Unidentified Found Objects

[Sheffield Tony]

My mother has some inherited tools for textile use. The rag rug pegs are of the latch type, and quite heavy. There is another tool, which is double ended with a smaller latch that resembles the sort on mechanical knitting machines. The other end has an eye like #3. This tool was used for working in the ends of treads to knitted items; the eyelet is pushed under several loops on the back of the work, the loose end threaded through the eye, then the tool withdrawn pulling the thread with it. Don't know if that is anything to do with what we have here.

 

[bugbear]

Am I deluding myself, or is there some writing on the shank of No 3, near the handle?

BugBear

 

[AndyT]

Am I deluding myself, or is there some writing on the shank of No 3, near the handle?

BugBear

ENGLAND?

Or is it the rust speaking to us across the years?!

 

[bugbear]

Am I deluding myself, or is there some writing on the shank of No 3, near the handle?

BugBear

ENGLAND?

Or is it the rust speaking to us across the years?!

Perhaps the OP could have a look and/or a clean up with fine (800 or less) SiC?

BugBear

 

[Bm101]

I'd presumed it was leather working but it did remind me of a hand me down that I've used for various things none of them it's original purpose. One of them tools that's always there until you need it. Had a dig about and finally found it in a box of stuff in the kitchen 2 foot from where I'd started looking half hour before I ended up in the shed... *sigh
Shoemakers Awl Andy?

Don't mean to sidetrack the thread, just thought it might be of interest. Miiiiind you... It did remind me...
Every so often my Old Fella has a sort out and these days I get an box of assortments that he's picked up over the years every once in a while. This one came in the last box of punches, taps and various large drill bits that my Uncle had Absently Mindedly Left In His Apparently Very Large Pockets over the years while leaving work at the Malvern aircraft factory every day. (I heard family legends handed down one fella who niched a whole Radar system piece by piece, set it up in his yard and was responsible (by anonymous phone calls to Westminster) for the destruction of 3 u-Boat wolf packs and the salvation of 600 320 000 tonnes of merchant shipping by all accounts. Singlehandedly. Not bad when you consider he was the Gardener and never went in the factory except to make a cup of tea on a rainy day..

Now I don't think this one was anything to do making aircraft, more some sort of leather cutter(?) but I can't think of any use for that size of hole in a disproportionately small mouth. That bottom curved face is 1 1/4" in width. The Mystery Deepens!

 

[DigitalM]

Am I deluding myself, or is there some writing on the shank of No 3, near the handle?

BugBear

ENGLAND?

Or is it the rust speaking to us across the years?!

Perhaps the OP could have a look and/or a clean up with fine (800 or less) SiC?

BugBear

Somewhat embarrassed to say I missed this! I've got terrible form for this. Last time I missed "Cotter Pin Extractor" on a tool - lol. Must put reading glasses on next time.

It says RASCHE

 

[bugbear]

RASCHE appear to be a German maker of shoe making tools. That should allow us to narrow our searching.

BugBear

 

[DigitalM]

RASCHE appear to be a German maker of shoe making tools. That should allow us to narrow our searching.

BugBear

Did we come across the same link, an ebay tool auction?

 

[AndyT]

Oh well, if we're going to extend the scope by including imports like this, we need a bigger library! I wonder if Wolfgang Jordan is still following this forum?

And Chris, I think that's a stationer's awl, or scrivener's if you prefer.

 

[profchris]

I think no 3 might be too small for rag rugs.

But it fits a very hazy memory I have from 45+ years ago of a tool used to re-stitch footballs and rugby balls. Back when they were leather, and thus twice the weight in wet weather.

 

[bugbear]

Oh well, if we're going to extend the scope by including imports like this, we need a bigger library! I wonder if Wolfgang Jordan is still following this forum?

And Chris, I think that's a stationer's awl, or scrivener's if you prefer.

So many names...

https://www.shaws.co.uk/product_details ... de=STAS003

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

I think no 3 might be too small for rag rugs.

But it fits a very hazy memory I have from 45+ years ago of a tool used to re-stitch footballs and rugby balls. Back when they were leather, and thus twice the weight in wet weather.

Good thought. Look what I've found.

http://glovedoctor.com/product/wood-handle-pull-needle/

BugBear

 

[Bm101]

Oh well, if we're going to extend the scope by including imports like this, we need a bigger library! I wonder if Wolfgang Jordan is still following this forum?

