Thread: What is this

I assume it is metal?, It looks like it might have been used to
size the end of chair rungs??

Originally Posted by Papa

I assume it is metal?, It looks like it might have been used to
size the end of chair rungs??

Hi Papa
Yes it is cast steel and complete
thank you for the reply
JSDGOLD

I've seen an identical tool that a friend found in an old mining camp .The one that my friend has is also very ornate and made from cast iron and is designed to be fixed to a board.
We asked an old Chinese lady (Grandma Petersen)that lived in our town who has been around forever if she knew what it was .
She told us it was a tool for squeezing corks so they could be sized for pushing into bottle necks.The corks are soaked in water before squeezing .
The old lady was a gold mine of information ,and was an advisor to the local museum , unfortunately the old darling passed away about four years ago .The museum still has a heap of unidentified objects that she never got around to identifying.

Kev.

For my 2 bucks worth, it looks like some sort of crimper. Screwed to a board, and used the way it is, it would crimp something such as end bindings for ropes, steel or hemp. Being ornate though, it smacks of household. Having seen manual and machine corkers, it does not even appear to be remotley like any corking machine I know of.

When I think of a kitchen gadget, it seems to be too heavy for any foodstuff.

Thereby, I go with crimper.

I'll vote for a dowel squeezer. Wine-bottle corks are typically all the same size, whereas this tool has three different-size chambers. It also has ribs in the chambers, which could create slots in the dowels, for excess glue to escape.

The ornate character doesn't necessarily relegate it to household use. Some olde-tyme woodshoppes have such decoration on otherwise ordinary tools.

Joe

Its a cork sizer. Corks are first immersed in water.
Corks are then progressively squeezed down to size, first in the large bit , then the medium and finally the small. They are the inserted into the neck of the bottle with a "corker" a wooden device, often beautifully turned. with a plunger mechanism. The cork then expands to fit the bottle perfectly.

Hi ALL
Thank you for your help I have found out what it is

this thread reminds of a hilarious Saturday Night Live skit involving cork soaking... if you google "SNL cork soaker" you'll find it.

its a bit rude but hilarious. features Janet Jackson trying not to lose it!

Originally Posted by JSDGOLD

Hi ALL
Thank you for your help I have found out what it is

Bingo !
A mandraulic cork sizer .

Kev.