I like  the description of a rod with notches  feeding through the devise and the handle rotated so the "spur" fits the notch to adjust the length of the rod

 The spur has sides of two different lengths. The side closet to the bolt is wore as if something has been sliding through it, similar to the wear on the nuts. The side of the bolt not seen in the first pic but can be seen in the second also appears to be worn. This leads me to think the bending action could be changed right or left just by turning the tool over.

John Moody and I were discussing this item today and one thing we agree on is that it may not be all that old because the nuts are hex, not square.  Square nuts were used into the 1930-40's.

 

Let me tag sometime onto this.  When industry began to shift from square nuts to hex nuts, the early hex nuts were of a different, larger variety.  Case in point, today a 3/8-16 nut requires a 9/16" wrench but the earlier nuts required a 5/8" wrench.  It looks like the nuts on this tool are thinner.  Of course, they could have been replaced too.

Then it should be easy to find.

Herb

Moody and I also noticed that the "vee" has no wear on the crown of the vee.  Would that rule out a nut splitter?  The tool is probably drop forged steel and not really Rockwell hard so the crown should be dented if it had seen much action.

37 minutes ago, Dadio said:

Then it should be easy to find.

Herb

Trust me--- it isn't!

John

3 minutes ago, HARO50 said:

Trust me--- it isn't!

John

One of the great things about our New Year, is even if an answer is not arrived at, one of you will have a membership to MWTCA by the end of month!

I must have spent 24 hours so far searching! But I DID find out that one of the "tools" in my collection is an old conductor's ticket punch!

John

3 minutes ago, HARO50 said:

I must have spent 24 hours so far searching! But I DID find out that one of the "tools" in my collection is an old conductor's ticket punch!

John

Ya see! These What's It Topics do pay off!

I am at a loss - every time I look at the picture of the tool, I think that I have seen one of those before, but for the life of me, I cannot remember where.

6 minutes ago, Chips N Dust said:

I am at a loss - every time I look at the picture of the tool, I think that I have seen one of those before, but for the life of me, I cannot remember where.

Check above the door of your workshop!

John

this is the kind of chain break tool i'm thinking about

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by p_toad

That's a serious splitter.

I have a lot of chain tools (25~120) for drive, roller, saw chain and link, some several generations old, and NONE look like the tool in question...

 

1 minute ago, Stick486 said:

I have a lot of chain tools (25~120) for drive, roller, saw chain and link, some several generations old, and NONE look like the tool in question...

 

Same here...never seen any type of chain breaker resembling the unknown tool of the month...

I think it was used to twist wire.. Clamp in the wire, pull tight, it is 8 inches long and should provide good leverage for getting it tight.When tight, twist  

old train yard?   I think it's an old spring compression tool for those big diesel engines. lots of engine rebuilding in the train yards.

 

I've been staring at this thing off and on for the most of the month now. And the only thing my mind keeps coming back to is some type of bending tool. As it is a relatively small tool, it would have to be applied to something without much resistance to bend. And due to the nature of the swing opening, it appears that the item to be bent would be a pipe/tube already installed somehow somewhere and already in the shape of nearly a 90 degree bend. Also, it appears that as the spring is not worn/damaged, nothing is placed on the spring side of the tent shaped piece, thus leading you to think the item to be bent would be on the outboard end of the tool. So , all that said which probably makes little sense, I think this is a fine adjustment tool for something like soft copper tubing during an installation process in a heating/cooling environment. 

Gary

I posed the question on a small site I go to and received this response.

 

Dan, this is an antique nut splitter. Mechanics use them to split nuts that are stripped or frozen in-place, usually on old engines.  If you Google "nut splitter" you'll see the modern versions.

Tomas

 

I still think it is some type of crimping tool.

    

Edited January 30, 20179 yr by HandyDan

I don't see why a nut splitter would have to have a "hinged" piece to get set in place. Most nuts are exposed, no need to have a swing arm to get the tool in position. IMHO.

Gary