Found on the pavement. Tool is steel, about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch diameter with a knurled mid-section and flattened domed ends. Pictures here:-
for some reason I think of leather eyelets and rivets, but I thought that hand yools for that were more usual.
Might it actually be some sort of dowel?
If it is a tool, considering where you found it I wonder if it is part of parking brake off a pram,wheelchair , pushchair or similar. The knurled section would be wedged against a tyre.
G.Harman
Metal kongo?
Something to do with carpets? Brian
Surely rather too small, at least to judge from the photos further down?
It certainly has me puzzled. Presumably iron or steel, and having some age from the corrosion patina, but also protected by something oily or greasy (possibly from frequent handling). I can't decide from the photos whether the domes at each end might be bearing surfaces, and whether the object might have been rotating about its axis. I would be looking for grooving or scoring, a bit like lines of latitude (if you see what I mean).
It's the symmetry of the thing which makes it look so unlike any punch or riveting or eyelet tool which I can think of.
But it does have the look of a tool about it. I wonder if it could be one of a range of knurling tools. Imagine a sort of "pliers" where one jaw fits the dome of each end, making a sort of rolling tool. I could imagine rolling it along something like a strip of leather or wood, to provide some embossing. You could imagine a set of tools of the same overall length with "wheels" of different diameter, or knurl width, or pattern, that fits into a single "pliers". OK, probably not really a pliers because the orientation would be wrong. But a fork which could be opened or closed, perhaps with a screw for changing the tool, and then a handle for applying pressure and movement.
I do hope someone comes along with an answer!
Tried it on Google Images, which correctly identifies it as "metal" and gives various images of metal antiques with similar colour and texture, but alas nothing like that shape.
It is probably not but could it be some sort of chamber measure for a firearm?
I think it's half of an eyelet insertion tool The anvil is missing.
I was trying to think of some item where a pair of eyelets might be fixed with a single blow, applied between two anvils with this punch in between. I couldn't think of one (not to say there might not be though).
I still think my knurler/roller is the best bet so far.
Might be one of these perhaps:
They come in all sorts of sizes. If yours is one then it would at one time have had a plastic sleeve over the central knurled section to prevent heat from your fingers from expanding the length. Some are made with domed ends just like yours.
But both ends are similar and one end not made to hit with hammer?
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