MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

No Gloria, they are the ones with the very broad blade used for cutting bricks. But you are in the right area, very closely related.....

[Gloria]

A de-pointing chisel?

[Stanley]

That's exactly right, it only has one use, cutting perished mortar out before re-pointing.



Try this one, the next in my chisel series....

[Gloria]

I think I know but will let someone else have a go.

[Stanley]

Go on Gloria.... I've got plenty of objects lined up because during a search through the treasure chests for something else I found some interesting stuff! I did the pics this morning before I started in the shed....

[Gloria]

Caulking chisel????

[Stanley]

Sorry, no Gloria. They usually have a flat end. The diamond point is the key, when would you need that?

[Stanley]

You've all gone quiet..... It's a diamond point chisel and had two uses. Occasionally you needed to cut oil grooves inside the bearing shells of an engine and this was just the thing. However, it's main use was cleaning the corners out of key-ways that had been chipped out in the ends of big shafts. We tend to forget now that chipping and filing was the recognised way of creating plane surfaces and later key-ways in both cast iron and steel. It is a lost art. Newton was once consulted about renewing a key-way on a large crusher at Threshfield Limestone Quarry. His quote was only a fraction of the others they had because his method was to chip the key-way in situ, all the other quotations involved taking the shaft out and doing it by machine in a large shop, a massive job and time consuming. B&P got the job and cut the key-way in one day. A satisfied customer!
Try this one.... (Clue, strictly speaking it isn't a chisel)

[Marilyn]

Log splitter?
(I am so rubbish at this topic!)

[Stanley]

No Maz but oh so close!

[LizG]

For breaking / cutting tiles? bricks?

[Stanley]

Maz was so close and as I have plenty to go at I'll give the answer. It was not meant for cutting anything, it's pot hard and would shatter. It's a wedge for splitting large flanged joints on pipe work. A handy tool.
Try this one........



It's a good length, about 18" and very sharp.

[Stanley]

That went down like a lead balloon! We aren't hanging round, this a large true chisel forged by the smith to give the necessary angle for chipping out a large keyway in situ like the one I described on the Rock Crusher at Threshfield. The fitter would have two or three like this freshly sharpened in the fire and re-tempered, grinding was no good. If the material was different than was expected they were taken back to the smith and he was skilled enough to alter the temper of the edge to suit the material. Chisels were more complicated thatn most people think.



Try these two. Not chisels, very specialised and totally redundant today.

[Stanley]

Come on you lot! Click to enlarge and note that there are no sharp edges on the business end. The shape is important as well.....

[plaques]

They remind me of the instruments the dentists used to get the tartar off my teeth. So I'll go for packing seals into steam engine piston rods or as a long shot knocking flanges off driving shafts .

[LizG]

Mini crowbars?

[Pluggy]

Tyre Irons.

[Stanley]

P is close enough. It was quite common as recently as 50 years ago to use spigoted joints on cast iron water pipes and these were 'caulked' by driving lead wool into the joints using caulking irons like this. On very old steam plant the same technique was used for almost all joints on cast iron pipes. A variation on this was the 'rust setting joint' which was made by making the initial seal with lead wool and then packing the remainder with sal ammoniac and fine cast iron borings mixed. This compound corroded and swelled as it did so making a very tight joint which was virtually impossible to release. On the Whitelees engine one such joint had swelled so much that it cracked the female part of the joint. I left it alone! It is still like that. So, they are specialised caulking irons.



Try this one....

[plaques]

Stanley, your eye ball appointment must be taking over your brain activity. You showed us this one on 4 April. All is forgiven, how you dig up such a range of bits and bobs amazes me.

[Stanley]

You're quite right P. Try this one..... (without cheating on Google!)

[chinatyke]

Ha! My Dad worked for Mastabar in Accrington so I know!

[Gloria]

A guess..... For crimping belt ends together?

[Stanley]

Near enough Gloria (you are good at this!)



Here are the ready made 'alligator' grips you cut to length and then fastened to each end using the clamp above. Then you lined up the holes you had formed in the crimped alligator strips after interlocking them with each other and as you withdrew it slowly you followed up with a this rod made of rawhide which connected the two ends. This thin leather rod carried all the load on the drive. I haven't got any of them....

Try this one, something completely different! Nicely made out of high quality cast iron....

[plaques]

Always wondered where the door knob to the servants entrance had got to. I suspected the butler, in 90% of the mystery murders the butler always did it, but now I know it was Stanley.

[Gloria]

Love it, want it, it's beautiful.
Is it the door handle off the treacle mine front door?