Making a WHAT? from a file...

[Outlawmws]

I picked this up over the weekend in a double armful of tools and stuff I got at an estate sale. Sometimes I just toss odds and ends into the pile where I expect to be "paying by the pound" so to speak. (basically you get a lot for free that way...)

This one is baffling me as to it's purpose. I took a hard look at it and concluded several things:

It is "home made"
It was made from a half round ******* file.
It was ground, then worked semi smooth, almost polished, but some of the file teeth and the grinding marks are still faintly evident.
I even found a partial marking: BEST O ALLOY - where the O in the middle has a V superimposed on it..

Anyone know what such a tool would be used for?

My best guess is for modeling clay in some way, possibly Bondo? the guy was a ham radio operator, and had a few things for body work in evidence, (sand paper and spotting putty, plus other home mechanic consumables..) but that is all I know about its background...

 

[NUTTSGT]

At first look, I'd say a shoe horn, but no. Maybe a lead tool would be my guess since you said body work.

 

[redwrench60]

Bearing scraper.

 

[CoSnipe]

Looks like tire irons for dirt bike rims

 

[znowaczyk]

it's a prison shank...

 

[1982fxr]

Looks like tire irons for dirt bike rims

that's what I thought too

 

[ev88f]

Brake tools for adjusting star wheels

 

[vssjim]

Bearing scraper.

this is the correct reply

 

[96snma]

My best guess would be it was used for working on those radios. Grabbing small components when soldering as you can use either end.

 

[2oolhound]

+2 on bearing scraper. Big ones like that were used around sawmills ect on babbit bearings. Typically remove high spots when refitting.

 

[Outlawmws]

So three votes for Bearing scraper. The only edges capable of any scraping are on the curved part. Tip and both sides. I'm going to guess that the tip would be most used? Does that make sense? (Never scraped a bearing in my life, but I've also never poured any Babbitt, yet...)

 

[davesnothere]

Brake tools for adjusting star wheels

I was thinking it looked like a brake tool as well.

 

[redwrench60]

The curved convex part of the scraper would be used to scrape/shave the inner part of a bushing or bearing to fit it to a shaft. Apply Prussian blue to inside of bearing and assemble onto shaft, rotate and examine. The high spots will be apparent and then removed with the scraper. I use one sometimes to fit bushings in auto transmissions.

 

[Packard V8]

I've got a drawer full of real bearing scrapers and they all have much sharper edges than those appear in the photo.

jack vines

 

[kc-steve]

+2 on bearing scraper. Big ones like that were used around sawmills ect on babbit bearings. Typically remove high spots when refitting.

Is that any relation to John Wayne and Lorena Bobbit?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt


Steve