Workaday Armor

[David]

Well those look very comfortable. Good, sensible footwear i say!
Do you know what country/culture this pair is from?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by David

Well those look very comfortable. Good, sensible footwear i say!
Do you know what country/culture this pair is from?

Cape Cod Culture, David they recently sold at our local auction house.
Eel spears are nasty things; 5 tines at least and all of them barbed at the business end. Something very unpleasant to put through your foot accidentally, Marius.
Often spearing them happens in muddy/turbid water.

[Kmaddock]

Believe it or not I just purchased an eel fishing fork head on Monday night
I have yet to clean them up but here they are
Quiet a vicious implement
Vendor said his grand father used them eel fishing in rural Ireland
I presume these are home forged
Just over 21 inches long in total
Funny how the timings of posts come along
In some countries such implements are known as a "gig"
Regards
Ken

[Rick]

Most of the old ones I see here are blacksmith made, Ken.
Eeling used to be quite a fishery around here.
A friend has collected a nice selection which I will try to photograph tomorrow.
The designs are quite varied.

[David R]

I used to have an eel spear that I bought in Denmark, but not really in my main area of collecting and only had space for just so much. Interesting items in themselves.

[Rick]

In Winter here the Eels ball-up in voids that exist in the salt marsh I live next to.
In the old days around Christmas and New years there was an increased demand for this delicacy.
Lucky was the fellow who discovered one of these 'dens' ; he could dig the top out and spear maybe a hundred or more in one place.

[mariusgmioc]

Very interesting! Had no idea that you spear the eels and not catch them with a normal fishing hook.