BS: What is it No: 2

Subject: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Beer
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 04:56 PM

On September 21st katlaughting started a thread which I thought to be very interesting and I would like to follow it up with the following pictures with hopes to finding an answer to the item. It was found in an old barn that was torn down.

http://picasaweb.google.com/adrien.doucette5/Album?authkey=Gv1sRgCNehoKWontHacA#


Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: curmudgeon
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 05:00 PM

What's stamped on the handle?

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Alice
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 05:14 PM

It is a tool for piercing bull noses.
A little bit different design is on this page


http://www.antiquefarmtools.info/page7.htm

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Melissa
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 05:19 PM

I was going to guess that it was for putting in bullrings and ask whether it was a haybarn or cowbarn.
Alice beat me to it.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 05:24 PM

Thanks for the link, Alice. We have a couple of large tools which came from my Aunt Helen's ranch; she couldn't remember what they were. I hope to identify them on that site. Have to get some pix up, soon.

Adrien, I look forward to some more fun in this thread. I love finding out about old things! Thanks.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: gnu
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 05:55 PM

Up country, when I was a lad, they used a large "ring needle" for that. And the poor relatives used a nail.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: olddude
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 06:20 PM

whatever it is used for, ahhhh not on me ok ... ouch

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Beer
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 07:23 PM

Stamped on the handle is: PAT A LB FOR

No sure you are correct Alice. But then again it could be. The only reason I question your answer is because one side is flat and measures 2" across. The rounded end measures exactly 1/4 inch. While the tool you are referring to in your picture both sides are round.
Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Leadfingers
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 07:29 PM

Alice's suggestion looks a reasonable guess though I dont think the beastie would enjoy it !!

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 08:09 PM

Beer my dear friend. If you do not know by now what #2 is, this is not the place to ASK.

On second thought, it IS. :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: bobad
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 08:21 PM

I would guess that it is some kind of crimper. The double lever action and size suggests that it had a heavy duty application, perhaps a fencing crimper similar to this one.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Beer
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 08:29 PM

Saturday evening there is a barn dance to bless the new one just built. The item will be passed around and it will be interesting to hear what the old boys have to say.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 08:31 PM

It looks like a castrator to me.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Beer
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 09:20 PM

That is interesting Sandra. Better than No#2
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 10:12 PM

I think Susan has it right. I have no idea what it is but I got a horrible feeling in my nether regions as soon as I saw it...

:D (eG)

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Amos
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 10:26 PM

Stirred up past lifetimes as a gelding? Or a eunuch?



A

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 11:27 PM

But who the heck is Sandra? (She's not MY Number 2....)

If it's a castrator I believe it would be horse or bull (or colt or calf). Sheep are done as lambs, usually these days by ligature or teeth. Well, not just teeth, as I saw it done on the teevee, but by knife and THEN teeth. Pigs, I dunno.

Sleep well, men. :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Jos
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 06:23 AM

Could it be for removing nails left in a horses hoof after a shoe has been removed or cast?

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Beer
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 08:01 AM

Sandra...I mean Susan. I do apologize.

Jos, that is what I was told it was used for. But there was some doubt as well for the more we talked the less convincing he became.
Ad.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 09:52 AM

It looks like the flat part braces agains something and the part with the pointy thing locks in and holds something, then you use it like a pipe wrench.

It also looks like a pipe would fit in the inside area, or some long, rounded or oblong object with a lip on it (for the flat part of the tool).

Or it could be one of those old Egyptian removing-the-brain-through-the-nose mummy-making tools.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 12:51 PM

Could be used to hold a hot horse shoe while working on it at a forge.
Certainly looks like some sort of smithing tool.

JM

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 01:04 PM

I keep wanting to say, "Well, if you don't know what No. 2 is you should go back to elementary school" but I will refrain.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Becca72
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 05:33 PM

To me it looks like one a them thingies what they used to use for picking up and carrying blocks of ice...

