MYSTERY OBJECTS

[catgate]

Try lanb foot.

[Stanley]

Getting close Catty. This is a common configuration of blades and was always described as a 'stockman's knife'. The left hand blade is for trimming sheep's feet when treating for foot-rot or excessive growth and is called a 'lamb foot'. The right hand curved blade is a castrating blade for slitting the scrotum before cutting the stones out. The larger middle blade is a general purpose knife and you're right Comrade, I've skinned many a rabbit with it! I've had it for over 50 years and it was made in Sheffield by Richard Rodgers in the days when there were more specialised knives than you could poke a stick at.

My kids know that I like knives. Big Harry gave me the ultimate Swiss Army knife, everything you could possibly need in one package and Janet gave me the Leatherman tool which includes a knofe but is more like a pocket tool kit. Yes, you could say I am fascinated by them!

[catgate]

The right hand curved blade is a castrating blade for slitting the scrotum before cutting the stones out.

I used to do father's pigs with a saftey razor blade. Much more scalpel like, and less trauma for the poor little bugger that was loosing them.

[Stanley]

Catty, it all depends on how good you are at sharpening an edge. I can assure you that my knives are as sharp as any razor blade! Mind you, I always say it took me forty years to learn how to sharpen an edge.

Dead easy again. I think we all have a receptacle into which odds and sods gravitate. I only found out yesterday that this bowl has a very specific purpose. Anyone know what it is?

[Nolic]

My dad always used to say that there's nowt more dangerous than a blunt knife.
There's a pair of "pikers" from the warehouse,some flints and a girly nail file. Is that one of Jacks balls..... nothing to do with the last couple of posts!! Nolic

[catgate]

Catty, it all depends on how good you are at sharpening an edge. I can assure you that my knives are as sharp as any razor blade!

I would have expected no less, Stanley.

[catgate]

Is that one of Jacks balls.....! Nolic

It could be, he has a very sharp knife.

[Bradders Bluesinger]

Stanley...I-spy a pair of cloth-looooker's tweezers !
I was given a pair by Granville Eastwood (head cloth-looker at Bradley Nelson's)..... when he thought I'd learned how to use his well enough. Very proud , I was..... (at 9 or 10 years old )
Still got them ....will try to post a snap tomorrow !

[Stanley]

I should have emptied the bowl, I've misled you. Forget the contents, the bowl itself has a specialised use. Anyone know what it is?

[catgate]

It is a wade cranglers fluffing barrow wheel centre. The outer anti fleeming rim and spark arrester are missing.

[Stanley]

Any serious theories? I'll admit I only found out the original use last week after watching an antiques programme.

[Nolic]

Got me stumped Comrade. Nolic

[catgate]

It's a gavel accousticator.

[Tizer]

My first thought was Ronnie Corbett's salad bowl...

Is the dirty white bit in the middle fixed to the bowl or just another of the odds and bods? Is the bowl one of four used for standing the feet of a table or armchair in to prevent them marking the carpet?

[Big Kev]

It is a wade cranglers fluffing barrow wheel centre. The outer anti fleeming rim and spark arrester are missing.

I'm with you on that...

[Stanley]

I was watching a programme on TV and exactly the same bowl came up. James Lewis knew what it was. I have always believed what I was told, that it was a pipe-smoker's ashtray and the rubber dolly in the middle was for knocking the dottle out of your pipe. Turns out it is a nut bowl and there should be a gavel with it for cracking the nuts against the dolly in the middle.

[Stanley]

All right, it's a hammer. But is it? And if so, what's special about it?

[EileenDavid]

Is it a panel beating hammer.

Eileen

[Bradders Bluesinger]

"She knows y'know ......"
" I said to you , didn't I Dorothy ?...I did ....."
(Hilda Baker ?)

[catgate]

It's a planishing hammer and it is special because it belongs to Stanley.

[Stanley]

You're right Eileen but a panel beater or tin smith would tell you it could also be used as a dolly, for backing the area that is being worked on to form a small anvil. There were more shapes than you could poke a stick at.

[EileenDavid]

Wasn't me that was clever it was my other half who made the suggestion he was a joiner for most of his working life so knew it wasn't a joinery hammer. Eileen

[catgate]

http://www.ehow.co.uk/about_5121410_planishing.html

[Pluggy]

Beaten to it. The RN taught me to use one in my apprenticeship all those years ago.....

We made a toilet float out of sheet copper, by beating it around a spherical steel form with said implement. Much annealing, you could only hit each part of sheet once before it work hardened and had to be annealed again. We made it in 2 halves before soldering the 2 halves together.

Funny how I can remember stuff from 35+ years ago, but I can't remember what I did yesterday.......

[Stanley]

That's right, it's a small micrometer made by Browne and Sharp, Providence, Rhode Island. But what was it made for and why is it so special?