Gadget identification

March 2, 2017 8:04 AM

Okay team, what's this green thingy with balls?
posted by bricksNmortar to Grab Bag (12 answers total)

Is it some kind of percussion instrument, maybe - if you pull one ball back and let it slam into the other, does it continue to bounce rapidly back and forth making a sort of rattle sound?
posted by parm at 8:21 AM on March 2, 2017

It's a thing to make a nice edging on the interface between a pie crust and the top crust of a pie.
posted by Rob Rockets at 8:25 AM on March 2, 2017 [6 favorites]

Ice crusher. Hold an ice cube in the palm of your hand (or wrapped in a towel on a countertop) and whack it with this, and you'll break the ice. Keep whacking until the chunks are as small as you want them to be.
posted by easily confused at 8:41 AM on March 2, 2017

I think the green thing is a strawberry huller and the balls are extraneous.
posted by theora55 at 8:57 AM on March 2, 2017

Response by poster: The balls are attached
posted by bricksNmortar at 9:11 AM on March 2, 2017

Response by poster: Doesn't make a noise if you slap it to your hand. At least not like a percussion instrument would.
posted by bricksNmortar at 9:17 AM on March 2, 2017

"Ice crusher. Hold an ice cube in the palm of your hand (or wrapped in a towel on a countertop) and whack it with this, and you'll break the ice. Keep whacking until the chunks are as small as you want them to be."

I think you're thinking of these kinds of things which the gadget in question clearly is not.
posted by komara at 9:45 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Did you find it in a particular place? My grandfather had an old fashioned "paper clip" that looked a bit like that in his work desk.
posted by ayerarcturus at 9:48 AM on March 2, 2017

It's almost definitely a kitchen gadget, my wife has a pretty sizable collection of green-handled kitchen items, some of which are pretty obscure.
posted by fixedgear at 10:15 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

A similar gadget, with marbles instead of steel balls, is described here as a knife sharpener. Here's another one. And another.
posted by beagle at 10:21 AM on March 2, 2017 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Knife steel.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:30 AM on March 2, 2017 [3 favorites]

Used for honing a straight razor. More information here and here.
posted by noneuclidean at 10:35 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]