I inherited these and I don't know what they are for. Anybody?
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I inherited these and I don't know what they are for. Anybody?
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Parkinson MFG used to make all kinds of tweezers those wide bladed ones with the spike on the end may have been used like a third hand.
Push the spike into a piece of wood then slide a ring up the body of the tool to hold it in a clamped position
Could be. I had no idea and I'm not familiar with Parkinson Mfg. I did a little research online and determined that they are no longer in business.
Please, next time, put a size reference in the picture.
They remind me of two items I've seen in the past...
Splinter tweezers used to remove splinters from flesh as well as from other materials such as cloth.
Similarly, tweezers used to remove fine bones from fish fillets.
Depending on size, they could be antique flush nippers used for anything that needed flush nipping. If they looked a bit more modern, I would have guessed that and the spike used to open solder-filled holes.
Have you tried a search-by-images on Google images?
You are correct in that I should have provided a size reference. I intended to but forgot when I took the pics. They are 5" long from tip of point to the tweezer end and approx. 7/8" across the blades of the tweezer end.
I did some thinking over the last day and remembered that this guy was a serious fisherman, mostly bass but he may have done some fly fishing too. I wonder if these were used in tying flies. What do you think?
Dunno. Just a thought that came to my mind. This guy was not a do-it-yourselfer as in repairing things. The only other interests he had that I know of were writing stories to be published in outdoor magazines, and a few of them were published, and possibly game bird hunting which he wrote about. I think he owned a shotgun but no rifles that I know of.
I think they are for maintenance of shoes for horses.
Yes Marv, I did look at Google images but didn't really learn anything. Sorry for the delay. I just saw your post.
regards,
Charles
Are we confident that the Ebay seller knows what they are or has he constructed something plausible to make them salable? He's obviously got the same tool as the OP but does he really know what it is?
Frankly, they look a bit clumsy to be "tweezers". Also, nipping thread to cut it doesn't work very well; the thread merely compresses. You can nip wire but most thread cutters use some sort of blade and a slicing action.
I remain unconvinced.
Good points all around; I've definitely purchased misidentified items from eBay. Cutter + tweezer in one is a red flag too - a workholding tool that also mars material? Next step would be to search patents for terms like "Edward Parkinson Manufacturing Company" and similar phrasing, as well as patent searches for key figures in the company.
Yup, you're right, not tweezers. Found this old ad for Edward Parkinson Manufacturing:
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...son_mfg_ad.jpg
And then Googled for the term "nipper reed hooks" from the ad and stumbled on this. Looks to be very similar to one of the "front burling nipper" tools here:
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...ing_nipper.jpg
So I guess the pointed tip is a seam ripper?
Dictionary.com gives as the first definition of "burl", "a small knot or lump in wool, thread, or cloth" and defines "burling" as removing same. I imagine the pointed end was used more like a fid/marlin spike is used for knots, i.e., to open the burl enough so it could be unraveled and pulled/snipped away.
Well y'all came through for me. Mystery solved. The one on Ebay has been cleaned up, probably trimming away a lot of value, assuming that there are collectors of these.
I want to thank all of you who did the research and took the time to figure this out. Y'all are the best!