Bitch Pick

[Don Dougan <dondougan@zzzzzzzz>]

Simon, et al;

Sorry to be a Johnny-come-lately to this thread, but you might find some
pertinent images here:

http://www.dondougan.homestead.com/TheProcess10_History.html

Some of those picks and hammers were found in a tool museum in France,
and many of the types I saw there are not found in any American reference
books I have seen.
Though I found a number of other images of picks and large stone hammers
in these American reference books and old (American) tool suppliers
catalogs, they were all just slight variations on the images I put on the
website.

I never found any references to the type pick pictured at the upper left
of the page, with its relatively massive head and short bits, although
several French museums had similar examples simply labeled as picks for
working stone, usually displayed alongside large toothed stone axes and
bouchardes.

I never came across the term Bitch Pick, though Quarry Pick, Mill Pick,
Burr Stone Pick, and Furrowing Pick are American terms for picks used
specifically for working stone ? though the last three are usually
associated with working the grooves on millstones.
The following types all look like the typical tool the average person
would expect a pick to look like: The Coal Pick, the Miner's Pick, the
Ore Pick, Dirt Pick, Railroad Pick, Surface Pick, and Cutting Pick are
all very similar to each other in that they all have relatively long
cutting bits (usually coming to a point, though some have a flat cutting
edge on one side), the  variations being primarily in the style and size
of the eye for attaching the handle.

Though my information seems to be on a tangent to your question I hope it
helps.

Good Carving to You,
Don

http://www.dondougan.homestead.com/indexdd.html