Can you identify this tool?

[TGilland]

Can anyone identify this antique hand tool?

 

[Mickey O]

Spoke wrench?

 

[davesnothere]

Spoke wrench?

Thought the same thing.

 

[JASTECH]

So to get somebody to talk you hit them with a spoke tool?

 

[andywander]

Spoke wrench?

Got my vote. Not a very easy one to use, though....

 

[2oolhound]

It is an odd shape for a spoke wrench. Glass cutters have similar notches also. I wonder if it's a glass cutter's tool.

 

[leon renaud]

this is an antique saw set. the notches are placed over the tooth in a saw blade and the tooth is bent away from center just a tiny bit every other tooth is bent to one side. The saw is then turned around and the remain teeth are bent in the same manner to that side. When a regular hand saw has been properly "set" you should be able to slide a sewing need along the top of the teeth from end to end with it sitting in the slight V created by the "set" of the teeth. 'Setting" the saw teeth in this way makes the cut or "Kerf" slightly wider than the thickness of the blades body and lessens any drag on the saw and lessens the chance of the saw binding in the cut.

 

[Outlawmws]

this is an antique saw set. the notches are placed over the tooth in a saw blade and the tooth is bent away from center just a tiny bit every other tooth is bent to one side. The saw is then turned around and the remain teeth are bent in the same manner to that side. When a regular hand saw has been properly "set" you should be able to slide a sewing need along the top of the teeth from end to end with it sitting in the slight V created by the "set" of the teeth. 'Setting" the saw teeth in this way makes the cut or "Kerf" slightly wider than the thickness of the blades body and lessens any drag on the saw and lessens the chance of the saw binding in the cut.

(In my best Al Borland voice) "I don't think so Tim!"

 

[Stuart in MN]

I think it's a saw set as well.

 

[leon renaud]

http://craftsofnj.org/toolshed/articles/Collecting Saw Sets/Images/fig3.jpg the upper one in this picture is similar but has 4 notches rather than 2, Like I said an antique set later versions are more like pliers with an adjustable stop so all teeth would get identical set to them. The sewing needle test was an early way to be sure your set was even the full length of the saw. I have used one of these tools as a woodworker demonstrating Colonial woodworking to the public at a museum and my grandfather had some almost identical and taught me to use them. The different notch sizes was because during the time these tools were in regular use saw blades were hand made and were not all the same thickness. An even older style of saw set was a small "anvil" with a notch in the surface where you would lay the saw flat over the notch and with a punch drive the tooth down into the notch.

 

[davesnothere]

this is an antique saw set. the notches are placed over the tooth in a saw blade and the tooth is bent away from center just a tiny bit every other tooth is bent to one side. The saw is then turned around and the remain teeth are bent in the same manner to that side. When a regular hand saw has been properly "set" you should be able to slide a sewing need along the top of the teeth from end to end with it sitting in the slight V created by the "set" of the teeth. 'Setting" the saw teeth in this way makes the cut or "Kerf" slightly wider than the thickness of the blades body and lessens any drag on the saw and lessens the chance of the saw binding in the cut.

Very informative, thanks.

 

[Erampu]

It looks like something from the kitchen to me.

 

[larry_g]

Thank you Leon. Much older tool than the modern saw set. Any guess on the vintage?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[balane]

Judging from the markings I'm betting it's some sort of Snowflake Adjuster or possibly a Sunlight Intensity Gauge, the latter being taken off the market due to lawsuits from damaged retinas while taking measurements.

 

[leon renaud]

Thank you Leon. Much older tool than the modern saw set. Any guess on the vintage?

lg
no neat sig line

You can find more information here "Saw Set Collectors Resourse" this is about the best site for anything to do with antique saws and the tools to service them

 

[Flatland Dave]

Looks like a glass breaking tool. if there is a little roller on the end, which you can't see in the pic

I'll take a pic of one I have home

 

[Outlawmws]

If it's a saw set, it must be for those really big two man cross cut saws then. I can't see how it would work on a "normal" hand saw...

 

[road]

looks fermiliar, but hey my Grand dad had tons of tools. funny thing he never let anyone touch them .

maybee thats where i get it from .

 

[Neiller1989]

conduit bush wrench???

 

[Zeke]

I don't know about the tool, but I can say that the needle theory is the same that an old Swedish carpenter told me in the 70's and he was 3 rd generation.

If you had to hand saw all day long, you would spend the time it takes to make sure your saw was perfect. I've had saws that were so sharp they were hard to start a cut.

 

[PBCampbell]

Looks way too wide of a gap to be a saw set or "wrest" as I believe they were more commonly called. Anyone consider a Tile chipper as a possibility?

 

[road]

Those big 2 man saws were thick. 1/8" or more

 

[Rust]

Saw set..Spoke wrench...no.
Too ornate.
Glass nibbler... mabey... but usually have cutters attatched.
Perhaps for stained glass.
Stained glass nibbler. Thats my guess and I'm sticking to it.

 

[JASTECH]

Zeke, ditto. Same idea with my very sharp fish hooks, with barb and once in you cut the eyelet end then finish pushing the rest of the hook through you.

 

[Neiller1989]

Conduit Bush Wrench???