accordion lath splitter

 When people find out I restore old buildings one of the inevitable comments goes something like: "you must find all kinds of cool stuff in the walls of those old places". The truth is finding anything interesting is surprisingly rare unless you're into rodent skeletons or outdated forms of insulation.
 That being said things do turn up, like this late 18th C lath splitter found sealed up in the cavity above a ceiling in an early house in Dresden, Me. The lath is 3/4" vertically sawn pine attached with 8d wrought nails.
 Accordion or splitboard lath was installed by nailing one end of a board then splitting , wedging, and nailing your way across an area to be plastered. In midcoast Maine accordion lath was used starting around 1790. Before then riven lath (lath split on all four sides) was used.

8" long x 1 3/8" wide x  1" thick

 The splitting wedge is made of white oak and very nicely fashioned. Oval in cross section and lightly chamfered on the strike end, it appears to have seen little use. I wonder if its owner ever realized where it disappeared to.