Occasionally we get pictures of tools and we just don’t know what they are. We love that — and love to check out what folks have dug out of their stash and try to ID it. In this case, reader Glen sent in a picture of this bit of steel. To us, it looks like an adjustable fence or guide. My first thought was that it was part of a shoe for a saw, but the pin and tube on one end is really throwing me.
The markings on the left side read “R2871 DET 2” if that helps at all, but it didn’t reveal anything helpful in our search. What say you Toolmongers? Can anyone help Glen out and tell him (and us) what this is? If so, let us know in comments. You can’t do any worse than we are at the moment.
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21 Responses to Reader Question: Mystery Tool Identification
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Toolmonger on Flickr
Haven’t a clue on this one.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8329/8088222982_2f1fc625d0_h.jpg
Here’s another mystery tool i picked up a while ago. The one end is hinged for some reason unknown to me..
That one’s some kind of hook for grabbing things and moving them around – see “ice tongs” for moving big blocks of ice, for instance.
Your gadget doesn’t look as if it’d be any use for ice, but could perhaps be for handling logs, possibly hay bales, maybe even animal carcasses.
Looks like an Peavey logging tool:
http://peaveymfg.com/products-logging-tools-standard-peavey
Perhaps for smaller scale work?
Qualcrfat makes 2 modern Pee Vee’s which are often used for pulling sill plates into alignmnet. They have a small version and a larger one:
http://www.amazon.com/Qualcraft-2610-Big-Pee-Vee/dp/B0000VUNUG
With the crowbar on the bottom and the shape of the hook, it looks like something a fireman would carry.
I think it’s a fireplace tool. A miniature peavy and a hook on the other end.
It’s a framing alignment tool. You pound one end into the base of the house frame and the other end into the floor and it allows you to pull the frame tight. I saw Norm use one on the New Yankee Workshop when he built the shed. I think it was the first or second season of NYW.
Sorry, Season 18 Episode 10.
That is for holding and pulling 2×4 wall in place to nail into the subfloor.
No clue. As Yul Brenner said in Anna and the King of Siam,
“Is a puzzlement!”
Can we get full resolution images of both sides?? Specifically the identifier marks and the mechanism in the middle of the tool.
A centering-setting jig. The two reinforced extremities engage against internal sides where the square block is engaged in a settable part and fixed with the pin (I expected a hole). After that the thumbscrew is used for fine setting. It seems to be used left side up.
The whole thing is collapsible after removing the thumbscrew and the sliding block.
That or something completely different.
Did you try assking Lea Valley/Veritas. They have a tool museum
Try posting on reddit’s WhatIsThisThing?
http://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/
It appears to me to be an alignment jig of some sort, probably for a very specific piece of machinery. Googling the first string of #s brings up multiple links to a certain model of HO scale train engine. The length of the tool would make that a possibility. Just the presence of those digits tells us it in not homemade.
Wow!
You can find some crazy stuff falling off satellites in orbit!
Yeah, multiple angles, etc. would be helpful. It sure is interesting looking.
I think the numbers and letters refer to a military unit that the tool was used by, and indicate possession for inventory purposes. The first part of the number is probably the primary unit, and DET 2 probably means “Detachment 2” of the primary unit.
The pin on the end may in fact be a scribe for marking, my guess would be some kind of layout tool.
I am pretty sure this would be a tool for a piece of military equipment. Looks like it is made from Alum and the Det 2 would be the unit the tool belonged to, R2871 is the special tool number that would be called for in the technical manual for the piece of equipment. What it is for, I don’t have a clue. Looks like it is for setting up or rigging a piece of equipment.
This looks like a “stick” for a Ludlow line casting machine. the steel molds are held by pressure exerted on the block and the knurled knob. The attached pin secures the apparatus over the mouthpiece of the Ludlow and hot lead is injected into the mold making a line of letterpress type. Look on the back and you’ll see marking and measurements for “points” and “picas”.