Hook, Reaping

Description

Smith-forged blade of steel with tang set into a turned maple handle.

Notes

Wheat harvesting occurred in the fall, when the stalks were dry and yellow beneath the ear. Reaping hooks were used to cut wheat by hand. The person reaping would hold a bundle of stalks with one hand or with a device called a hay crook and cut them near the roots with the reaping hook. The cut wheat was raked into stacks, taken to a barn, and threshed either by hand or machine. The dramatic silhouette of this reaping hook belies its agricultural function. Held in the hand, the reaping hook feels light, balanced, and comfortable. Such qualities made the swinging and snapping motion of the cut fluid. Pleasing and unfamiliar to us today, reaping hooks were commonplace around any 19th-century American farm. This reaping hook bears two inscriptions. On the blade appears the stamped inscription "W. Turner," the blacksmith who hammered the steel blade into shape. "J.X.S.", carved on the wooden handle, probably refers to the owner, James Smith (1806-1888) of Mount Lebanon, whose name also appears on a stamp as "Jas.X.Smith" (#1950.1403.1).