Stripping, Cutting Tools

The billhook is a traditional cutting tool used mainly in European agriculture, but also common through out most of the world where it was introduced by European settlers, e.g South America and parts of Asia, or developed independently e.g. in Japan. more...

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The blade is usually made from a high carbon steel in varying weights and lengths, with an increasingly strong curve towards the end. The blade is generally sharpened only on the inside of the curve, but double edged billhooks, or broom hooks, also have a rectangular secondary blade on the back.

Typically the blade is 20 - 25 cm (8" - 10") long with a wooden handle (usually made from ash due to its strength but unique ability to deal with repeated impact) of 12 - 15 cm (6" - 8") which may be caulked or round, and usually fitted by a tang passing through the handle or with a socket that encloses it (although some had scales of hardwood or horn fitted - more common in other countries but often found on 'gentlemen's' or 'lady's' tools - and now often found on cheap imported hooks). The edge of the billhook is bevelled at a relatively obtuse angle in order to avoid binding in green wood. Some hooks, e.g. the Kent model, have a single bevelled blade, available in both right and left hand versions, others e.g the Machynlleth (Wales) have dished blades, or a pronounced thickened nose, e.g. the Monmouth pattern, the origins of which are now lost.

Perhaps best thought of as half way between a knife and an axe, it is often used for cutting thick woody plants such as saplings and small branches and for "snedding" (stripping the shoots from a branch). In France and Italy it was widely used for pruning of grape vines.

The billhook's use as a cutting tool goes back to the Iron Age, and examples have been found in pre-roman settlements in several English counties as well as in France and Switzerland. It is the European equivalent of all large woodland utility knives such as machetes, parangs, khukris, etc.

The tool (being of an ancient design) has existed for so long it has developed a large variety of names in different parts of Britain including: Bill, Billhook, Hook bill, Hedging bill, Hand bill and Broom hook. Made on a small scale in village smithies and in larger industrial sites (e.g. Fussells of Mells) the billhook is still relatively common throughout most of western Europe. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the larger manufacturers offered up to 200 or so different regional styles and shapes of blade, sometimes in a range of different sizes from 6" to 11" long in 1/2" steps. (The French firm of Talabot boasted in their 1930 catalogue that they held over 3000 different patterns in their archives)

Styles of billhook

Principles of Design

Billhooks would have once been made by the local smith to the user's specifications but now sizes and shapes are standardised. The handles are mostly tang except the Yorkshire having such a long handle that a tang is just not practical - they have a socket instead. The smaller hooks have variations in the shape of the handle: round, oval and pistol grip.

Read more at Wikipedia.org