I picked this old lathing hatchet head and hung it today. I used it to split some kindling, actually worked really well!
Alright, I know what a lathing hatchet was essentially used for, but what are the 4 holes for? The counter-bores have me scratching my head.
I'm not actually certain. Here is a brief post: http://www.louisianafolklife.org/Region5/noba/lathing.html
I saw one like that at Home Depot. They call it a shingler's hatchet. The new one is not as pretty though! There is an insert that goes in the holes on the modern one. It appears to be used as a gauge for some type of measurement.
I think we're gonna need a veteran roofer to weigh in on what the stand off are for. All my google-foo seems to come up empty on this one. The best I could do is a guy on Youtube "explaining" his find and he sounds like he hasn't a clue.
