DEXTER Southbridge 2393 1/2 Paring? Knife

[wlwhittier]

I wouldn't have given this knife a second thought except for several curious details; first the bull-nose tip on such a short blade, which may have been shortened & profiled as it now is; then the apparent age, indicated by the wear on the grip an' the condition of the grip-tang interface, top & bottom; the lack of abusive sharpening evidence (no file or grinder used, it's been stoned only), an' the 'half' appended to the part number...neither of which show up in a search for information. Dexter is now part of Dexter-Russell, an' their website has of no help about it.
LOA ~7", the carbon-steel, wedge-ground blade is 3 1/2" X 3/4"; weight is ~1 1/2 oz.

What I would like is an idea of its age; what it was designed for (if it is as-made), an' what the 2393 may have looked like (I suspect it will be simply a longer version of this one). I'll be grateful for any an' all of your comments...thanks for lookin'!

 

[Hickory n steel]

I think this is some kind of industrial/ trades knife with a safety tip.
I have seen knives like this but don't know or can't remember what they were for.
There are all kinds of different trade / industrial knives that were made by Dexter, Russell, Ontario, R Murphy, Hyde...etc that.

 

[garry3]

I think it's a spreader or spatula.

 

[RPZIP]

Clam knife?

 

[Aardvark]

Makes one wish that someone had sealed the seams with CA, handle, too. Of course, CA probably didn't exist in its youth.

 

[RokJok]

The blunt nose looks like a progenitor of the sliming knives Dexter still makes today. Yes, I had to look up what a sliming knife is & what it's used for when I came across the name.

There's a contact page on the Dexter site where you can submit questions. You could query them with the model number to see if they know its original purpose.