MYSTERY OBJECTS

[plaques]

No takers. The answer is next to the plaque for the old Baptist Chapel on Walmsgate.

[chinatyke]

Another quirky thing for Cathy.

Above image expanded from this photo:

[Marilyn]

Gawd, you are not making your own coins are you China?!

[Cathy]

Oooh is it a weight /sizing contraption of some sort?

[Stanley]

If you've been following shed matters you'll know what this is.....

[plaques]

China's nodding donkey that pumps god knows what, possibly from David's treacle mines, to a line of plants of dubious pedigree to compete with Barlick in Bloom.

[chinatyke]

China's nodding donkey that pumps god knows what, possibly from David's treacle mines, to a line of plants of dubious pedigree to compete with Barlick in Bloom.

That didn't last long! The dubious plants don't need water.

If you've been following shed matters you'll know what this is.....

Yes, quite right. But I wanted a much better model than this when I mentioned it in shed matters. This one is driven by a motor from a microwave oven.

[Stanley]

It's on my mind.... but at the moment I'm banned from the shed..... Good job I had finished the engine! Could this be post natal depression?

[plaques]

Only because the real mystery objects have mysteriously disappeared. Here's another 'Where is it in Barlick'. Probably one of the most ornate terrace plaques in Barlick.

[Stanley]

Got me stumped P....

[Cathy]

Love that sign, come on peoples where is it or was it?

[Pluggy]

I've found it, but Google street view is a dirty word round here. I'll see if anyone else comes up with it.

Its quite close to a well known take away emporium.....

[PanBiker]

I know where it is too, I used to live very close.

[David Whipp]

It's here!

[plaques]

Ok, I'll accept 'Its Here' and 'I Know where it is' and even Google street view. But especially for Cathy its number 14/16 Park Rd.
Good isn't it. Probably one of the best I've ever seen locally.
Next please.

[Cathy]

Is there a story behind why it's located where it is Plaques?

[PanBiker]

Like lots of other originally named streets and terraced rows, its probably named after the person that built it or a relative. Lots of local streets named with the forenames of children. Bessie, Alice and Robert Streets down from us. Colin, Ethel, Myers all similarly named. That particular terraced row would be stand alone at one point, only when more rows were built would they rename the whole road from one end to the other.

[Cathy]

Thanks Ian.

[Stanley]

Huh! I must have seen it often....
I have a mystery for you but no picture. It cropped up because despite the difficulty I have been reading 1924 copies of the Model Engineer and the question cropped up in their discussion section. On some old carpenter's wood saws there is a single tooth on the back of the saw close to the tip. Why is it there?

[PanBiker]

Could it be for "getting a start", less drag than the row of teeth?

[Tizer]

Or might it be a single tooth which acts as a standard from which one could see the intended original shape and angle of the teeth, and would be inspected before sharpening the teeth? Unlike the main teeth, which are being worn out of shape, it would always be the same and therefore act as a a guide for how the teeth should look.

[Pluggy]

Like lots of other originally named streets and terraced rows, its probably named after the person that built it or a relative. Lots of local streets named with the forenames of children. Bessie, Alice and Robert Streets down from us. Colin, Ethel, Myers all similarly named. That particular terraced row would be stand alone at one point, only when more rows were built would they rename the whole road from one end to the other.

I found it by digging through what google brought up for Shaw Terrace, Barnoldswick. I found details of a soldier who perished in the first world war, and the address he gave when he signed up was 'Shaw Terrace, Park Road, Barnoldswick'. That gave me the big clue to find it on Street view, I don't know the details of why that bit is called Shaw Terrace.

[Stanley]

Ian and Tiz, both explanations I have heard before and they were mentioned in the 1924 ME debate. There is another one (which incidentally I favour) and a clue to this is that the part of the top of the blade between the single tooth and the tip of the saw is reduced below the height of the tooth. This was between four and six inches.....

[Tizer]

Was the tooth a marker for when cutting through thick wood? When pulling back the saw, once you saw the tooth appear you stopped pulling, otherwise the saw would come out of the wood and you'd have to fiddle about getting it back in and lose time. The photo below is captioned `hand saw' - is this the tooth that you refer to? The photo is from a book published in 1871 and the title page is shown below.

[Stanley]

That's the one Tiz. In the 1924 ME an old carpenter said that he had always understood that the tooth was a marker to show you had used the full length of the blade, on the forward stroke you had the handle as a marker. But again, Spear and Jackson who were making the saws with the single tooth said that it had no purpose and was traditional. Another carpenter said that he had used the tooth, Lodged against a tack in the wood, as a pivot for marking large curves with a pencil point in one of the regular teeth.
This debate reminds me of the hoary old subject of whether a half nut used as a locknut should be on top of or below the full nut. The ME was famous for airing such subjects....
Next for shaving?