Bill Hook

Some people call it a Kaiser Blade.  Karl Childers called it a Sling Blade. 

No matter what it goes by, it falls into a category of curved blades with a sharpened inner turn, most often on a handle made of ash.  This particular variety probably went by Bush Hook or Bill Hook, but could have been called: bill, hedging bill, hand bill, hook bill, billhook, billook, brushing hook, broom hook, and even fasciae knife.  

‘Fasciae’, incidentally, derives from the latin ‘fascine’, referring to a bundle of rods, sticks, or plastic pipes bound together.  Fascia (as in the wrap around our muscles) and fascicle (as in a bundle of nerves) take their origin from same.  It is unclear if the knife got this name from cutting the rods or removing the wrap.  These tools have served any number of uses over the years, from cutting woody shoots off of grape vines to smiting King James IV (1513) in the Battle of Flodden.

In modern use, they can often be seen carried by survey crews and firefighters to clear out heavy underbrush. The model my Father in Law keeps is of now extinct PEXTO lineage.  PEXTO, a strange muddling of Peck, Stow, and Wilcox, originated in the late 18th century as a tool manufacturer exclusively for tin smiths.  It takes it’s home comfortably amongst other manual, combustion, and electric powered implements, providing a veritable cornucopia of brush cutting options.