Need info on this old 'un

[Mumbleypeg]

Picked this up today. I think it's English. Looks like some kind of machete or harvest knife and has a very sharp edge. It's about twenty inches long including the wooden handle and appears to be hand forged. It has what I'm guessing is the cutler or blacksmith's mark stamped into the blade. Looks like WS with a crown over it. Hand written on the blade in pencil (on both sides) is the word "Exeter". Backside of the blade has obviously been used as a hammer but some of the beaten part appears to have been removed and smoothed by someone using a grinder. I doubt this is the original handle. Ther is a very slight play in the handle-to-knife interface and the Phillips-head screws holding the handle in place are obviously more modern than the knife itself. If anybody knows anything about its age, who made it or where, please advise.

Thanks,
Ken

Edit: sorry about the pictures. For some reason they turn upside down when I post them. If you enlarge the pics they turn right-side up? I'm using the wife's iPad temporarily, and it's a mysterious thang!

[Iron Hoarder]

Looks like the remains of a billhook commonly used for hedge laying over here. There are an endless number of variants.

[knife7knut]

Looks like the remains of a billhook commonly used for hedge laying over here. There are an endless number of variants.

Could it possibly be a beet knife with the hook removed?

[Mumbleypeg]

Thanks to both of you for the replies and the information. You sent me off to Google both "billhook" and "beet knife". Both very wicked looking tools. I suppose it could be either of those instruments but based on the info I found online so far, I'm leaning toward it being an old billhook with the hook having been ground off. It's a heavy knife that in the hand feels like something that could easily be used to whack off small tree limbs. Also would make a formidable, if primitive, weapon. Would like to find out more about the cutler's mark, as the info I found indicated billhooks being used as weapons as far back as the Middle Ages, and being forged by blacksmith armorers accompanying medieval armies. Interesting stuff but I doubt this one is older than 18th century if that.

Ken

[jerryd6818]

Does this mark look like WS with a crown mark over it?

[edge213]

Yes

[knife7knut]

Looking through BRL's 2nd edition of cutler's marks I came across a listing for a William Shaw(ca.1847-1871)who used his initials as a stamp but didn't say he used a crown over that.All he listed was that he was a Sheffield cutler.Hope this helps.

[Mumbleypeg]

Thanks. Does anyone know what, if any, significance is a crown symbol as part of the cutler's mark? Does this mean employment by royalty or something like that?

Ken