April 27, 20179 yr Ok everyone, here is an interesting one for you. I picked this up at a flea market for scrap, and I have never seen one of these before. I was hoping that someone could help me identify it. It looks to be some sort of file, with two filing surfaces, and two flat surfaces. Anyone want to have a guess?
April 27, 20179 yr Name that tool! I'd name him Stanley! or maybe just a nickname - Spike! Sorry, I'm no help at all. Must be getting close to the weekend.
April 27, 20179 yr Maybe a file designed to be used in a die filer. I will hug him and squeeze him and name him George.
April 28, 20179 yr Some type of broach to make a square hole? Dunno, that doesn't explain that big ole spike on the on end.
April 28, 20179 yr Sometimes a smith makes a single tool for a special purpose that no one has made before or since. What is left is for us to wonder what those tools were used for. If I had to guess, my guess is that the pointy end was driven into wood, and the tenoned end was to support something with a matching square hole.
April 28, 20179 yr Self guiding draw file? If used as a draw file the square pegs on either end could slide along guide rails...the further out the rail on the tapered spike end the lower the cut? The other two handed thing it reminded me of was a pit saw which had a fixed handle end and a Tee handle end which could be detached to allow the saw out mid kerf in order to sharpen it. This file could be passed through a large flywheel axle hole and your mate on the other side tapped on his Tee handle and kept the file true to the keyway... I can't see in the photo but are the two cutting surfaces adjacent to one another, or on opposite sides? Alan
April 28, 20179 yr Perhaps handles were supposed to go on each end as a literal draw file? Or a self guided one like Alan said. That would be my guess.
April 28, 20179 yr Hmm I'm going to go out and bend a file into a helix and leave it in the tool rack just to cause trouble in the future!
April 28, 20179 yr 8 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: Hmm I'm going to go out and bend a file into a helix and leave it in the tool rack just to cause trouble in the future! Lol
April 28, 20179 yr Are you shure there is only 2 filing sides on it , Years ago I saw a 4 sided sharping stone each side got finer .It looked a lot like that I was told it was for knife makers jmac
April 28, 20179 yr Files often have blind sides or edges to facilitate working in corners. I can see this being used on machine 'ways' if it has a real fine cut.
April 28, 20179 yr 6 hours ago, David Einhorn said: Sometimes a smith makes a single tool for a special purpose that no one has made before or since. What is left is for us to wonder what those tools were used for. If I had to guess, my guess is that the pointy end was driven into wood, and the tenoned end was to support something with a matching square hole. This is very true.
April 29, 20179 yr It sure does look like a stake anvil intended for drifting tenons. maybe the file was cut into the side for final shaping of the tenons.
April 29, 20179 yr Author 21 hours ago, Alan Evans said: Self guiding draw file? If used as a draw file the square pegs on either end could slide along guide rails...the further out the rail on the tapered spike end the lower the cut? The other two handed thing it reminded me of was a pit saw which had a fixed handle end and a Tee handle end which could be detached to allow the saw out mid kerf in order to sharpen it. This file could be passed through a large flywheel axle hole and your mate on the other side tapped on his Tee handle and kept the file true to the keyway... I can't see in the photo but are the two cutting surfaces adjacent to one another, or on opposite sides? Alan The two filing faces are on opposite sides. 2 hours ago, Joel OF said: Sadists rolling pin. Ha! 19 hours ago, oldshove said: Are you shure there is only 2 filing sides on it , Years ago I saw a 4 sided sharping stone each side got finer .It looked a lot like that I was told it was for knife makers jmac Definitely 2 filing sides opposite one another, with the remaining sides blind. 23 hours ago, David Einhorn said: Sometimes a smith makes a single tool for a special purpose that no one has made before or since. What is left is for us to wonder what those tools were used for. If I had to guess, my guess is that the pointy end was driven into wood, and the tenoned end was to support something with a matching square hole. Yeah, that was my first thought when I saw it. A custom made tool for a custom job.
April 29, 20179 yr looks like it would easily repurpose for the Zombie apocalypse, bet you could sell it to a prepper for a pretty penny!
May 4, 20179 yr came across this while looking at sharpening stones, reminded me of this thread. its a stone, not metal. Littleblacksmith
May 4, 20179 yr Mark, That sharpening stone, with a handle, is definitely used by shoe repairers, and shoe makers. I bought several of them from a shoe maker supply dealer years ago. I repair my and my family members' shoes. I do a much better job. Hence my frequenting that establishment, & acquiring all manner of tools and supplies. I believe this kind of stone is/was also used to sharpen hand powered lawn mowers and even scythes, years ago. I also vaguely remember seeing other artisans using the tool, years back but I forget for what purposes. Hope that helps, SLAG.
May 27, 20179 yr Found this thing in the scrap pile. It looks interesting, but no-one seems to know what it is. It is obviously missing a part or two. I have set it up with our wheelwright stuff because that's the nearest guess we could make. It looks like part of a machine for joining iron rims but not sure. ...and here's another thing I found. Drill is there to judge size. Any ideas??
May 27, 20179 yr Top photo is a tyre stretcher for the wrought iron bands to fit on wooden wheels. Google image search might turn up something useful eventually, but I mostly get hits on medical stretchers, and the stupid useless car trend of putting narrow rubber tires on wide rims. Second one may be for pushing the spokes into the hub and the fellow mortises by compression, but that is just a guess.
May 27, 20179 yr I vote tire stretcher for the first pic. The second one I recognize but can't remember the name. "Monkey" Something maybe monkey jack something. I only remember what it did in a general way, Sort of like a "handy Man jack" for pulling things together say making a good tight joint on a dovetailed log cabin wall. The lever handle advances the point a bit with each pull and that section wracks on the rod and can't go backwards. Here's another possible use off the top of my dented head. It might be just the tool to suck floor or hull planks together tightly. If nothing else it'd look cool on the wall. Frosty The Lucky.
May 28, 20179 yr Anyone know what these things are? I would like to put a label of some kind on them. (or I could put on a big pair of eyes and some antennae to make giant caterpillars. )
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