Re: What is it? XCV

[High Score]

549 is a carver's screw - the sharp end screws into the piece being carved and the other end is fixed to the bench with the wingnut.

[Mike Young]

Missing its corkscrew.

[humunculus]

#549 does look a lot like a woodcarver's screw but not quite. I'm not convinced...

--humunculus

[humunculus]

Umm, NOW I am... ;-)

[R.H.]

Thanks for the link.

Rob

[R.H.]

You're right about it being new, but I'm not sure if it's from Wal-Mart. This one was priced $65 at the antique mall and was sold yesterday for that amount minus 10%, so if it is a cheap one, somebody made a nice profit.

Rob

[R.H.]

I think this is the most likely answer, I thought that it was an ice chipper when I first saw it but still don't see what the value of the spring is, seems as though it would work just as well without it.

A few minutes ago I found a similar tool here:

[Guess who]

also just guessing. There is still no definite answer. The ice-pick doesn't wash. It would be a possibility if there was no spring ...but there is.

[humunculus]

Try this. Its not the same, but very similar:

think its pretty clear that its an ice chopper, to crush ice in a glass without busting the glass up.

--humunculus

[R.H.]

Thanks, that's a good link, I agree that ice chopper is the probable answer.

Rob

[humunculus]

Then there's this one:

[humunculus]

Wow, I think somebody got scammed. Those are furniture tacks being used to hold on the naugahyde, and the tip is definately from a hose fitting: see .

The bellows is similar to this one but not as well made. I don't think there's any way that the original is an antique.

--humunculus

[Guess who]

how much ice it would chop with the spring absorbing much of the energy. Also, why 5 points, and not just one. If I wanted that sort of ice, I'd use an ice crusher, also available at the time.

[Alexander Thesoso]

500 Is an Ice crusher. I purchased mine somewhere around 40-45 years ago.

It fills the niche of making enough crushed ice for one drink (at a time).

It works fairly easily, with the impact when the handle bottoms-out doing the cracking.

The spring gives a more positive and rapid return than relying on gravity.

The multiple points result in a fast action. The are hard steel.

As I said earlier, I stopped using mine when I realized that, along with the ice, I was drinking small chips of ground-glass chipped off of the bottom of the container.

I now use a hand-squeeze cast-aluminum single-cube ice crusher. I keep it in the freezer, so it doesn't melt too much ice when I use it.

[CW]

It's a carver's screw. Check the Rockler catalog.

[CW]

[DoN. Nichols]

According to CW :

[ ... ]

I don't know Rockler. May I guess that you are posting from rec.woodworking? I'm posting from rec.crafts.metalworking instead, and we tend to use a different set of catalogs. :-)

I might have come up with a better guess if it had been clear that the sharp end was threaded.

I just went and re-downloaded it, and I see that even when I zoom into the image, the jpeg compression loses too much detail for me to see the threads. The photos in one of the sites pointed to by others did show the threads, which changed my perception of it.

It really needed a closeup of the sharp end, as well as the end with the square.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Mike Young]

Damn, DoN. I would suggest getting the eyes checked, but it's clear that the problem is the rest of your cranium. Smack it once or twice with a 2x and see if you can force a reset. Right between the eyes might do the trick. Lemme know if you want some help.

[Rich Grise]

On Sun, 01 Jan 2006 15:21:04 +0000, CW top-posted:

So, after 100 years, what kind of shape is the leather in?

Thanks, Rich

[CW]