Ice pick

During the 1800s, ice blocks were gathered from frozen water sources and distributed to nearby homes. Ice picks were used to easily cut the blocks into smaller pieces for use. In many cases these smaller blocks were used in iceboxes. Iceboxes are similar in use to refrigerators, with the major difference being that iceboxes could only stay cold for a limited time. They needed to be restocked with ice regularly to continue proper functioning. The ice pick slowly began to lose popularity beginning in the early to mid-1900s due to the creation of the modern refrigerator. Many refrigerators came with a built-in ice maker which allowed for easy access to small ice chunks at any time and eliminated the need for the ice pick.

Some bartenders will carve or chip blocks of ice into aesthetically pleasing shapes to be served with their drinks, using tools including an ice pick.{{cite book |last1=Urushido |first1=Masahiro |last2=Anstendig |first2=Michael |title=The Japanese Art of the Cocktail |date=2021 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=9780358362029 |pages=48}}

Because blocks of ice melt much slower than cubes, sailors, campers and others who will be away from civilization for periods of time may carry blocks of ice along with an ice pick to shape and serve the blocks.{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Joy |title=Kitchen Afloat: Galley Management and Meal Preparation |publisher=Sheridan House |isbn=9781574091311 |pages=25 |year=2002}}

Because of its availability and ability to puncture the skin easily, the ice pick has sometimes been used as a weapon. Most notoriously, New York's organized crime groups known as Murder Incorporated made extensive use of the ice pick as a weapon during the 1930s and 1940s.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yh9UgN4H_lwC&q=ice+pick&pg=PA34|title=The Canary Sang But Couldn't Fly: The Fatal Fall of Abe Reles, the Mobster Who Shattered Murder, Inc.'s Code of Silence|last=Elmaleh|first=Edmund|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|year=2009|isbn=9781402761133|location=New York, London|pages=34|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Icepicks-coffins-killers-Murder-inc/dp/B00071DL8K|title=Icepicks & Coffins: The Killers of Murder, Inc|last=Hanna|first=David|publisher=Leisure Books|year=1974}} There were up to 1,000 murders committed by this group. In 1932, the bodies of two young men were found who had been stabbed numerous times with an ice pick. A man named Jacob Drucker was found guilty of murdering a man in 1944. His victim had been stabbed with an ice pick over 20 times.{{Cite web |last=Ruderman |first=Wendy |date=August 31, 2012 |title=The Ice Pick Seems Antiquated, but It Still Shows Up on the Police Blotter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/nyregion/ice-picks-are-still-used-as-weapons.html |access-date=July 12, 2022 |website=New York Times}} The most feared hitman of his day, Abe Reles, used the ice pick as his weapon of choice, usually stabbing his victims in the ear.{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-this-day-killer-canary-defenestrated-1.5327309|title=This Day in Jewish History / Repentant Killer Canary Dies From Hotel Window Fall|last=Green|first=David B.|date=2014-11-12|work=Haaretz|access-date=2019-02-06|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/justice-story-canary-not-fly-article-1.246599|title=Justice Story: Canary who could not fly|last=Krajicek|first=David J.|date=25 March 2008|work=New York Daily News|access-date=6 February 2019}}

According to New York City police, ice picks are still used today as street weapons. On August 21, 2012, a man was attacked with an ice pick in the Bronx. John Martinez, a man from the Bronx, was convicted of several robberies using an ice pick in 2011.

Murderer Richard Kuklinski, who claimed to have killed over 200 people, was reported to have used an ice pick among other weapons.

During the early morning of August 16, 1975, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Robert Hayward arrested Serial Killer Ted Bundy, amongst the items found during a search of Ted's Volkswagen was a brown gym bag containing a red handled ice pick along with handcuffs, rope, ski mask, panty hose mask, flashlight, GLAD garbage bags, and other incriminating items.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq9MUE6qSxc&t=466s | title=Ted Bundy trial Bundy cross exams Utah cop Bob Hayward | website=YouTube | date=12 January 2023 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/c7id2f/ted_bundys_murder_kit/ | title=Ted Bundy's murder kit | date=30 June 2019 }}

Leon Trotsky is sometimes incorrectly said to have been killed with an ice pick. He was actually killed with an ice axe, a mountaineering tool.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/13/trotsky-ice-axe-murder-mexico-city|title=Bloodstained ice axe used to kill Trotsky emerges after decades in the shadows|last1=Borger|first1=Julian|date=2017-09-13|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-02-06|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191130145200/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/13/trotsky-ice-axe-murder-mexico-city|archive-date=November 30, 2019|last2=Tuckman|first2=Jo|issn=0261-3077|author-link=Julian Borger}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19356256|title=The ice pick assassination|last=Lanchin|first=Mike|date=2012-08-28|access-date=2019-02-06|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905120322/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19356256|archive-date=2019-09-05|work=BBC News}}

An ice pick (later revealed as a screwdriver){{Please clarify|Was it an ice pick or not?|date=December 2023}} and a kitchen knife were used by Luka Magnotta to murder Jun Lin in 2012.{{cite web |title=Police wage unsuccessful campaign to remove 'frickin' horrible' Luka Rocco Magnotta video from web |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/police-wage-unsuccessful-campaign-to-remove-frickin-horrible-luka-rocco-magnotta-video-from-web |website=National Post |access-date=July 8, 2022 |language=en}}

In 2018, a 25-year-old man was killed at a New York City bus stop when he was stabbed with an ice pick.{{Cite web |last=Parry |first=Bill |date=April 27, 2022 |title=Rosedale man convicted of murder in 2018 ice pick stabbing at Jamaica bus stop |url=https://qns.com/2022/04/rosedale-man-convicted-murder-ice-pick-stabbing/ |access-date=July 13, 2022 |website=QNS}}

in the Philippines, an ice pick is a common weapon, particularly in the slums of Manila.{{Cite web |date=2006-01-14 |title=What to Carry in the Philippines |url=https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/what-to-carry-in-the-philippines.383179/ |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=BladeForums.com |language=en-US}}

The lobotomy was a medical treatment that gained popularity during the mid-1930s.{{Cite web |title=How modern medicine created zombies |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/an-ice-pick-to-the-brain-the-horror-of-the-frontal-lobotomy/C2X63F5EDPOOGYJKKSRYMKGZEE/ |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=The New Zealand Herald |date=28 July 2019 |language=en-NZ}} Lobotomist Walter Freeman performed thousands of lobotomies across the world. Reportedly, he used an ice pick from his family's kitchen. The pick would be inserted into the brain through the eye socket. The procedure would be done without the use of anesthetics. This "Ice Pick Lobotomy," was believed to diminish mental issues however these often resulted in paralysis and early death. This treatment failed due to a lack of testing before being performed on thousands of people. Walter Freeman's medical license was revoked in 1967 after a woman died during a lobotomy.{{Cite web |last=Cormier |first=Zoe |date=June 12, 2015 |title=A History of the Ice Pick Lobotomy |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-history-of-the-lobotomy/ |access-date=July 12, 2022 |website=Vice}} This method of lobotomy led to the deaths of around 500 people over the course of 50 years. By the 1970s, the procedure would be banned in many countries for being `'inhumane`'

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{{Commons category|Ice picks}}

Category:Mechanical hand tools