Found an odd hatchet like tool... What was it for?

[bob blakeborough]

So this was found buried in a field of an old mountain dirt road in our local area and for the life of us, we can't figure out what it was for? Probably not specifically woodwork related but I figured where better to ask!

It is most definitely very old. It has a flat metal handle and on the bottom of the handle, the edge is beveled and slightly rounded. The head is a hatchet on one side, a hammer head on the other, and both sides roll/pivot back and forth and neither side is fixed in place. In between the two halves, it is toothed for gripping and at the base of these teeth, it looks like there is a spot to grip a wire similar to a wire cutter, but those edges are square and not beveled as you would assume a wire cutter would be...

Does anybody have any knowledge on such a tool? My best guess was maybe it was used in the old days when putting up barbed wire fences? Another old timer we showed it to suggested it may have had something to do with wagon wheel or old wooden spoke wheel/tire repair, although that one just didn't seem to jive with me except for maybe the spoon"ish" bottom bevel on the handle...

Sorry for the poor picture. I will try and get a better one tomorrow. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[Chris Vandiver]

By the look of it's usefulness, it is no wonder you found it lying around in the dirt.

[Jim Matthews]

The pincers look like a nail puller.

Shingle hatchets have a stubby end for driving nails, and a blade for shaving shingles to size.

The rusty metal handle indicates demolition use (like a pry bar) - was there a large structure taken down in that field?
Something like this would be too heavy to carry on a tool belt, or lug up and down a ladder all day...

[Ron Conlon]

Clearly an alien artifact.

[bob blakeborough]

Clearly an alien artifact.

Haha! Nice...

Yeah it is a weird little thing for sure. Nobody we have shown it to can say they have ever seen another. The teethed area looks like it could be a nail puller, but both sides (hammer edge and hatchet edge), pivot away from each other, so I am not sure how they would leverage when pulling nails... It is like jaws on a standard pair of pliers, only no handles to squeeze.

[lowell holmes]

Fence building tool?

[Bill Rogers]

Maybe it was built as a prototype!! (and thrown away..............)

[john brenton]

I don't know why but I'm thinking it's some kind of fireman's tool. I'm thinking the wrench part could have been useful for opening up hydrants. Who knows.

[Mike Davis NC]

Once again, a multi-purpose tool serves no purpose.

[john brenton]

I don't know Mike, those Nicholson 4 in 1 chisel/rasps are pretty darn handy.

Once again, a multi-purpose tool serves no purpose.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I would guess it's a fencing tool....

[Matt Hankins]

Might not be the exact patent, but close:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=f2FvAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA2&dq=hatchet+hammer+p uller&hl=en&ei=O-tLTvx9xOXRAdbRwOsH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&r esnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=hatchet hammer puller&f=false

Matt

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bingo.....we have a winner.

[Mike Davis NC]

So, one of the handles must have broken off.

[Charles Wiggins]

Maybe it's an early version of this. Does it look like there was another handle to control the hatchet side of the jaw?