end and a thick blunt chisel-like shape at the other, with 4 circular attachments in between . . .
A key of some sort? (Not a door key, but a regard or similar).
Antique lightning conductor off a roof?
I think it fits in the square hole in an anvil. Used by blacksmiths. A scythe anvil.
Give the man a prize ! It’s an enclume de faucheur
Great!
I wonder how it was used. I’ll have a look on YouTube later, after dinner. I’m in the middle of tidying up the cuttings from a laurel hedge that I’ve been trying to tame.
I’m sure my late father would know about this tool. When I was a kid we lived on what today would be called a smallholding of about 6 acres, of which he grew hay on about 4 acres. For years he harvested the hay with a scythe. He taught me to use a scythe at age 8. Sharpening used to scare me at first, until I got the hang of it. We stacked the hay in ricks and my father sold it by the rick. Even back then I knew the money he earned from hay making was a pittance, given all the sweat equity and the vagaries of the weather. Luckily he had a well-paid day-job.
Sorry, mind meandering again. Must get back to that hedge.
…if that helps of course..
Yes indeed!
I’ve found something else in the garden!
But I’ll put it (them) in another thread 
I love scything, we try to keep part of our “garden” mown with scythes.
