Ren Tescher wrote:
> Single Grain Guzzling Galoots et al,
>
> I've posted 3 whatsits to GIC, I kept seeing these at my local
> rusteteria and finally bought 'em because I didn't want them
> to slip away- hey, they might be valuable someday...to somebody...
>
> http://wdynamic.com/galoots/4images/index.php?action=addtolightbox&id
>
> Thanks and feel free to leave comments if yor purty shore ya know what
> they are!
I emailed Ren privately and told him I had
an identical tool, bought purely because I didn't
know what it was (and it was cheap ;-)
Mine is a little cleaner than Ren's, so I
had a very close look at it last night.
You can too, courtesy of GIC:
http://www.wdynamic.com/galoots/4images/details.php?image_id=1818
I figured that it's a clamp of some kind; and it's not
made to sit on a bench, so it's not a vice, even a jeweller's.
Looking really closely at the logo (and cleaning
it out with a brass suede brush), I figured that
the logo was a dog, but I couldn't read the name.
Looking even closer with a magnifying glass (40mm lens
reclaimed from a defunct 50p camera - old camera lenses
are color corrected and rather fine) I saw the last letter
was a 'K'. At this point my memory/brain fed me "King Dick", a maker
best known for spanners.
Here's the best photo I could manage quickly.
http://www.wdynamic.com/galoots/4images/details.php?image_id=1819
Here's King Dick:
http://www.kingdicktools.co.uk/frm/frm_hist.htm
Now, it's not a spanner; but I happen to know that King Dick
also made bicycle tools; I have a spoke key in this brand.
So, this morning I went to see my friend who runs
the local bike shop - he's third generation, and knows
about bicycles from their first days to recumbents.
http://www.madgettscycles.co.uk/
I took the tool in and asked him if *he* recgonised it.
He did, and he's got one, although more worn than mine.
It's a tool for holding a spoke (providing a handle)
while you twist it into a hole in the hub.
Of an "ordinary"!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny-farthing
BugBear (impressed)
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