help to identify purpose of this tool

ohhh...but we do that a lot here.....

 

Not that it makes much difference, but since we're talking amongst ourselves, I think the last letter is an "E".

 

Might it be the equivalent of "Pat. Pen." in a language other than English? Could that be a period after the first three letters? Not F or E but T. perhaps.

 

I really hope she’ll come back and pull the thingie outta the scabbard!

Cathie!
Cathie!

 

Ok, this might have something to do with it (but probably not.)

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/ark/55...-using-polyphosphate?view=text&seq=5&size=150

 

Oh, it has something to do with something.....somewhere..!

 

It looks like POF.Pat to me now.

 

OK!

Now we’ve got it! In (almost) plain English!

 

Of course, a hellish instrument!

 

Well, if it is using the letter thorn it must be Old English, and much older than we thought. Hwaet!

 

Speaking of the Underworld, where the He!! is Cathie, anyway?

Can anyone read the Olde Anglisch well enuf to tell if impalement is one of the nine pains? The tool we’re investigating is certainly more portable than a sharpened stake.

 

Maybe the appropriate torture is posting an object we can't identify, and then leaving us to our own devices.

 

Bovine thermometer? Mooooooooooooooooooo!

 

Yes, the gap around Bossie’s head suggests it.

 

R.I.P. Cathie.

 

Is everybody sure it's not some sort of a strop for a straight edged razor, what with the ring to hang it on something??? NOPE, never mind, I can see after re-looking, that's NOT going to work.......funny though with one side convex and the other concave..........

 

Isn't that usually the case? When you make something convex the other side is concave and vice versa?

?

 

Yes, what you say makes perfect sense, AJ!!!!