Mystery utensil, some say tool

February 27, 2021 9:33 AM

What's this object used for? I found it while I was cleaning out the kitchen cupboards (yes, it’s come to that).

Image 1
Image 2

You can rotate the wheel that has the different-sized indentations, and then tighten the screw to lock it in position. I guess you use it with the wheel locked in place so that it can't rotate. It feels like you're supposed to drag it along something to make raised lines of your selected width?

There's no writing on the thing anywhere. The rotating wheel is about 1.5 inches in diameter.

posted by Beverley Westwood to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Could it be a pie tool? Also known as a crimper or edger.

Either that or it's a cow tool.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 9:48 AM on February 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

Is that for prying up different sizes of nails and tacks?
posted by lokta at 9:51 AM on February 27, 2021

Best answer: Looks to me like a scraper; the little divots all have a different radius, presumably to match whatever is being scraped. For example, the metal rods composing the shelves in your oven, but this particular tool may not have been specifically intended for scraping your oven shelves, it's just one of the things it could do if asked.
posted by aramaic at 9:51 AM on February 27, 2021 [9 favorites]

My first thought was that it's for making edge shapes in fresh made pasta.
posted by ashbury at 10:00 AM on February 27, 2021

The end piece looks a lot like the parts in the second image here, or other rotating die wire crimpers.

Are there any brand names on it?
posted by sagc at 10:03 AM on February 27, 2021

Response by poster: I just spent a VERY satisfying five minutes scraping the wire tray of my grill pan. Thanks all, I think aramaic has the answer.
posted by Beverley Westwood at 10:16 AM on February 27, 2021 [19 favorites]

Yup.
posted by Phanx at 1:36 PM on February 27, 2021 [2 favorites]