Matthew D Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 I volunteer once a week at a pioneer village. One of the curators asked me if I knew what this tool was. Nope. Any ideas? It is about 3 feet long. Has a shear head, like scissors, at one end that is operated by a bolt that extends though the hand to a handle you turn to actuate the shears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travo Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Almost looks like a limb cutter. Just a guess. Interesting though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 That would be my guess also, some sort of pruning tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou L Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 It would be interesting to know how wide the blades can open...and how heavy it is. It certainly doesn’t look like it is for overhead use. It seems to me that a saw would outperform that thing on wood but I’m not sure if it has the mechanical advantage to make it’s was through metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Roots maybe? I'd say it was intended to be used with the blades pointing downwards. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMike Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 I'd concur with the saw outperforming. the exception being that if once you took a bite your rotated it on the limb a bit then tightened it and repeated. like a big tubing cutter. Im just guessing too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 I'm thinking maybe for cutting roots as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Roots get my vote as well. A saw needs a lot of clearance on either side, and the screw action would allow the user to concentrate a lot of cutting power (useful for tough roots), albeit at the expense of speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stash Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 I'm not seeing the pruning thing- limb or root. (40 years in horticulture/ tree work.) Just not practical. Switch to farming? Maybe a de horner? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Not a dehorner--at least not anything like the several in our Ag museum here. I'm voting root cutter also...mostly because I sure could have used it for that several times to save a ton of hassle. It'd be the cat's meow for people who commercially transplant large trees in the good old days before those hydraulic lifters mounted on trucks/tractors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Stash, I suspect (assuming it was intended for root cutting or the like) that its impracticality and slow speed led to its failure to be widely adopted. Sometimes tools were produced that seemed like a good idea at the time but that didn’t prove themselves in the field. (Anvil/vise combinations spring to mind.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 What about ropes? It was obviously made to reach out to whatever it was to cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Castrations? Wouldnt want to be in kicking range haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John in Oly, WA Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 veterinary pliers (That's what I've heard them called) Das, look a bit different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Yeah John, seems like it'd be slow too. Wouldnt want that. Ugh. I'm still voting for root cutter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 They also look similar to electric cable cutters. My Dad told me about a right angle drill that my grandfather used - he was an electrician in the 20's-30's- that extended and had a crank like a bike on it. You stood on the foot that was on the floor then jammed the auger bit into the beam above your head. Once it was in the beam you cranked the handles to drill through the beam. Maybe a similar situation here for overhead/underground work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew D Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 I have tried to find something like it on the net. Nothing so far. Just using my noggin, I can see that they were used to cut something that was difficult to reach. Perhaps something down a pipe? What about some sort of plumbing shears to cut a root grown into a sewer drain? Just guessing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew D Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 Okay, I finally found out what they are. They are cattle dehorning tools. Daswolf was closest when he mentioned cattle castration clippers. However, they were used for dehorning young heifers or steers. The long reach gave the rancher the ability to reach inside a cattle shoot and dehorn a restrained steer, bullock or heifer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Close but on the wrong end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shabumi Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 As someone who dehorns cattle fairly regularly(once a year), it seems like that tool would be more of a burden than a help. If the cow startles and starts bucking in the chute, then you have a long piece of metal with protrusions swinging wildly around. But maybe im just partial to the piano wire garrote to dehorn for large horns or the "scooper" for calves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Probably why you don't see these today. Lots of tool designs don't meet the mark and get beat out by better designs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shabumi Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 I'm basing my opinion on the threads coming off the back, if it uses that threading to open and close the blades then it would take far to long with too much effort, but if it opens or closes in <5 rotations of the handle than it could be quick enough to do the job. As for using it as a castration tool all I have to say is... Ouch! That's the kind of thing you'd see being held by a cat in scrubs in a dogs nightmare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Hmmmm...the blades look nothing like the many other old dehorners in the museum here so I would not have leaned that way. Emasculators are quite different--I've got one in the shop right now to eventually go to the museum and it hurts just to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Burdizzo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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