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 05:42 PM

Ice tongs

JM

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Alice
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 05:57 PM

My first thought on seeing it was a tool used in shoeing horses, but after doing a search, I still think it is similar to the bull nose piercing tools.

Ice tongs? For cubes?... instead of blocks?

Reminds me of trying to find ice for an ice chest in the middle of the jungle in Guatemala. The response was... cubitos? o BASTANTE?? (cubes or plenty big)

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Gurney
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 05:58 PM

If I had a tool like that, I'd use it for crimping a metal lid onto a drum. I'd use it vertically with the flat end 'inside' the lid and the tongue doing the crimping.
The purchase linkage suggests it is for heavy use.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Alice
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 06:01 PM

Can you give us the location of the barn where it was found? Country and nearest town??

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Alice
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 06:07 PM

Now that I've looked at picture view two, I don't think it is for piercing. That angle doesn't show that it pierces, but rather clamps.

Wild guess.... tongs used in butchering?

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Beer
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 06:14 PM

Location: Canada, Quebec in a Scottish,Irish settlement.

My guess it that it is some sort of a crimping tool as suggested by Bobad and others.
Ad.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Alice
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 06:21 PM

Blacksmithing tongs is my guess, but some specialized use..??? don't know what. Was thinking of a special use for glass forming, too, just looking at antique beaker tongs
click
, but that doesn't fit very well with the barn location.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Alice
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 06:28 PM

"backyard metalcasting" furnace tools

tool for shaping and crimping?

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Janie
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 08:44 PM

I was guessing a smithing tool also. I seem to remember the blacksmith who used to shoe our horses having one, but can't remember for sure. all I know is it is not the first time I have seen such a tool.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: bobad
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 09:02 PM

It doesn't look like a smithing tool to me but I have sent link to a friend of mine who is a blacksmith, will report his reply.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Alice
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 11:30 PM

LOL, I emailed a link to the photo, too... to an old farmer.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 10 Oct 09 - 03:31 AM

Photos give no idea of scale.

What's the size of it, Beer?

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Beer
Date: 10 Oct 09 - 08:17 AM

Damn, I returned it last night. However I would be fairly accurate in saying it is about 24" in length.
Ad.

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: topical tom
Date: 10 Oct 09 - 05:19 PM

A wild guess...a tool for cutting horns on animals?

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 11:35 AM

The shape of the "jaws" suggests that this is a tinker's tool for forming a crease in sheet metal. The approx 5:1 leverage of the first stage would provide sufficient clamping to turn a short area at the edge of the metal, and the fairly narrow width of the jaws would allow the "crimp" to be worked around a curved surface, so the tool would be suitable, as an example, for forming the "groove" for the reinforcing wire commonly worked onto the lip of a bucket. Once the crimp is started with a tool like this, , and "formed" sufficiently to hold the wire, the rim can be hammered down around the wire to finish.

The apparent range of motion of the second stage of the compound lever doesn't look sufficient to close the jaws tightly, as would be required for any useful piercing or cutting application - or for any "animal" use I can think of.

This tool is similar to old ones I've seen intended for "setting" saw teeth as a first step in sharpening, but the jaw shape clearly implies a different purpose.

Just a guess, of course.

John

Subject: RE: BS: What is it No: 2
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 04:29 PM

Two feet long with that linkage would inevitably mean that it would be impossible to use one handed, which cuts down the likelihood of it being a hand tool for farriers or blacksmiths, who mostly use one handed tools for all but the heaviest work.

This tool doesn't look hefty enough for heavy industry application.

This would mean two men, with one holding something while the other used the tool.

Offhand, I can't think of any function in a blacksmith shop which would fit that tool.

It's not a de-horning tool, as the action would split horns lengthwise, not across.

Crimping is the most convincing possibility offered so far, and would fit with the sheer power of that double linkage.

What's the betting we're all wrong?

Don T.