What might this pincer claw-like thingy be / do?

August 26, 2013 6:17 PM

picture 1 picture 2 We found this in the kitchen, so we thought it might be a bottle or jar opener, but it doesn't quite have the "grip" to be either. Any more ideas what it could be used for?
posted by ditto75 to Grab Bag (15 answers total)

what happens when you squeeze the legs together? are there gears?
posted by koroshiya at 6:33 PM on August 26, 2013

Response by poster: No gears but they do get a little tense when squeezed, hence original guesses that it might be an opener of some sort
posted by ditto75 at 7:12 PM on August 26, 2013

They remind me of the things you'd use to get the lid off of a vacuum sealed jar of preserves or something. We had a custom kitchen thing for that and these remind me of them but are not the same. Is there any reason to believe the other end (near the keychain end) does anything when you hold the handle ends and squeeze?
posted by jessamyn at 7:22 PM on August 26, 2013

Is the tab in the center sharp? It looks like a blade so maybe an ultra elaborate tool to cut the foil off a wine bottle?

Oh never mind. I just saw the flip side and realized that it's bent 90 degrees.
posted by Beti at 7:26 PM on August 26, 2013

Can you open the legs more (like all the way around, like it's a folding tool)?
posted by Night_owl at 7:41 PM on August 26, 2013

Response by poster: The keychain side doesn't have anything special to it and doesn't do anything when the claws / whatevers are squeezed.

The legs only go as far as pictured. (night_owl, loved the suggestion...but loved more the nsfw thoughts that popped into my mind reading it! hehe)

I bet the "YK" emblem holds a clue to this mystery, but my google-Fu has left me empty-handed. Any more ideas?
posted by ditto75 at 7:52 PM on August 26, 2013

Total speculation, but could the purpose of the hinged handles be to squeeze something right up at the hinge where the two arms come close to one another? Does squeezing the handles change the gap between the two arms right at the hinges?
posted by d. z. wang at 7:56 PM on August 26, 2013

The tab in the center seems to have the same design as the other two, so my guess is that they are all stops. The inside of the pincers don't really seem to be formed for holding anything, so my guess is that it is supposed to be inserted into something and then expand. Maybe it's made to stretch something, or to hang something lightweight?
posted by drwelby at 8:49 PM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

Well, it's on a keychain, so it's likely some sort of promotional item. I tried the AliBaba site (supplies a lot of this stuff) with search term of tool keychains -- I didn't see it after a few pages, but maybe you'll find it there?
posted by desuetude at 8:54 PM on August 26, 2013

Oh, and my best guess based on the shape was a wine bottle foil cutter.
posted by desuetude at 8:54 PM on August 26, 2013

Extremely overengineered version of a bike tire lever?
posted by miyabo at 9:10 PM on August 26, 2013

Looks to me like a grip exercizer, and the fact that you found it in the kitchen is a red herring
posted by Mchelly at 9:39 PM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]

Could it be for putting/replacing caps on to beer bottles? Put the cap over the top of the bottle, place the flat plate of the widget over the top (the other way up from how it is in the picture) and squeeze the handles together, so you get pressure on 3 sides squeezing the edges of the cap around the bottletop? Just a guess.
posted by penguin pie at 6:12 AM on August 27, 2013

Having looked that up, here's a "crown capper" as they seem to be called. Close but no cigar, I think.
posted by penguin pie at 6:16 AM on August 27, 2013

Grasping at straws here, but could it be a cork grip? Could you put the concave parts of the handles around the top of the cork and use the folded down part of the middle section as a fulcrum to help lever the cork out of a bottle?
posted by Daddy-O at 11:40 AM on August 27, 2013