Unknown club for ID... Is it even a club?
 

So I came across a few items that belonged to a now-deceased gentleman who traveled extensively on business in the '70s. This was found together with a very old Eskimo Oosik and a speaking staff that I would place to the NW Coast somewhere - bought the three for a pittance. The fact it was with the other two items has me wondering if it, too, came from the same general part of the world. It measures 18 inches / 45+ cm in length, and tapers evenly from about 2 inches / 5 cm down to a little over a quarter-inch / .5 cm at the tip. It's made of hardwood that has some age to it, and some of the bottom 1/3 or so is covered with the remnants of a pitch. Lastly, there is what appears to be some incised design limited to one small area of the club/pin/stick/thing. Pictures below...

So what is it? A club? A pin? Holding it, I get a strange urge to go make me baby some seal slippers... ;)

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/6963/p6210002.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/4239/p6210003w.jpg

I think this is a 'Fid' for sailmaking/ net repairing/ ropework etc. used by sailors. Marlinspikes and fids varied in size from a few inches to a foot long, so it's definately within the size range.

Hi Bryan,

Funny you mention that, because when/as I ruminate over it's possible use as a peg or pin, I keep returning to a nautical application... it definitely has the look of something I've seen on a tall ship.

The lack of a flared pommel seems to make it somewhat unwieldy as a club, though the remnants of the tacky substance on the bottom third make for a decent purchase. :confused:

Hi again!
Since rope on older sailing vessels was tarred, using a fid and working with tarred ropes might have the effect of blackening the handle?? Just rambling thoughts, I read a too much Patrick O'Brian!

The crudely etched design had me thinking, (and this is purely imaginitive speculation here).. Could this represent a 'strong-arm' , a flexed bent upper arm, bicep, elbow and forearm? I remember reading that the tradition of mariners having tatoos of anchors on the arm was a superstition of seafaring, that the anchor would give strength to holding onto ropes etc. in a gale. The same thinking could apply to the fid, by etching a strong arm to give manual strength to the person doing the ropework or slicing etc. When working with rope cable several inches thick, you'd need a strong arm to do the work!

It could be a belaying pin of some kind, but I haven't seen the tapering shape on a Belaying pin, which look more like wooden truncheons.

A fid
 

Certainly looks to be a fid to me. My father was a seaman before I was born and worked on the waterfront my entire life, I saw these used a lot when I was a kid and he still has a few laying around.

Gav

Found a fid I did...
 

A solid double-assist from Down Under - thank you both Gav and Bryan. :)

I performed a cursory search, I found that almost all the fids I could find were notched. The lone exception I found was here, which closely resembles my own.

I, too, agree that the crude etching seems to resemble a "strong arm," but until the fidentification, could not place it in context... ;)

It sure looks like a big fid with a magic arm, though my first thought had been "pestle" Belaying pins do tend to taper and employ the principle of the wedge though.

Is the cross-section round? A good fid will have a flat side or a trianglular cross-section for tightening knots, but this is far from universal.

Very cool piece!

What is the wood? ("I'm always looking for a nice piece of Ash," I once said, meaning no joke, while examining a ball-bat at a garage sale; when men laughed, then I saw my unintended punniness.....)

Ahhh, the ole piece of ash- :D Good one, Tom!

I agree, a fid it is. Nice find!

http://www.frayedknotarts.com/images.../kit/623_z.jpg

http://www.frayedknotarts.com/images.../kit/648_z.jpg

as an ex merchant officer and ex USCG officer, i think we can safely say this is a fid or marlinspike, we've had similar ones here before. see This Thread on an earlier fid/club discussion. that one may have actually been a club, but very fiddish ;)

yeah, there's a third name, too, but it's not coming to me old beaten coconut.
Of course they make excellent weapons of resort, as do (famously) belaying pins.

just found this table that shows the recommended fid sizes for various rope and line sizes. note the 3 1/4 in. rope recommends a 45.5 in. long fid, or a 68.25 in. full fid. big items....

Wow! Go, Kronckew!