A friend said they had some lathe cutting tools I could have. They didn't know much about them and didn't know what to do with them. When I got them I could see that they had each been ground to a similar cutting edge. I have no idea how whey would be used. The end is ground at 90 degrees and each side ground down to a smaller end. I first thought they were carving tools, but ate too long for that at 12"

 

Any ideas?

On one hand and this is just a wild guess- I wonder if they were used to turn beads on a spindle. If the tool was presented to the work- open flute down against the tool rest- I could see it cutting a rounded "bead".

 

On the other hand, there are four fingers and a thumb

That could be it. Some lathes are reversible and I could see how that would work. 

it looks to me like a previous owner got a little crazy with the grinder. Because the ends are so thin I would think one catch and the end of the chisel would snap off. 

I'm also not sure if Buck brothers makes lathe chisels or just carving chisels. those could be reground originally for doing large carvings like logs or such.

1 hour ago, John Hechel said:

I'm also not sure if Buck brothers makes lathe chisels or just carving chisels. those could be reground originally for doing large carvings like logs or such.

I was wondering about that, too.

I tried out those bead cutters and wow, they are slick. Thanks for the info.

28 minutes ago, Ron Altier said:

I tried out those bead cutters and wow, they are slick. Thanks for the info.

Lucky guess on my part- pulled that idea out of my "you-know-what"!

These are buck bros lathe tools

http://community.woodmagazine.com/t5/Wood-Turning/Buck-Bros-lathe-chisels/td-p/267462

 here are some older ones

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.shorthillstudio.com/storeimages/CH325a_lg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.shorthillstudio.com/store-detail.php?cat%3D4%26ID%3D15&h=290&w=475&tbnid=FTT_0LCO4OC7iM:&docid=u57dRSeY-Sa5ZM&ei=rlH8Vrb0CYHimAH8u4zgBQ&tbm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwi2g9-quenLAhUBMSYKHfwdA1wQMwgeKAEwAQ

 

I've never seen a lathe tool like what you have.

 

On 3/26/2016 at 9:55 AM, John Hechel said:

 those could be reground originally for doing large carvings like logs or such.

 

 Yah the grinding to make those thinner sections  is not even.