And!!...your question is?.....what is it used for.....well, its a baling hook...over here in Scotland,they were used when unloading bales of Jute,..my home town.of Dundee, was during the late 1800,s and well into the mid to late 1900,s..the Jute processing capital of the world...and down at the docks this kind of hook was an essential tool,of a stevedore...thats a longshoreman in the US...when bales of jute were unloaded,over in the US...it would be used on cotton bales,.....or hay bales,....