# Tool ID Challange Cont...



## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

I am going to do my best ti start posting tool identification challenges for you all again. 

Obscure tools are SO much fun!

It's a game and a competition but there are no prizes - only the esteem of your fellow colleagues.

All items will be from or relating to the field of woodworking. 

1) What is it?
2) what is / was it used for?
3) In what manner is it used?


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## lawrence (Nov 14, 2009)

looks like it rips a dado in something,,maybe for placing a drawer bottom but looks a little high on the spacing


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## Fastback (Sep 2, 2012)

The blade is sharpened for crosscutting. The last tooth is a raker to clean the kerf, but I can't think of what it would be used for.


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## cms1983 (Apr 25, 2012)

Does it act as a toothing plane? For scratching stock for prep for rawhide glue?thats my guess or did some one all ready named it


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

No one has gotten it yet. Good guesses all the way around though.


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## john sayles (May 27, 2013)

My guess is that it is a Cooper's tool for cutting the groove in the top of a barrel/cask to accept the lid


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Some kind of saw set..?


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## nbo10 (Jan 26, 2011)

Does it make moldings?


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## asevereid (Apr 15, 2012)

Backscratcher:laughing:

I'd like to think it's a scratch stock of some sort...but not sure.


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## HandMadeInWood (Jul 30, 2013)

Well, what have we here?



It is old and corroded, so not used for a long time.
It is probably user-made.
There's no scale to the picture, but the cutter looks to be about 3/16" wide. About the width of a piece of glass,say.
We presume that it is a cutting tool from its shape.
Not a mainstream tool – otherwise we’d all have one and recognise it immediately. It cuts a groove, so we may have a need sometimes for its function.
It appears to cut a slot to contain something.
We deduce that it is used in a right-handed forward motion, as the tips precede the rake – it may cut across the grain, but better with it. Not omni-directional.
It is probably used against a fence.
The body itself may also act as a depth stop, but the cutter may need to be advanced periodically for deeper cuts.
The marks on the stock show that the thing is assembled at right angles to the stock, but if the hole dimensions allow, it may be rotated 90 degrees for a pulling stroke.
It is adjustable; the retaining wedge allows the cutter to be retracted in the holder so that just the tips of the cutters and the hook of the rake are presented to the work.
It is formed in the shape of an arc so that suggests a forward scooping motion.
 What does it most resemble? A Quirk Router.

Edward Preston (and others) made Quirk Routers with a scoring tooth arrangement that precede a raker – a bit like this one so the function may be similar. A sort of rough purfler, if you prefer.

What would I use it for? 

Instrument makers may find a use for it cutting frets; if I made windows with curved Gothic style frames it would certainly help with cutting obscure glazing slots in the round; similarly with coach makers who had all sorts of odd tools for panels and glazing.

There’s my two pennyworth based on what I’d do with it if I had it in my hands.

No doubt we’ll find out what it is soon.

All best from Wales.

.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

I was thinking mouldings too.


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## cms1983 (Apr 25, 2012)

By the handle looks like you push or pull it to you. Maybe not a sawing motion


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Agree on molding.

G


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

And by the condition of the handle/body it doesn't look like you would use a mallet, so push/pull must be the driving force. The sides don't look like they're ridden against a fence, though, so freehand is where I would lean.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

HandMadeInWood said:


> Well, what have we here? [...] .


I'm impressed... Thoroughly impressed with your algorithm of deduction. 

You hit on 'use' pretty well and those are well thought out possibilities. I have one particular use in mind based upon my experience with the furnishings and tools in this neck of the woods but can not positively pin it to that.

All of the possible uses you mention indicate it being used with the grain - something a simple scratch stock can easily do. 

So what type of use would require such a device to cut a shallow groove/dado both with and cross grain...? 

What type of situation would possibly benefit from free handed use or uses only against a reference fence clamped to the piece be it straight or curved...?


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

To help with scale -


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

firemedic said:


> So what type of use would require such a device to cut a shallow groove/dado both with and cross grain...?
> 
> What type of situation would possibly benefit from free handed use or uses only against a reference fence clamped to the piece be it straight or curved...?


Cutting rosettes is one possibility -


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Window caulking stripper


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## HandMadeInWood (Jul 30, 2013)

firemedic said:


> All of the possible uses you mention indicate it being used with the grain - something a simple scratch stock can easily do.
> 
> So what type of use would require such a device to cut a shallow groove/dado both with and cross grain...?


Thank you for the positive comment.

I deduced that it is a router of some description, most closely related to a Stringing or Quirk Router which will, with some careful pre-scribing, work both with and across the grain. 

The shape and depth of the teeth on this article indicate to me that accurate shaping during sharpening is essential and it would scribe a cut across the grain if necessary allowing the following raker tooth to plough out the waste. When fully sharpened I believe that it would cut cleanly and I would not be averse to giving it a try in either direction on any compliant material.

There are any number of uses in inlay, wagon and coach making and all the allied trades for such a tool but I'll look forward to you telling us what it really is and most importantly its provenance.

All best from Wales


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

I believe it is a wide stringing inlay gauge. One that would be used in applying banding type inlays on high style Louisiana armories circa 1770-1840.

Some examples - 


















The images are just quick web grabs but I will upload better pictures when I am again in the vicinity of pieces.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Very cool.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Where's the icon for sheepish grin?

lol, I think I was wrong... 

After talking to Jim Bode and George Braun (George got to look at it) sounds like a random one off tool. I maintain that it was used only across grain but I the George is right that it was for cleaning up croze work. 

My apologies for the misleading tool challenge! 

I will get some more challenges posted with better facts behind them (insert sheepish grin again!)


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## john sayles (May 27, 2013)

So - are you saying I was right?


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