"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
...
On 23/07/13 19:08, Christina Websell wrote:
I dug one up in my garden a while ago, very rusty and with no handle.
I got a kind friend of mine to sharpen it on her grindstone and have it
back
suitable to slash anything in its path. Just need a new handle and watch
out those brambles ;-) My friend says if I can get a new handle, she
will
cut the top stop off and put it on for me.
Here we call them "hedge splashers"
Mine has a top blade too.

They are an amazing price to buy on the internet:
http://www.timelesstools.co.uk/billhooks3.htm

I remember thoroughly enjoying using one when I was a child,
when pruning apple trees. The one I used (which was probably
1930s vintage) had far more of a hook-shaped blade (like a
capital letter J) than any I've seen since.

Must remember to try to find another...

Mine has a J shaped blade with another blade on the top so you can swipe
both ways and now it's amazingly sharp..
My house was built in the 30's so maybe it's of that vintage. Just have to
get a handle for it, although I can use it without one as the iron bit wot
had one on once is still there.
To fit a new handle, the top bit would have be sawn off, as there is
something round there that presumably kept the original handle on and would
prevent a new handle being fitted.
Assuming I can find a new handle, and I might be able to, I will have a
lovely old hedge splasher up and running.

Tina

On 2013-07-23 21:35:40 +0100, Christina Websell said:

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
...
On 23/07/13 19:08, Christina Websell wrote:
I dug one up in my garden a while ago, very rusty and with no handle.
I got a kind friend of mine to sharpen it on her grindstone and have it back
suitable to slash anything in its path. Just need a new handle and watch
out those brambles ;-) My friend says if I can get a new handle, she will
cut the top stop off and put it on for me.
Here we call them "hedge splashers"
Mine has a top blade too.

They are an amazing price to buy on the internet:
http://www.timelesstools.co.uk/billhooks3.htm

I remember thoroughly enjoying using one when I was a child,
when pruning apple trees. The one I used (which was probably
1930s vintage) had far more of a hook-shaped blade (like a
capital letter J) than any I've seen since.

Must remember to try to find another...

Mine has a J shaped blade with another blade on the top so you can
swipe both ways and now it's amazingly sharp..
My house was built in the 30's so maybe it's of that vintage. Just
have to get a handle for it, although I can use it without one as the
iron bit wot had one on once is still there.
To fit a new handle, the top bit would have be sawn off, as there is
something round there that presumably kept the original handle on and
would prevent a new handle being fitted.
Assuming I can find a new handle, and I might be able to, I will have a
lovely old hedge splasher up and running.

Tina

Would that have been used for hedge laying too?
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

"Sacha" wrote
Would that have been used for hedge laying too?
--

Yes. Perfect tool for that. It's why it's called a hedge splasher here!

On 2013-07-24 00:17:24 +0100, Christina Websell said:

"Sacha" wrote
Would that have been used for hedge laying too?
--

Yes. Perfect tool for that. It's why it's called a hedge splasher here!

That's what made me wonder! Sounds like a nice find.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 24/07/2013 12:02, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-07-24 00:17:24 +0100, Christina Websell said:

"Sacha" wrote
Would that have been used for hedge laying too?
--

Yes. Perfect tool for that. It's why it's called a hedge splasher here!

That's what made me wonder! Sounds like a nice find.

I was brought up with a Bill hook being the short tool and the long
handled one being a Slasher/
David @ a still hot and sunny side of Swansea Bay.

On 24/07/13 15:11, David Hill wrote:
I was brought up with a Bill hook being the short tool and the long
handled one being a Slasher/
David @ a still hot and sunny side of Swansea Bay.

Bill hook doubled as a foot-soldier's weapon (when I were a lad...), and
is, I think, properly on a long handle, though one with a short handle
like a hatchet's is called a billhook too.

--
Rusty Hinge

On 25/07/13 09:19, Martin wrote:
On Wed, 24 Jul 2013 15:11:23 +0100, David Hill
wrote:

I was brought up with a Bill hook being the short tool and the long
handled one being a Slasher/

Me too! Neither were called "splashers".

Slashers come in a variety of lenghths, from hatchet-length to
scrape-the-sky.

The difference lies in the shape (and usually, weight) of the blade.


--
Rusty Hinge

On Wed, 24 Jul 2013 13:21:10 +0200, Martin wrote:

It's called a hedge slasher, which is not the same as billhook.

A hedge slasher has a long, 4 feet or so, handle doesn't it? Used for
slashing back the growth ona hedge leaving the heavier longer growths
to be laid.

The laying is done with a bill hook, partially cutting through the
uprights created above and bending them over, weaving between stakes
driven into the ground along the hedge. Stakes made from the
thinings.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Wed, 24 Jul 2013 13:21:10 +0200, Martin wrote:

It's called a hedge slasher, which is not the same as billhook.

A hedge slasher has a long, 4 feet or so, handle doesn't it? Used for
slashing back the growth ona hedge leaving the heavier longer growths
to be laid.

The laying is done with a bill hook, partially cutting through the
uprights created above and bending them over, weaving between stakes
driven into the ground along the hedge. Stakes made from the
thinings.


We call a hedge slasher just what I found, a billhook with a top blade.
Your view differs.

So interesting to know what your idea of it is.

On Thu, 25 Jul 2013 10:18:35 +0200, Martin wrote:

You snipped the bit where she called it a splasher? Why?

