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Talk:Head spade
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Sharpening
The way this tool is sharpened is important to the general description in this statement, as well as to the way it is used as a weapon in the TV series. Unlike most other whaling tools, because the head spade is sharpened on the chisel end as well as the sides (i.e. all three edges), it can be thrust like a spear (as one would assume it was used in the impaling of C. Cullen), and it can be wielded as an axe (as in the beheading of Rev. Fain).--71.171.0.234 22:40, 17 May 2009 (UTC)
- I would disagree. Even if it weren't sharpened at all, it could be used as an axe due to its sheer size and layout. Most other whaling spades were also sharpened on three sides, so it's not like it's something unique to the head spade. - Shiori 12:46, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
- Admittedly, we are probably getting too involved in this issue, and I don't mean to annoy you. (If I remember those reruns of Columbo, people were typically annoyed with his obsession with detail.) But, if we are not trying to be thorough, then why have a Harper's Globe wiki at all? I would maintain that the particular characteristics of the head spade are quite relevant to its use as a weapon in the murders. Of the six types of whaling spades shown on whalecraft.net, only two are described as sharpened on all three edges. A spade that is blunt on the sides could, of course be swung like an ax, but, unless the side edges are sharpened, it would not produce a clean cut, as in the decapitation of Rev. Fain. The murderer obviously chose the head spade, instead of one of the other whaling implements in the Maritime Museum, for a reason.--71.171.9.108 13:26, 18 May 2009 (UTC)