Guides › Domestic objects

Identifying agricultural tools

Sickles, billhooks, plough irons, and the seasons written in iron.

Farming iron is abundant and long-lived: sickles (deeply curved, sometimes serrated), scythe blades (long, straight-backed), billhooks (heavy hooked choppers in fiercely regional patterns), spade irons (iron sheathing for wooden blades), plough shares and coulters, and hay forks.

Form changed slowly, so precise dating is hard — a medieval sickle and a Victorian one can rhyme. Manufacturing helps: hand-forged tools show laminated structure and smithing marks; 19th-century factory tools carry stamped maker names worth recording verbatim.

Rust hides detail — photograph profiles against plain backgrounds and note socket versus tang hafting. Be honest about the wide date range, and lean on regional pattern books for billhooks especially; the shape often names the county that made it.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on domestic objects

Identifying mirrors — Polished metal discs.

Identifying oil lamps — Nozzle, filling hole, and mold.

Identifying clay tobacco pipes — Bowl shape and heel marks.

Identifying fishing gear — Hooks, net weights, and line sinkers from rivers, lakes, and coasts.

Identifying spindle whorls and loom weights — The flywheels and tensioners of home textile production.

Identifying styli and writing equipment — Iron pens, wax spatulas, and the tools of everyday literacy.

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