What is it? CCXXII

[Michael A. Terrell]

I have been on several farms, but I was smart enough to stay off the barn.

[Michael A. Terrell]

[DonkeyHody]

Oh Ye of Little Faith! Don't tell the folks at PETA, but these things are still in use today. This one attaches a little differently, but the outcome is still the same.

"Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then."

[Andrew Erickson]

though.

1239 -- It's fairly obvious how you'd use this tool; the pointy bit gets stuck in something, and the other end swung around to describe a circle or arc. The diameter is adjustable within some limits. It's much less clear what the circle-describing end is intended to do on its course; the rounded mustache-shaped metal foot seemingly slides along the surface, and presumably the vee-shaped trough does...ummm...something. If it's sharpened at one or the other end, it may cut a groove or mark where cutting is to be done; or perhaps it's somehow used to check the roundness and evenness of wheels. Pure guesswork, in both cases. 1240 -- Well, you put the top edge in the flap at the back and follow the instructions along the side to accomplish whatever it is you need to do. Print a bookmark? 1241 -- No idea what it does, but it's an exquisite tool. 1242 -- A woodworking jig for drilling holes at an angle; I presume this may be used to make screw holes to attach table tops to their rails. Presumably, the bit-guiding portion is actually perpendicular to the base, and the apparent angle in the first picture is caused by the camera's position. 1243 -- Possibly strapped around one's knee when doing something like ice climbing? 1244 -- Strange things. They are fairly roughly finished and not too precisely cast, so they cannot be precision weights or measures or standards. The holes suggest perhaps they rock on a shaft; possibly parts of some mechanical control system? (I'm thinking along the lines of the mechanism used until relatively recently to synchronize the locks on the Panama canal. I tried and failed to find a picture online, but it was essentially a PAL assembled of rocker arms, levers, and cams.)

[Lee Michaels]

"DonkeyHody" wrote

That is the new fangled version. The ones that we used were made of metal and had a point on one end. You jammed it through the wall between the nostrils and slipped a pin in it. It became a metal ring through the nose with some teeth on it. So you had a ring through the nose which would come in handylater in life if you needed to move the cow. a rope through the ring made any livestock totally obedient.

[DS]

Don't let the kids at the mall see that. They'll all be wearing them...

[R.H.]

Thanks, I used blogger's label feature to make the archive, you can add a descriptor to each post and then all related posts can be seen by clicking on the label. I was planning to go back and label every applicable post with these terms: Best, Woodworking, Metalworking, Science, Gunpowder, and Fire; but I only got about half way when I realized that some of the categories were starting to contain too many posts.

There are over twenty posts in the woodworking set, in which at least one tool in the post is related to this category, it can be seen at the link below but you might want to pass on it unless you have broadband:

a dozen posts related to gunpowder, weapons, or explosives are in this set:

haven't decided yet if I'm going to continue adding more labels, since most of the categories have enough posts already.

Rob

[dgates]

One possible problem I see with labeling in that way is that you're kind of giving away the answer. With the ones I've most enjoyed, you look at them and say "Is that a weapon? Some kind of time piece? A woodworking tool??"

[DoN. Nichols]

Anyway -- posting from Rec.crafts.metalworking as usual.

1239) This looks like a tool for cutting a circle from cardboard or leather. The vertical spike defines the center, and the horizontal handle puts pressure on the arc-shaped cutting blade.

Looks as though there is a hook to lift up the work stock outside of the circle as you go -- to make sure that you have cut all the way through before you get away from an area.

1240) Magnifying viewer for something. The format is wrong for microfiche. It uses a rather intense illuminator inside based on the ventilation louvers. Perhaps it is some form of opaque projector? 1241) Looks as though it is meant to hold down meat while it is being cut, and not to lift it to the user's mouth. 1242) Hmm -- screwed to a tabletop of some sort. The clamp holds a workpiece and the two angled setscrews hold it down to the bottom, perhaps to assure that it is at a constant height for some other tool to work upon. 1243) At a guess, it straps just below the knee to allow one to kneel on ice without slipping. 1244) A set of screw-on (or snap-on) cams -- marked for how much lift they give to a follower roller. Not sure what the units are. Maybe 0.001" increments, too small to be mm of lift.

Now to see what others have said -- and you probably have already posted the answers page by now.

Enjoy, DoN.

[R.H.]

That's another good reason not to continue with the labels, I'll probably hold off using this feature for a while.

An update on the barrel maker's tool: someone who has used this device sent me an email saying that it was for champhering the head of a barrel so that it would hold in the groove around the top.

Rob