What is it? Set 338

[Lobby Dosser]

But if they wrapped the wooden garters with barbed wire they'd have a cilice ...

[Gotcha]

I don't think so....how would you get the strainer part

It is a frame for trapping and holding Usenet trolls. The extended part is to keep them at arms length so they can be dragged back under their bridge. ha ha

[J Burns]

I seem to recall seeing wood bands used to clamp cloth. How about a beach wedding for an Irish witch? Wouldn't this item be just the thing to fasten a veil to her pointy hat?

Suppose Inis Mor had a parking meter as a tourist attraction. They certainly wouldn't want it exposed to salt spray in the off season. So they put a tarp over it and fasten it with this device.

[Rob H.]

There was a second picture of it that I didn't post, it's the top one at the link below, the bottom image is the original one that I posted already:

longer piece was described as 'maybe 8 inches', if this is an accurate estimate then the part that some have called a handle is about 2-1/2" long.

Rob

[J Burns]

If it's to hold open a tea sock, the 8" piece would make the frame big enough for a pan to support at three points. It would strain tea for several people at once. Some say metal strainers spoil the flavor of tea. The frame of a tea sock could well be left on a beach, especially if the group left after dark.

[--riverman]

If it were a tea or coffee sock, I'd expect to see some significant staining.

--riverman

[J Burns]

I'll back off about coffee. I recall a 1948 study comparing the diet of Irish immigrants in Boston to that of their cousins in Ireland. In Ireland they drank little coffee but lots of tea.

I recall teabag stains on plastic cutting boards but not wood. Tea staining works with some teas on some kinds of wood. The mystery item is already about the color of a tea stain, and it appears to have a finish. If somebody took the trouble to use curved wood, wouldn't he rub in a little linseed oil so it wouldn't absorb water?

If I owned the mystery item, I'd sew a cloth bag with three loops. That would give me a more practical strainer than using a rubber band to fasten a cloth across the top of a pot.