What is it? CLXXII

999 appears to be a handle for lifting the lids of a wood-burning stove.

1000 is a Wimshurst static electric machine.

Jerry

999 looks like a lock mortice chisel. Used for cleaning out the bottom of a blind mortice as in fitting a lock to a door. The curved end allows leverage aginst the end of the mortice to get the cutting edge to slice across the bottom of the hole.

See e.g.

Whatever it is, I have one, somewhere...

998, doctors reflex testing hammer

999 Swan neck chisel. Judging from the size I'd guess it was originally intended to timber framing work. Art

According to the owner, this answer is correct.

Rob

It's not for use by doctors. Someone told me that in the photo, the head of this hammer looks to be made of wood but it's actually metal, I just updated the description on the web site to include this info.

Rob

"R.H." wrote in news:465e8269$0$8998 $ snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com:

1000. is a Wimshurst electrostatic generator* and a couple of Leyden storage jars. *

172... In 1877 a lot of water pipes were built of wood like barrels. I suppose one would use a fabric hose to move water on a temporary path in agriculture or industry. If the available pressure wasn't high, one might use a 6" hose.

So you connect the hose to bring the water to an irrigation system, for example, and you want to regulate the flow. It might be expensive to install a brass valve at the output -- the hoses themselves didn't last long. Instead you put 172 around the hose as an adjustable clamp. Makes sense to me!

According to R.H. :

O.K. Posting from rec.crafts.metalworking as always.

995) Hmm ... not sure about this one. Perhaps a press for holding an old folding fan compressed while it is being made? 996) A strange one. My guess is that it is for fishing cord or string through a hole -- perhaps in weaving something like a net? 997) I would guess that the three functions have to do with boots:

a) Boot hook -- for pulling up cowboy style boots.

b) For making holes for shoelaces? The end was once sharper than it is now.

c) For driving in nails to hold heels onto shoes or boots.

998) ??? For killing cattle in a slaughter yard? 999) For hooking and moving heavy loads by levering the edge up? 1000) One of several styles of hand-cranked electrostatic generator. At least I don't have to guess on this one. :-) With the arrows painted on the handwheel to indicate direction, I would think that it is a demo unit in a science museum.

Are you going to continue past your 1000 mark?

Enjoy, DoN.

Perhaps -- except that "172" is the identifier for the whole week's set of items. That particular item is item #995. I was wondering where you got the 172 until I went back to the top of the page. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

996: I don't see a convincing answer, so I'll take a stab...

A plane for cutting a groove on the inside of a cylinder, such as the groove in a barrel that the barrel-head sits in.

The right end of the upper arc-shaped piece seems to be a cutting edge. Think of a plane-blade. The lower arc-shaped piece is a wedge. Think of a plane blade locking wedge. Slide upper blade to the required depth of cut, tap in the wedge to lock it. The notches may serve to loosen the blade and wedge for readjustment. The flat plate on the screw with the wing-nut is an edge stop to set the distance of the groove from the end of the cylinder.

Having made this guess, my problems are: The screw doesn't seem to work in the correct direction to be a depth-stop, even with an internal spring. The shape of the wood block, with sharp corners, doesn't seem right for being held as a plane. I don't see the function for the countersunk hole seen in the lower photo.

997: Combination crotch-scratcher, nose-picker, ear wax remover?

Definitely, I've got plenty of stuff available to post and looking for new things is still very interesting for me so I plan to continue for at least the rest of this year.

The answer page for the latest set can be seen at the link below, along with a possible answer for one that was posted almost two years ago

Rob

995-- "...in the days before book bags..." For somebody who respects books, this clamp would be better than a book bag. Clamping would preserve a book's binding.

As schools grew larger, school boards came to see that the quality of education is in the weight and cost of a student's book load. Each day, students are required to carry books with ten times more pages than they will study in a year. Publishers don't have proofreaders because teachers never notice that their books are full of glaring errors. Textbooks cost much more than other books because they are built to withstand being carried in bags like potatoes.

They charge more for textbooks because they can.

Thanks, Rich