Fighting Irons

[Billman]

Vandoo - your tool looks like an Italian roncole or billhook or possibly a serpe from Provence (Var region) in France - the Alpine region of Europe is the only region that regularly provides a hand guard of this type... then I saw the Aruval from southern India....

However, all the aruval I have seen appear to be curved, but French and Italian billhooks are made with squarer blades....

One by Ughetti (Aixe en Provence, France) and one from the Piemont of Italy showing the hand guard, often forged into the handle stem when rivetted scales are used, or part of the end washer when leather rings are placed on a through tang..