What is it? Set 344

[J. Clarke]

Some Googling found , which suggests that the original patent for the planer was issued in 1802 and they didn't become available as usable tools until 1827.

tells a somewhat different story, but its date of 1828 is close enough to 1827. This, however, also says that Woodworth, the inventor, was quoted as saying that he first saw the technique being used by "the shaking Quakers", which I am guessing means the Shakers. If it was a Shaker invention that puts the planer in the 1790s or later I believe. So it would have not been made in colonial times, but it might be an original Shaker piece.

Doesn't look like curly maple to me either and the pattern's too regular for tiger maple.

[Sonny]

Yep, both sound reasonable. Also, it could have possibly been a third hand, if it did have a function. The unit is not big or built to handle a heavy object or aggressive work. The "clamp's" max opening may be 10" X 10", but whatever may be clamped, it is not clamped tight... hand tight. And whatever bulk (?) is clamped, seems it would be compressed to subsequently fit or guided into the notched area.

With regard to it being a third hand, if a woman/anyone would be alone; weaving, quilt making, mattress making or some other task using fabric, thread, feathers, cotton stuffing or some other domestic manufacture of a softgoods product, maybe she would need a third hand to hold something stable, as she performs an adjacent task. How many times have we needed a third hand, when clamping/assembling a wood project together?

Its clamping function can't be the end product alone, I don't think. There's some other task to be done, in conjunction with whatever is being clamped.

Sonny

[J Burns]

They look like 2x4s to me. In that case, the exact dimensions could date them. in the 1920s, a dressed 2x4 had to be within 1/4" of its nominal dimensions.

[dpb]

J Burns wrote: ...

I also thought that a very good possibility...

[dpb]

J. Clarke wrote: ...

I'm on slow dialup so tend to avoid the random googling as generally the load time of stuff is so long as to make it an all day effort for anything I don't have a starting point for.

That's roughly 20-30 years ahead of what I'd have guessed altho I'm still thinking post Civil War era at earliest for this piece and doubt that...

As another poster noted (but I'd held in hip pocket to see if anybody else thought so, too), looks to me like it was fabricated from dimension lumber.

--

[Doug Miller]

Suggesting that it may be a modern repro of, or repair to, something old.

Best suggestion so far IMO is Gunner's notion that it might have been intended to hold a wheel or tire.

[humunculus]

What if this is some sort of easel? And the two 'clamp jaw' pieces aren't finished because there was another part that covered them....that hooked onto the top and bottom of the picture frame? That would explain why it tightens by hand. Of course, it doesn't seem to tilt so that's a problem, but this sort of reminds me of something an artist might use...

Nothing in google.images, but I'll keep looking.

--riverman

[J Burns]

Here's the helping-hand function I visualize. It would display a small wine barrel with the tap high enough to draw a glass.

1980, the four corners of the cutouts would contact the barrel, securing it without much screw pressure. When the wine level got low, the long legs would make it easy to tip everything forward with one hand.

During Prohibition, homemade wine was the only legal alcoholic beverage.

[humunculus]

No, 'medicinal' whisky was available also. But that doesn't change your overall point.

--riverman

[J Burns]

I wasn't familiar with that.

James Madison, primary author of the Constitution, drank a pint of liquor a day. John Adams would drink a tankard of hard cider when he got up in the morning. After terrorizing small distillers by fielding a larger army than he'd commanded in the revolution, George Washington built the largest distillery in North America.

Early in the 20th Century, alcohol was the fifth largest industry in America. Per capita consumption was about what it is now. Alcohol taxes amounted to 30% of federal revenues, so the income tax had to be enacted before Prohibition.

At their 1917 meeting, the American Medical Association voted in favor of Prohibition. In 1922 they reversed their position, saying alcohol was vital to treat many diseases, including diabetes and cancer. The law was changed to permit prescriptions. If you wanted a bottle of liquor, you'd pay your doctor the equivalent of $40 and your druggist a similar amount.

Charles Walgreen had 20 drugstores in 1920. In 1930 he had 525. He hated fires because firemen would always steal a case of liquor.