Any idea what these are

[Lefty]

Howdy all,
A friend shared these photos of some tools he picked up.

Any idea what they might have been used for?

Thanks,
Lefty

[ThomasPowers]

The look rather like mullers to me.

[draper84]

it almost looks like some sort of mortar and pestle

[Ten Hammers]

In Spanglish, the smaller one without the handle might be part of a Mocahete ( volcanic rock mortar and pestal ). I'll have to drag mine out and take a pic if I remember.

[KevinD]

Are they iron? They look stone...

[Lefty]

Both tools are made of iron.

Thomas,
I had never heard of a muller so I looked it up. Interesting stuff.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks for the help,

Lefty

[irnsrgn]

the round one with the handle looks similar to an old stone masons club used to split stone with feathers and wedges.

[nett]

What stone would they be splitting in order to have a special club?

I have seen granite split with feathers and wedges using the same drill hammer used to bore the holes.

Now, I understand splitting sandstone, the holes can be bored by hand with a drilling buck. Would that mason's club be used for splitting sandstone because a drill hammer wasn't needed anymore?

machine eliminating the hammer and drill operation.

[Ferrous Beuler]

Gee, haven't you all been watching the History Channel?
These have been covered in depth.
We are all familiar with all the really cool sexy gadgets that agent 007 has been outfitted with by MI5.
These represent their counterparts by the KGB from the cold war days.
On the left, grasped in hand is the Tsolovsky 59 (intrduced in 1959).
It was intended to dispatch targets with a minimum of visible trauma.
On the right is the Similansk 88 (intrduced in 1988, one of the last cold war relics).
The Tsolovsky was used mostly behind the iron curtain, in Ploand and the former DDR. It is wrought iron and shows up occasionaly in auctions in Poland, Germany and Romania.
The Similansk however is a much more challenging prospect for collectors. It was the offshore cloak and dagger weapon of choice for KGB assasins and is forged of kryptonite.

[rthibeau]

Dan...grow up..they are obviously tools to keep Dale Russel in line

[Lefty]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will pass your thoughts on to my friend Joe.

Dan,
I gotta say that your description is very believanle. After all it was known as the "Iron Curtain."

Lefty

[bruce wilcock]

they look like sand rammers used in the foundry trade

[CurlyGeorge]

Dan, what did ya say was in that jug??!!!!LOL

[ThomasPowers]

Dan, can you bring some of your "special" pipe mixture when you come to Quad-State and smoke it upwind from me?

[NateDJ]

Perhaps Mr. Hofi would know?