When you go through a relative’s belongings, things sometimes appear that are difficult to place. An object may be well used and carefully saved, while no one remembers what it did. The long wooden tool in the picture is one such find: a strong head at one end, a narrower shaft and a rounded grip in the other.
It looks mostly like an older potato chorus of wood, i.e. a tool for mashing boiled potatoes. The shape resembles a large mortar shock. The identification is probable, but the picture alone is not enough to determine its exact use, age or origin.
There are documented museum objects with very similar construction. The Auckland Museum’s collection tasks describe a potato blast of wood with a cylindrical base and a shaft that ends with a knob. The Science Museum Group also has a potato blast of wood with a flat work surface. These comparisons support the interpretation, without proving the history behind the object in the picture. Wikimedia Commons