And Chris, I think that's a stationer's awl, or scrivener's if you prefer.

So many names...

https://www.shaws.co.uk/product_details ... de=STAS003

BugBear

Aye. But what's the interesting bit of kit for?

 

[bugbear]

I think no 3 might be too small for rag rugs.

But it fits a very hazy memory I have from 45+ years ago of a tool used to re-stitch footballs and rugby balls. Back when they were leather, and thus twice the weight in wet weather.

You, sir, are a genius. It is a "lace puller"
https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather ... llers-sale

Search down for "Blunt Lacing Awls"

=D> =D> =D>

BugBear

 

[DigitalM]

I think no 3 might be too small for rag rugs.

But it fits a very hazy memory I have from 45+ years ago of a tool used to re-stitch footballs and rugby balls. Back when they were leather, and thus twice the weight in wet weather.

You, sir, are a genius. It is a "lace puller"
https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather ... llers-sale

Search down for "Blunt Lacing Awls"

=D> =D> =D>

BugBear

Yep - if it wasn't specifically for that purpose then the glove/ball manufactures used an existing tool from saddlery etc.

 

[profchris]

I think no 3 might be too small for rag rugs.

But it fits a very hazy memory I have from 45+ years ago of a tool used to re-stitch footballs and rugby balls. Back when they were leather, and thus twice the weight in wet weather.

You, sir, are a genius. It is a "lace puller"
https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather ... llers-sale

Search down for "Blunt Lacing Awls"

=D> =D> =D>

BugBear

Oh, yes! I did say hazy memory, so not re-stitching. The bladder was fully inside the ball, so you had to open up the covering to blow the thing up if it went flat. And you couldn't have the lacing on the outside unless you also had the special kit for stitching up scalp lacerations if someone headed the ball. Not that I ever headed the damn heavy thing a second time, thus my ability still to remember roughly what no 3 was used for.

 

[Tasky]

You, sir, are a genius. It is a "lace puller"
https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather ... llers-sale
Search down for "Blunt Lacing Awls"

All of those have a 'groove' indentation either side of the eye, though. UFO3's eye section is merely flat.
I'm also wondering about the pin through the handle, as it looks like someone has banged a nail through. Might be a home-made tool, perhaps?

 

[DigitalM]

You, sir, are a genius. It is a "lace puller"
https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather ... llers-sale
Search down for "Blunt Lacing Awls"

All of those have a 'groove' indentation either side of the eye, though. UFO3's eye section is merely flat.
I'm also wondering about the pin through the handle, as it looks like someone has banged a nail through. Might be a home-made tool, perhaps?

The guy who makes those (Bruce Johnson) says he adapts them from pointy tools. I suspect that's just an artefact of whatever he's using.

I think what we have discovered from all this is that it's for pulling (blunt tip) something that creates a lot of drag (pinned shaft).

Given this isn't an American tool manufacturer (it's probably German), I think we can assume it's not for baseball gloves or even footballs. I've come to the conclusion that it's a generic tool for pulling leather laces/strips through thick leather, and, given the few clues we've been able to find, it was probably bought by cobblers and saddlemakers.

 

[AndyT]

I know I said I'd had a "fairly careful look through Salaman's Dictionary of Leatherworking Tools" but armed with the latest research I've taken a more careful look, in the chapter on Miscellaneous Trades. I found these words. [I've retyped a bit from one page and photographed the next page.]

The makers of footballs use the knives and awls of the harness makers and shoemakers. But the user of the ball is provided with the following tools for lacing:

a) Lacing Needle Fig 13:4

A steel shank with an eye near the "point"

- which neatly confirms Profchris's memory of school sports.

Sorry to have missed it the first time round.

We just need to find that door closer now...

 

[DigitalM]

I know I said I'd had a "fairly careful look through Salaman's Dictionary of Leatherworking Tools" but armed with the latest research I've taken a more careful look, in the chapter on Miscellaneous Trades. I found these words. [I've retyped a bit from one page and photographed the next page.]

The makers of footballs use the knives and awls of the harness makers and shoemakers. But the user of the ball is provided with the following tools for lacing:

a) Lacing Needle Fig 13:4

A steel shank with an eye near the "point"



- which neatly confirms Profchris's memory of school sports.

Sorry to have missed it the first time round.

We just need to find that door closer now...

I'm stunned and very appreciative of the combined forum effort at getting an ID on this motley collection of tools!