Thread: Any idea what these metal 'soap bars' are for?

Possibly panel beaters dollies ????
Regards,
Martin

Hmm, interesting proposition - googling up what they are, it seems somewhat plausible - though he was no panel beater! A friend had the idea of bench blocks but as far as I know, he was never a carpenter or metal worker - did have a lot of tools though, so plenty of DIY tinkering.

Thanks for the suggestion, for now I think the mystery of soap bars continues!

They surface appearance to me, looks to be cast. I wonder if they are ingots of differing elements / materials. Would the Grandfather have been into foundry casting?

Regards Phil.

Was the grandfather into drafting of any kind?
They remind me of the paper weights used many moons ago but I would have expected those to be more consistent in shape and one of them doesn't fit in with that anyway. With rounded edges dollies is closer but i would have expected a finer surface finish.

Third time lucky!
I think that these are (sintered?) iron ore briquettes. The one I have from Port Kembla is more pillow shaped and rougher than yours. Google images shows some iron ore briquettes similar to yours.
Graeme

Billets. Anything made from them will have aerospace properties.

Hmm

Bryan might be closer than it would appear at first sight.. I think they could be of extra terrestrial origin, was your grandfather involved in any top secret military organizations?

Failing that I'd be thinking samples of different alloys, probably cast?

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by anglesmith

Third time lucky!
I think that these are (sintered?) iron ore briquettes. The one I have from Port Kembla is more pillow shaped and rougher than yours. Google images shows some iron ore briquettes similar to yours.
Graeme

I go with this. Possibly as samples of batches for analysis.

Metal soap bars are used for washing metal.

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Metal soap bars are used for washing metal.

Aha! I'll start using the wire wool to rub down the sheep

Thanks for all the replies, I was going to quote and comment on them all individually but can't work out how to do it!

I quite like the iron briquette idea... but the flat bottomedness of the blocks makes me wonder. From what I can glean on the web, the briquettes are a means of storing (maybe sponge) Iron? So you'd either make them flat on both sides, to maximise storage/transport capacity, or you'd just crank them out rough... or you'd just have a huge rack of moulds for casting and you could make them whatever shape you wanted. Hmmmmm I know nothing!

I'm going to weigh them when I get back from work, see if there's any difference between them. Might try sanding or filing one as well, see if there's any difference in surface underneath.

Will speak to my friend as well, see if I can glean any history on the blocks and any relevant trade/craft history. No Secret Service history that I'm aware of sadly, so they're probably not Russian Space Batons (lol).

Leaning towards this briquette idea, or just as some kind of weight - they do seem to have paint on after all...

Thanks again

**UPDATE**

Might not be worth two stars and capitalisation, but I've just been told the owner used to 'make precision instruments'. My friend said he'd ask his mum for a bit more info. Guess that would lean towards bench blocks or similar?

Thanks,
-Ed