What is it? Set 434

One of the long pieces with a hook was loose on one end and no longer attached to the ring, so it could pivot in either direction, I thought it was broken but maybe it was made to be this way so the animal could be removed, and was temporarily attached when the trap was set.

Here is the response that I got from the trap expert:

"I have not seen another of this but could be a wicked rat trap. Rat could go in from either end but could not get out. Not sure but it looks like a great piece."

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I think it might be too big to trap a rat, I was guessing maybe it was for a woodchuck, anyway, looks like no solid answer for now.

Sounds plausible but I haven't been able to find any similar bait holders to verify this idea.

If it is a trap then I would agree that it's not a great design, but I've seen a number of tools that weren't well thought out so it could just be a poorly designed trap. I would bet this item was not mass produced, if it was the trap expert would have recognized it. If this is the only one of its type in existence then it will be almost impossible to prove one way or the other what it is.

I'm going to stick with the trap answer for now, if the trap expert had suggested it was a bait holder then I would go along with it, but I'm always open to other ideas if anyone finds evidence to the contrary.

Rob

You could BBQ the animal right in the trap. Then just pick out the meat with your fingers. Just like the animals could pick out the bait with their paws in the first place. I doubt it's an animal trap. Art

"Rob H." scribbled:

2516 - this is either a hole reaming tool or a left handed screw/bolt extractor otherwise known as an ez-out

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I have to vote "no" on both of these options.

1) Reaming requires cutting flutes, and reamers are typically either parallel to the axis, or have a very shallow angle. Certainly not as steep as this one has. This is closer to a wood screw, except for the constantly growing diameter at the root of the thread. 2) EZ-outs have a very shallow angle too, aside from my never having seen one made for left-handed screws. The shallow angle is to draw it in fast to where it jams. You don't want the mechanical advantage that comes with the long screw as that would work harder at expanding the screw inside the hole (thus defeating the purpose) instead of trying to get a bite which will remove the screw. (EZ-outs have enough problem with expanding the screw, and are thus usually a terrible choice anyway, as they tend to get wedged in place and then break of, and are harder to drill out than the original screw. :-)

What this appears to be for is to screw into the end of a chunk of log, forcing it to split. Trying to use it to pull almost anything would be problematical, as it would make whatever it was expand and wedge in place.

Enjoy, DoN.

Put the trap down the animal's hole.

No bait required.