Thread: Post your mystery tool.

Sorry. I should have scaled it. Those floor tiles are 300mm square.

I'd have agreed with Brian but the size makes me wonder. I assumed the tool was made by original owner and not a commercial unit and that the hole in the side is to push out the cut wads.

I would have thought wad punch too..
Wild guess, when splitting big timber you drill a hole in the log, hammer your tool (ouch) into it, pour black powder in it, cap it, fuse out side, kaboom and the log is split.

Originally Posted by p38arover

I'd have agreed with Brian but the size makes me wonder. I assumed the tool was made by original owner and not a commercial unit and that the hole in the side is to push out the cut wads.

I have a set like that.

Originally Posted by 87County

OK - here's one that turned up in a box of misc old tools a while back

It's a Moore & Wright 'something?, or it has been modified from a Moore & Wright 'something?

It's like a short 3 sided file with no teeth

It has been carefully and well sharpened to a point that would give a forensic pathologist something to think about....

I have no idea of what it's intended use was so if anyone has any ideas about what it is and what it is designed to do (apart from the more obvious rude suggestions), I'd be interested to hear them

... anything possibly related to watchmaking or clock repair ?? ... although I was not aware that Moore & Wright made those sort of things

I have an almost identical one that I made from a three corner file during my apprenticeship. It was made as an internal scraper, mainly for deburring or removing high spots etc. Old tradesmen I worked with who had done their time in the marine industry had spent days crawling through engine cylinders scraping the high spots from the cylinder bores, or from bearings whilst the ship was in dock taking on or dropping off cargo. And I thought standing on a duck board in front of lathe could be monotonous at times with repetitive work.

Cheers, Mick.

Cheers, Mick.

Originally Posted by isuzutoo-eh

I would have thought wad punch too..
Wild guess, when splitting big timber you drill a hole in the log, hammer your tool (ouch) into it, pour black powder in it, cap it, fuse out side, kaboom and the log is split.

Well that didnt take long ,isuzutoo got it.
Its a log splitter. I was going to say that it preceeded the Chinese ones but considering the Chinese had blackpowder well before us it is conceivable they used it for splitting too.
Grew up in Alexandra, Central Otago, NZ and the grounds of the Presbyterian church had this huge pine tree that came down. Early 50,s.
I was sent up the street to the store near Walls, garage to buy the blackpowder. A slow fuse was put in the hole, then filled with this coarse black, newspaper stuffed in and a big bloke with a sledge would wallop the gun into the centre of the log. An old cornsack was draped over the gun and the fuse touched off. Everyone ran off but was told too keep an eye on the cornsack. BANG and bits of pine flew everywhere, the gun and cornsack took off too to be retreived later.
Ah those were the days. My first smell of the black stuff and been smelling it ever since . I was eight at the time and it was a great town to grow up in.
Keith.

I've read about them but never seen so much as a photo before. Thanks for sharing

That's a new one on me, man I'd LOVE to try it out!