Brain read what it wanted to read not what was there... that is I
didn't spot the typo.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 25 Jul 2013 10:01:02 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Thu, 25 Jul 2013 10:18:35 +0200, Martin wrote:

You snipped the bit where she called it a splasher? Why?

Brain read what it wanted to read not what was there... that is I
didn't spot the typo.

OK I was correcting her typo/mistake.
--

Martin in Zuid Holland


I didn't do a typo. Here in my small part of Leicestershire that tool I
described, kind of a billhook but with a blade on the back of it is called
a hedge splasher. with a P. don't ask me why, it's just so.
I just need to find a wooden handle for it as my friend is confident she can
fit one to it.

If I can't I can still use it by wrapping the handle in foam from my slingie
thingie I got in hospital; and on top of that, duct tape.
It's so amazingly sharp now that I am almost afraid of it.

In article ,
lid says...

On Wed, 24 Jul 2013 14:44:16 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Wed, 24 Jul 2013 13:21:10 +0200, Martin wrote:

It's called a hedge slasher, which is not the same as billhook.

A hedge slasher has a long, 4 feet or so, handle doesn't it? Used for
slashing back the growth ona hedge leaving the heavier longer growths
to be laid.

The laying is done with a bill hook, partially cutting through the
uprights created above and bending them over, weaving between stakes
driven into the ground along the hedge. Stakes made from the
thinings.

When I was a kid in N Yorks, hedge laying was done using just a
slasher.

You snipped the bit where she called it a splasher? Why?

Years ago I inherited one (the long handled blade) from an uncle who
had inherited it from his Irish grandfather; it must be at least a
hundred years old. He called it a plasher. I also have a bill hook
(bought new) which I used far more than the plasher when working on
hedges in our previous garden. But I keep the plasher anyway for
sentimental reasons.

Janet

On 23/07/13 23:30, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-07-23 21:35:40 +0100, Christina Websell said:

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
...
On 23/07/13 19:08, Christina Websell wrote:
I dug one up in my garden a while ago, very rusty and with no handle.
I got a kind friend of mine to sharpen it on her grindstone and have
it back
suitable to slash anything in its path. Just need a new handle and
watch
out those brambles ;-) My friend says if I can get a new handle,
she will
cut the top stop off and put it on for me.
Here we call them "hedge splashers"
Mine has a top blade too.

They are an amazing price to buy on the internet:
http://www.timelesstools.co.uk/billhooks3.htm

I remember thoroughly enjoying using one when I was a child,
when pruning apple trees. The one I used (which was probably
1930s vintage) had far more of a hook-shaped blade (like a
capital letter J) than any I've seen since.

Must remember to try to find another...

Mine has a J shaped blade with another blade on the top so you can
swipe both ways and now it's amazingly sharp..
My house was built in the 30's so maybe it's of that vintage. Just
have to get a handle for it, although I can use it without one as the
iron bit wot had one on once is still there.
To fit a new handle, the top bit would have be sawn off, as there is
something round there that presumably kept the original handle on and
would prevent a new handle being fitted.
Assuming I can find a new handle, and I might be able to, I will have
a lovely old hedge splasher up and running.


Would that have been used for hedge laying too?

No - too long.

A short-handled hook or slasher *might* be used by some, but a short
'pointy' bowsaw or pruning saw is more use.

--
Rusty Hinge

On Tue, 23 Jul 2013 21:35:40 +0100, Christina Websell wrote:


Just have to get a handle for it, although I can use it without one as
the iron bit wot had one on once is still there.

The tang.

To fit a new handle, the top bit would have be sawn off, as there is
something round there that presumably kept the original handle on and
would prevent a new handle being fitted.

I find that a bit hard to understand. Chance of photo somewhere?
(with a directlink to the image file so we don't need "plugins" or
WHY to view a file that browsers can do without any "help").

Assuming I can find a new handle, and I might be able to, I will have a
lovely old hedge splasher up and running.

There is at least one on eBay (£6.20 inc)... I'm not sure how you fix
the tang into the handle, just shoving it into a hole in the handle
won't work reliably as use will make it work loose... Is there a hole
in the tang soa pin can be fitted through the handle and tang? or
maybe the tag goes right through the handle and is then hammered to
spread it out larger than the hole in the handle.

Here we a

http://billhooks.co.uk/edge-tool-mak...akers/handles/

Some form of the latter. (Warning: you might spend a lot of time
exploring that site...)

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Tue, 23 Jul 2013 21:35:40 +0100, Christina Websell wrote:


Just have to get a handle for it, although I can use it without one as
the iron bit wot had one on once is still there.

The tang.

To fit a new handle, the top bit would have be sawn off, as there is
something round there that presumably kept the original handle on and
would prevent a new handle being fitted.

I find that a bit hard to understand. Chance of photo somewhere?
(with a directlink to the image file so we don't need "plugins" or
WHY to view a file that browsers can do without any "help").

Assuming I can find a new handle, and I might be able to, I will have a
lovely old hedge splasher up and running.

There is at least one on eBay (£6.20 inc)... I'm not sure how you fix
the tang into the handle, just shoving it into a hole in the handle
won't work reliably as use will make it work loose... Is there a hole
in the tang soa pin can be fitted through the handle and tang? or
maybe the tag goes right through the handle and is then hammered to
spread it out larger than the hole in the handle.

Here we a

http://billhooks.co.uk/edge-tool-mak...akers/handles/

Some form of the latter. (Warning: you might spend a lot of time
exploring that site...)

No. 40, William Swift.