Help ID a small but interesting bench shear

[Oregon rock crusher]

I picked up this small bench mount shear today at an antique mall. There is no makers mark I've found and I'm having trouble finding any info on it. The blades are 8" long and it is pretty well made. It grabbed my attention because of the adjustment knob at the pivot point. It allows the head to cut at an angle to the frame likely for making bevel cuts but it can pivot a full 90* to lay flat on the bed plate. A most unusual feature.
I am wondering if this was for leather or some other specialty work? Here are a few pics to see if anyone recognizes it. Thanks for looking. Ed.

 

[ssdave]

Ed, isn't that a tile cutter, for the old asbestos vinyl tiles?

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

I'm not sure just what it's for Dave so I suppose a tile cutter is possible. I have an old asbestos tile cutter that looks like the one in this pirated pic I attached but this isn't anything like it. I'm not sure why a tile would need a bevel cut but I wouldn't rule anything out yet. Thanks for the lead. Ed.

 

[Provincial]

Perhaps a rig for scarfing glued joints on leather belts? Or vulcanized rubber flat belts.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

I thought about that as well Jock. I expect most scarfed belts would have a taper much longer than you could expect to cleanly cut with a shear but I'm not giving up on leather or belt work. With no identifying markings it may have been the cut off stage of a larger machine? Thanks for the idea. Ed.

 

[PMAC]

I had something similar that I used to cut the ends off of flower stems in large quantities.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Thanks PMAC. I can see where it may be advantageous to cut flower stems at an angle so they could maybe draw more water up the stem. I'm sure you could get an angle cut on stems, or anything with a round cross section, just by angling the stem across the cutter though so not sure of the advantage of the bevel cut feature. Ed.

 

[y'sguy]

That IS a very interesting shear. We've all used paper cutters over our lifetimes (myself somewhat more than others) and the handle echoes some of those designs.
The angle thing though IS unique.
Leather work sounds like a good option so far. Hope we all learn more.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

I Haven't found a similar shear in the best internet and catalog searches I can manage and I'm about searched out on this unusual shear for now. I think I will try shearing a few things out in the shop though and see how well it works on different materials. Ed.

 

[steaks&anvils]

I too googled the **** out of this:

vintage bench shear, tile cutter, stem cutter, tobacco cutter, paper cutter etc. I didn't find anything either.

BUT, looking at your pictures closely, are these letters?

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Thanks for looking steaks&anvils. The handle has the marking TSN 3 (even though it looks like a 9 in my pic) and the Frame has the marking TSN 1. The frame marking shows up in the first pics I posted pretty well but I should have cleaned up the handle marking better. I've worked the TSN angle over pretty hard as well finding The Sports Network, The Steel Network, a TSN wall system, and a few other non productive leads. The closest hit I got was for a TSN 1 Tube Shark tubing notcher. I expect the TSN 1 and 3 are casting part numbers, couldn't find TSN 2 on it yet. Ed.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

My first thought was linoleum cutter. Like for the square tiles.
Then i thought of cement board. So asbestos could make sense.
Someone on GJ will have the answer.

 

[Bob49]

2 possibilities spring to mind - brush maker's bench shears, used to trim paint brushes to size, or mount cutter's shear (or even book binder's) to cut card.... This type is more common...

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Thanks for the thoughts Bob. I suppose there are a lot of uses for shears I've not considered like brush making as in your pics. I put the shear on a shelf and haven't looked at it in quite a while now. Might have to give it another look. I expect another matching example will turn up eventually.

 

[Bob49]

This turned up on a French tool group on Facebook (Vieux Outils) - again usage uncertain, but similar size blade....

Update: This one has been identified as having been used by a brush-maker (brossier) "Bien vu Bob ! ...Le père de mon copain était brossier. C'était pour couper l'extrémité des brosses ou balais. Merci pour le lien" - I posted a link to this page....

 

[RTM]

Update: This one has been identified as having been used by a brush-maker (brossier) "Bien vu Bob ! ...Le père de mon copain était brossier. C'était pour couper l'extrémité des brosses ou balais. Merci pour le lien" - I posted a link to this page....

They may not be able to see the pic here without being members.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Tobacco cutter?