Jun 30, 2009

Mystery Tool


Jaws Open
Originally uploaded by Snak Shak
At a garage sale in Phillips recently, I came across a fantastic old tool of some sort. I have no idea what it is, but I had to buy it. It appears to be solid brass, and has a handle that opens to spread two jaws with hooks on the end apart a couple of inches. It's got a dog on the underside for mounting in a work bench.

The worksmanship in this thing is amazing. All of the parts are machined and it's stamped with a manufacturer name and serial number or something. More photos of the mystery tool are located at the Flickr site.

If any readers have ideas on what this might be, I would love to hear your thoughts. I plan to send photos to the Historical Society as well, so we'll see if they have any ideas as well.

2 comments:

  1. The Midwest Tool Collectors Association might be able to identify it for you. www.mwtca.org/contact-us/12-contacts/5-whats-it-committee.html Or, if it has a patent number on it, you could do a patent search.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Ted. The site actually has a "What is it?" email address, so I sent the photo link and a description of tonight. We'll see what we get back...

    ReplyDelete