Mystery Tool

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Can you identify this tool?

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

My stepson found this tool in a box of various items he had from an ex-plumber.

 

 

A knurled, spring loaded nut at the top allows adjustment and locking of a cam which varies in thickness, numbered 4 at the narrowest and 12 at the thickest setting. The higher numbers are closer together.

 

Pulling the lever presses a spring loaded anvil with a slot in it against the cam, then a wedge or blade rises up in the slot against the cam as well.

 

There are marks inside the handle, but all I can read is “Made in England”.

 

I immediately guessed it was a wire stripper, but this theory falls down as (1) you need to pull the wire the wrong way and (2) stripping anything other than a small wire needs the strength of Samson. The reason is that it works there wrong way for a stripper where the centre should be a sprung part to grip the wire, and the outside parts should be the blade forced up to cut the sheath.

 

Can anyone shed some light, noting the possible plumbing connection?

 

Thanks

 

Neil

[Engine BuilderParticipant @enginebuilder]

Looks like a tool for setting the teeth of hand saws. Before hardend tooth saws were available it was a carpenters job to first file the teeth with a triangular file and the set each tooth altenativly with this tool.

[Colin GParticipant @coling]

An easy one for my first posting; this is a saw set.

Used to set the teeth of a wood saw usually after sharpening

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Neil,

It is a tool for “setting” the teeth on a wood saw. As you can see the amount of set can be adjusted. You go down one side of the saw squeezing alternate teeth. You then repeat this on the other side setting the ones that you did not do on the first side. I think I may even have one somewhere.

 

Les.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The numbers relate to the tpi of the blade eg smaller tpi needs less of a bend to set.

 

 

J

 

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Well done guys.

 

I ought to have realised – it’s just that I haven’t sharpened a wood saw since the 70s!

 

But I do have a saw sharpening file and blunt tenon saw with a ‘real’ blade (not like the dozens of throw away rip saws…) so I’ll give it a go.

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Neil,

I found the one I have and it still has the instructions with it. Let me know if you would like me to scan them and email them to you. (I still have your email address.)

Les.

[Terry LaneParticipant @terrylane]

I still have two of ’em in my kit – used to use ’em on a daily basis back when the world was still flat.

[AndyBParticipant @andyb47186]

Cracking Neil!

 

I got one the same way (not from your son in law obviously) and couldn’t figure out what it is.

 

Many thanks all for the explanation.

 

Andy

[Ray LyonsParticipant @raylyons29267]

Back in the days when I was a “wood butcher” it was my job as an apprentice to sharpen the hand saws every week usually on Friday afternoon. Later, I always sharpened my own saws and always set before sharpening. This was to avoid the setting tool coming into contact with newly sharpened teeth. I would set the teeth one number less to compensate for the metal removed during sharpening and the teeth were then carefully guarded and placed in the toolbox and if handled carefully, only a light touch with the file would be required to keep the saw sharp. Setting was only carried out after four to six sharpening sessions.

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

This brought back memories of my childhood. When I was about 10 (and I’m 70 now) my grandad taught be to sharpen and set wood saws, and for setting we used a tool exactly like the one illustrated.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Bah. Fancy modern tools. Real men use the device that is like a 2 in wide chisel with slots of various depths and widths down the side. I’ve got one somewhere but haven’t seen it in a while so can’t provide a photo.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Ok then, what is wrong with a pin punch, you know, the thing with a slight hollow in the end, and a 1 pound hammer? Plus eyes, for seeing with, Mk 1. Works quite well, especially on clapped out hardpoint saws that dont matter!

 

Cheers,

 

Peter G. Shaw

 

 

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

Yes it is a saw setter. I try to minimise my wood butchering but I have 3 saws which were as ‘blunt as a badger’s back end’. I also had some metal band saws that needed re welding (Hungarians will not be told how to use them and will insist on trying to force them to cut faster).

At the local Faripari works they welded the band saws no problem. Then Ii produced the old spear and Jackson panel saw. The foreman looked at it pinged it and smiled. He called over the others burbling in Hungarian to admire it. I then producer a little ‘Gent’s Saw’ which made him purr. And then my ‘tenant saw’ (by Tyzak Sons and Turner). The foreman and the others went into a sort of dreamy reverie and ‘Bloody Lad’ was sent to fetch the Boss, who appeared very quickly. For the next 10 or so minutes the whole lot were passing the saws around sort of caressing them. Then one produced an old violin bow and played tunes on the Spear and Jackson. They were then arguing who should sharpen which saw and through my wife explained they would have a problem setting them. I fished out the Tool (or one rather like it). There was then a long discussion as to what the numbers on it meant. In the end they got the idea that it was the number of teeth per inch. There is an old Hungarian measurement the ’Hülveyk’( which is converted to 25.4mm). it is still sometimes used by the oldest of ‘Gazsda’ and old barrel makers.

There was a discussion about the files to be used –theirs were knackered- so I slipped out two Valrobe 3 square files –one No 2 cut and one No 4 cut- I had bought a job lot of them somewhere for about £1.

Two weeks later we went over to collect them. The Boss greeted us and put the saws down for us to inspect. He then introduced someone (a very bulky person with hands full of gold rings) my wife recognised him and there was a long discussion (which I was left out of) about the Spear and Jackson which the stranger seemed to want. Wife struck a deal and large denomination notes passed in several directions. and my old Spear and Jackson was carefully wrapped up and taken away by the stranger.

I gave the foreman the tool which I will never use and the files. He stowed the remaining saws into my motor and bundled us out of the place. Later my wife explained what was going on. It was the problem of the boss’s commission on the sale of the saw and who was to pay it, and the foreman’s expenses for the tools. . On the way home my wife bought the lunch at a very expensive road house and gave me 30,000 forint to buy a new saw.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Most curious!

 

I looked very carefully inside the handle and it says “ECLIPSE” in the sort of faint letters you can only read when you half expect what to see… but buried under the junk at the bottom of the toolbox was a battered card box with a picture of it – “Eclipse 77”

 

What was wanted has been taken out of the box nox (Gav’s a narrowboat maintenance engineer).Lots of ratty spanners and things like that, a few useful hand tools – and a pair of M&W dividers and an M&W depth/angle gauge, which came up quite nice with a bit of scotchbrite.

 

More than made up for a fruitless run to the ‘recycling centre’ after Christmas.

 

Neil

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Neil,

Eclipse 77 is the same one that I have.

 

Les.

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