What is this tool for?

August 9, 2012 7:00 AM

WeirdToolFilter: What is this tool for?

A friend found this in a fantastic old house he's just moved in to, and none of us can work out what it is. The screw moves the two prongs closer and further apart, otherwise it's rigid.

Any ideas metafilter?

posted by bullox to home & garden (11 answers total)

Well, I would would have, in the old days, used it as a roach clip.

I could also see using it as something to hold a wire during a soldering operation. Are the blade looking tips sharpened as it if was meant to cut/scribe something?
posted by HuronBob at 7:05 AM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

It may have something to do with joints, HuronBob. My guess is a woodwork tool for scribing when making dado or dovetail joints.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:10 AM on August 9, 2012

I've seen something [newer looking] used to cut strips of leather.
posted by digital-dragonfly at 7:12 AM on August 9, 2012

I was about to suggest that it might be a tool for scoring or cutting leather - perhaps for cutting uniform strips.
posted by pipeski at 7:30 AM on August 9, 2012

Oh look, here's one (top of pic)
posted by pipeski at 7:31 AM on August 9, 2012 [4 favorites]

Its for scoring kerf lines in say instruments like guitars or violins like the edges in this pic. You'd set the width, score the lines, then chisel out the waste between the lines. Then y put yer strips of inlay in. Looks like it needs sharpening.

Modern version
posted by Max Power at 7:33 AM on August 9, 2012 [3 favorites]

I was about to suggest that it might be a tool for scoring or cutting leather - perhaps for cutting uniform strips.

This.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:35 AM on August 9, 2012

Further research suggests that it's called a Screw Crease - and here's a new one. Quite similar-looking to an inlay knife though.
posted by pipeski at 7:36 AM on August 9, 2012 [3 favorites]

Could also be for linoleum.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:04 AM on August 9, 2012

A critical difference between this tool and the one Max Power linked to is that this one has the bevels on the outside of the blades, so it will compress material on the outside and leave a neatly cut strip inside, whereas the one MP linked has the bevels on the inside and will thus compress the (waste) material on the inside and leave the material outside of the tool unscathed. In other words, this is not a double inlay knife.
posted by jon1270 at 8:26 AM on August 9, 2012

I do leather work as a hobby and have one of these Adjustable Creasers you can buy one here They are for making parallel lines, inside borders, decorative work and more.
posted by DBAPaul at 11:30 AM on August 9, 2012