What is it? Set 321

[Rob H.]

You're in the right area but it's not for shaping heels.

[Ed Huntress]

I admire your patience, Rob. However, I'll make one last guess: A rasp for shaping shoe trees?

Now I yield for good on this one. I'm just guessing, and I should just let someone who has a reasonable idea carry on.

[Bill]

How about for helping to clean off your shoes before you come into the house (after a hard day working on the cattle or horse ranch)...

Bill

[Steve W.]

Come on out to Millers Mills, Valentines day and you can USE ice harvesting tools.

[Steve B]

1837 looks like a door horn. you pull the top handle upwards, then release to make a moo sound

[basilisk]

1839

A filing cabinet, move the junk from in front of it and it can be used to store important papers in some semblance of order.

basilisk

[Steve B]

I would venture to say that 1838 is a tool designed to move blocks of ice from a frozen pond at the time that ice was collected from frozen ponds and kept for future use. The tool would allow floating blocks to be stabbed and pulled onto the ice, or moved around with the other end of the tool.

At least, I think so.

Pierre

You stole my thunder. It definitely looks like some sort of ice tool.

Steve

[Rob H.]

I'll go ahead and give the answer, wood pegs were used to attach the heel, the pegs would stick up above the insole and this tool was used to cut off and smooth the end of the peg. Hard to guess unless you know how shoes used to be constructed, I'll have some photos of the pegs on the answer page.

Rob

[Rob H.]

Correct, it's a tool for use on an ice farm.

Thanks to everyone who helped answer the guitar transmitter, still not sure about the tool with the long handle. The rest of the answers can be seen here:

[Steve]

in my father's stuff. Since he was not a shoemaker, I'm going to have to guess they were the result of some antiquing. Still got a few that are puzzling me!

[John Martin]

1839: Another ice tool. This one is used to skim the slush and ice out of ice-fishing holes.

John Martin

[Rob H.]

I just updated the answer page to say that the ten similar looking tools that are lined up vertically are burnishers for use on the edge of a shoe sole. Feel free to send me some photos of your unidentified tools, I'd be happy to take a look at them and possibly include them on the web site.

Rob

[The Tagge's]

1839: Another ice tool. This one is used to skim the slush and ice out of ice-fishing holes.

John Martin