Lead Ladle Recycled From A Hoe Blade

The people of Appalachia have always had to be resourceful, and arguably practiced recycling before it was popular in the rest of the nation. When tools wore out, they were re-purposed into other items. This ladle, used to pour molten lead into a mold to make bullets, started its life as a garden hoe, as evidenced by its shape and the "goose neck" shank. The original hoe was reworked by a blacksmith into a lead ladle. Hunters made their own bullets by melting lead over a fire in a pot, then used a ladle like this to pour the molten lead into the mold, making a round bullet. The lip for pouring can be found on the left side, indicating it's use by a right handed person. 

This ladle, used to pour melted lead into a bullet to make bullets, was re-purposed from a garden hoe.

The lip used to pour the lead into the bullet mold can be seen at the top of the figure.

This photograph, from John Rice Irwin's "Guns And Gunmaking Tools Of Southern Appalachia", shows how the ladle would have been used by someone making bullets.