MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Right, so pay attention at the back and tell me what this is!

[David Whipp]

Piston ring?

(Showing ignorance from beyond back seats...)

[Whyperion]

Looks like a baseplate and brass bezel for something like a barometer or pressure guage.

[Stanley]

Correct. Metal spinning a gauge bezel at Budenbergs.

[Tizer]

What's this then? You can judge it's size from the Imperial scale on the top edge. It has metric on the reverse.

[Pluggy]

A wire stripper.

[Gloria]

I'm with Pluggy.

[Stanley]

Cigar cutter. Definitely!

[Tizer]

I expect Stanley's got it. I didn't know for certain what this object was although cigar cutter was a guess. What puzzled me was the inch and millimetre scales on the sides and the relatively small size of the hole where the cigar would go. The object is probably meant to be general purpose for cutting stuff, and the hole in the end allows you to put it on a key ring. The blade part states "Ever Ready. British Made". I tried searching on Google and found a few bits of information but less than I expected. Here's a view of it opened to show the blade and photo taken from the other side so you can see the metric measure.

[Stanley]

Peter, the hole doesn't need to be big enough for the cigar as it is only intended to clip the end off the cigar so you can draw on it. The most expensive cigars still have a sealed end and need cutting, cheaper ones are ready clipped. Putting scales on items as an add on was quite common, have a look at this for an example. Anyone know what it is?

[Bodger]

allen keys ?

[Stanley]

Sorry no. I can see why you thought that....

[plaques]

Multi tool gadget. Contains pliers, knives, can openers and a thing for taking stones out of horses hooves, (whatever they are?)

[Stanley]

You're right P. It's the Leatherman equivalent of the Swiss Army Knife. Beautifully made....
Next for shaving?

[Stanley]

The Leatherman opened up.



Try this one. All right, it's a pocket knife but does anyone know what's special about it?

[plaques]

A knife for de-coking mini incinerators. Red Ingle nearly had this covered in his song "Cigarettes and Whuskey" second verse.
or it could be used as a chocolate cutter.

[Stanley]

Could be used for cleaning a pipe of course but that's not the unique aspect of it.

[Stanley]

I think I'm being too demanding! The knife was the official US Army pattern for issue to the troops. Try this one, another very specialised knife.

[David Whipp]

For hooves?

[Wendyf]

Agreed David, it looks like the knife my farrier uses to trim the ponies hooves.

[Stanley]

It would be handy for that but this had a more mundane household purpose, reflected in its name.

[Wendyf]

A paring or peeling knife?

[Wendyf]

Now I think about, my farrier doesn't use a knife like that at all!

[David Whipp]

Eyes in potatoes?

[Cathy]

A cheese knife, even tho the blade doesn't look long enough I can imagine the point being stabbed into a piece of cheese and picking it up.