I bought a box of random tools at the same farm auction I got my leg vice.  The box had 2 of these that from a distance looked like files, but they have no teeth.

They are about 15" long 1" wide and tapered from 1/4" near the handle to about 1/8" at the other end.  

Does anyone know what they are or what their purpose is?  

Looks like the tool we use to put the gull wings on slides for machinery. You hold the tool with the end in contact with the slides and bump the handle end with your palm. It makes small scratches that hold oil. Ironically last week i was talking with a friend looking to purchase a knee mill and took some pics of things to look for and the gull wings were one. 

I could be wrong but that is what it looks like to me.

I think it is a float for woodworking.

 

 

 

It's not a float (I had to look one up to be sure).  These are smooth, no teeth or grooves, just a flat taper.  The edges are square including the ends so it's not a chisel.  I took a closer look through the surface rust and saw a maker's stamp of Murcott & Campbell on one side near the tang.  From what I can tell they were a respected file maker in the early 1900's and were bought out in 1944.

I don't know about the gull wings.  It's possible they were used for something of the kind, but this was in and old farmer's workshop so I'm thinking something that would be used with agricultural equipment.  I just don't know what that use would be.  

There is no question that it is some sort of file.

Files normaly are stamped with a number near where the manufacturers mark is to note the cut. I normally use 0.

The taper scream file.

The question is what specialty file it is.

Im surprised how narrow it is tor its length.

Normally as a file gets longer they are also made wider.  A 6" 0 cut is much narrower that say a 14" 0 cut.

I use Swiss style pattern files that have a safe side that has no teeth.

 

 

It is hard?  If not, maybe someone slipped a couple of blanks into a gross so they could knock off early Friday afternoon.

If not, the obvious answer seems like a burnisher -- but for what?

Back a few years ago i went to an estate sale that was a farm. I bought my drill press there and 2 buckets full of files there. Talking with the owner he said that the files had belonged to his father in law that was a machinist. So just because they were bought at a farm sale does not mean that they were used in agriculture. 

Being on a farm also raises the possibility that the tool was made by the farmer for some unknown task. 

All the burnishing tools i have ever seen have been round. That is not saying they are no flat ones just i have never seen one. 

Some clockmakers use flat burnishers on "pivots" (bearing journals).  Much smaller than the one here, of course.

I use a stainless steel butter knife as a burnisher when making gold jewelry.

Good point Billy.  That farmer was probably not as old as the tool so he probably acquired it second hand.   The tool was made by a known file maker, it's just not a file. 

 

A Burnisher is a possibility, but everything I see advertised as a burnisher is round.  

Try searching burnisher file or burnishing file.

They look flat to me.