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:) Now remember I'm a newbie at all this so I take all answers seriously!

Another UK Car Boot find, and well worth the £1 paid for it to find out what it is. It's saw-like but not sharp at all, and it looks to me that it was never sharp. You can press your finger as hard as you like along the serrated edge without any discomfort at all. It's very primitively made...

That was very interesting, thanks! No wear or damage that I can see. Here's a close up of the ends. I tried to remove one of the nails but it didn't go well.. It looks like a normal wire nail though:

Ha you could be right. I'd love to know what it is of course, but also rather happy that it's not embarrassingly obvious either, and has generated some great discussion. And I've learned about old nails too ;-) Iain

Interesting ideas here! I'm trying to get one of the nails out now, so will post result here. Yes, the wood looks splintery at first glance but actually is rock solid, and very dark, so I'd guess it's non-native. I see what you mean:

Ok. some more information and pictures! Yes, on the side away from the metal, the wood appears more damaged than the top side, though whether this is just how it was made is hard to tell. There's no obvious sign of wear on it, not even in the hole, but I hadn't noticed before that the metal...

Yes, I feel that way too! I'm imagining some kind of rural/ farming use now, but no closer to a solution. The 15 minutes I just spent looking at "antique rope making machines" on Google images was fun though.

Interesting idea! The edges are quite blunt though:

Hi all. I saw this at an antiques fair in Lincolnshire UK, yesterday, and wondered what it was. It was a bargain at £1.50 ($1.80) and I bought it knowing that someone here would be able to tell me what it was for! I'm assuming it was some kind of handle, but it's so crudely made, I can't see...

Yesterday, I was reading the book by Edmund Gunter (1581-1626) "The description and use of the sector, crosse-staffe, and other instruments" published in 1623 in which he describes how to use his Rule, the precursor to the slide rule, which was invented a few years later. The Gunter's Rule is...

Yes, I'm beginning to develop quite a fascination for these, and finding more uses as I go along! I just bought a very large one, which I'll post up here on a new thread.

"Ever since the last forum software upgrade, auto-resizing images works here too." Ah, that's good to know thank you. I'm on another forum and uploading photos is quite a chore! I'll do it properly here next time... "I also don't think that affects their value." Agreed. I like the idea of...

I haven't posted to the forum for a long time and assumed that to upload photos directly here I would need to resize the many large files, whereas with the blog post I can just drag in multiple images in one go and I'm done in seconds.

Wow, that's great to know, thank you!

Here are a few macro shots of the slot and the thumb screw. I don't see any saw marks, and not sure what I'm looking for re the thread cuts, but hope these may be illuminating to those in the know! Many thanks: Macro shots of thumb screw and slot

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm pleased they are probably 19th Century at least, given the use I'm going to put them to on the Gunter's Rule, dating from late 18th Century to very early 19th. "At about $4.50 USD you stole them." I seem to be doing well on the bargains recently. I got the...

Hi everyone. I bought some forged wing dividers (?) at an antiques fair at the weekend, and the seller claimed they were very old, probably dated back to the 1820s. I'd love to believe him, and they certainly seem to have the feel and look of great age, but I've no great confidence they really...

Hi all. Here's the promised finished result. I posted it on the forum at www.allaboutpocketknives.com and got very helpful information from the guys there on its age and the maker. The engraved tang reveals the name to be Hill not Mill, as I originally thought, and this dates the knife to the...

Thanks all! I'll do some more digging and will post anything of further interest here. Iain

I bought this today for 50p in Cambridgeshire, England. It's old... but what is it? The name on the side, Luke White, shows nothing online, and nor does the engraving on the side of the hook, which only appeared after a going over with wire wool for ages: "M ? LL. 4 Hay Market" Any ideas? There...