Is this a slick?

[Joe Fabbri]

Hi guys,

I'm looking at this chisel that this fellow has for sale, but I'm not sure if it's a slick or something someone made themselves. It looks like it tapers on both sides which is unusual, and also the steel between the socket and blade looks too narrow. Is it some other tool I'm not familiar with?

211817

It's hard to see the taper on the blade in this picture, but I couldn't upload the other picture (I think it's too big).

Joe

[Mike Holbrook]

It looks like a small or hand spade to me. Do I see treads on the top of the blade? I have a Smith Hawkins spade that looks similar but larger.

[Mike Siemsen]

It looks like a tool for removing tile or linoleum with the handle cut off. Cool die and eggbeaters though.

[Jim Koepke]

It looks like something that would break before breakfast if it tried doing the work of a slick.

jtk

[Mike Davis NC]

A slick is usually two to three times that long and does taper from butt to sharp edge.

The shaft does look thin but could be more solid than it appears.

Socket is right and width is good. If that is a solid 3/8 thick it probably was a good slick that has been sharpened down to not much left.

[Joshua Clark]

It looks like an ice chopper to me- similar to a slick and at first glance can be confused for one.

-Josh

[Maurice Ungaro]

It looks like something that would break before breakfast if it tried doing the work of a slick.jtkJim, looks like somthing you use FOR breakfast to flip your pancakes.

[Mike Olson]

I think it's an old chinker for pushing okum in between logs on a log cabin or wooden ship.
Quick lookup found one similar. http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/caulking-tool

[Joe Fabbri]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the input. I don't think it's a slick either. Of all the pictures of slicks I've seen, none seem to have any space really between the socket and the blade, like the tool above has. Also, in the other picture, there does seem to be some rippling at the blade edge, or treads like you called them Mike. Unless that rippling is severe pitting merely, but I don't it (and either way not great then).

Also, if the blade was originally longer, then the thickness of the steel at the current blade edge should be thicker than it seems. In the other photos I have, it seems to taper to a pretty thin edge.

Joe

[Jim Koepke]

Jim, looks like somthing you use FOR breakfast to flip your pancakes.

Too small.

jtk

[Bill White]

Jim, looks like somthing you use FOR breakfast to flip your pancakes.

Or eggs!

I'd pass.
Bill

[Dale Cruea]

Novice here. What is a slick? I know it is a chisel. But what is it used for and why is it called a slick. Do them come in different sizes. I have never seen a slick advertized new anywhere, just used.
I this what is used to build timber framed buildings?

[Bob Smalser]

These are slicks. One is a chisel for finish work and one is a gouge for hogging off large amounts of wood. Both are set up as parers with 20-25-degree bevels. Their purpose is to fit joints in large timbers, either in house or ship construction, and they are usually 3-4" wide. The gouge is rarely seen today.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/8939574/399345166.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302197/68779484.jpg

[Don McConnell]

Hi Joe,

I think Mike Holden has it essentially correct. I've found a very small illustration in the 1860 Sheffield Illustrated List, of a tool listed as a botanical spud. The illustration shows the tool with no handle, but they were offered with handles as well:

http://planemaker.com/photos/botspud.gif

If this identification is correct, then questions as to the type/size of handle and intended uses arise. Which I can only sketchily answer at present.

A 1904 advertisement of George and John Deane, London, introduces their sets of garden tools, "Also a New Botanical Spud, nicely finished, and no more bulky than an ordinary walking stick." While this doesn't give us a precise idea as to the length of the handle, it clearly seems to indicate one significantly longer than the one in your photo.

As to usage, _The Practical Naturalist's Guide, by James Boyd Davies, © 1858, states the following in the context of collecting insects: "In addition to this, the collector should be provided with a botanical spud, or a garden trowel, to dig for grubs, &c., at the roots of plants and beneath the bark of decayed trees ... ." Though this would seem a secondary usage as I suspect the primary usage would have been that of planting seedlings much as dibbles, or planting bars, are used for hand planting of tree seedlings today. For these usages, a longer handle would definitely be desirable.

Hope this has been of some interest.

Don McConnell
Eureka Springs, AR