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269651 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2020‑01‑06 Whatsit: Brades #25 Made in England
GG’s, esp. UK Galoots:

I have a mystery tool in hand.

Marked “25 / BRADES / Made in England”

Does anyone have a Brades catalog, other than the 1941 edition posted online at
toolemera.com<http://toolemera.com>? ( That
1941 edition does not list pattern 25 on the index page. )

Bugbear contributed this back in 2005:
http://swingleydev.com/ot/get/144874/single/

The tool is about 6”long, a single steel forging.  The “business end” looks like
a Bay Leaf in profile, which is 3” long and 3/4” wide.  The 1/8” cross section
is “lenticular,” meaning it’s like the cross section of a convex lens. The edges
are DULL.

The 1/4” dia. shank of the tool ends in a 1” round flat top about 1/8” thick.
No signs of hammering on this flat top.

No idea what it’s purpose was, or even what trade it belongs to, as it’s clear
that Brades / William Huntsman & Sons made tools for a wide variety of trades,
including mason and agriculture tools.

My current best SWAG is that it’s for grafting fruit trees, but don’t ask me why
I believe this.

John Ruth

Sent from my iPhone
269652 Phil Schempf <philschempf@g...> 2020‑01‑06 Re: Whatsit: Brades #25 Made in England
John -

A 1934 Brades catalog here -

https://archive.org/details/WilliamHuntAndSonsExportCatalogue1934/page/n25

The images aren't the clearest and I'm a bit foggy myself as to what this
tool looks like, but take a look at the page with plaster trowels and
pointers.  Are the tools in the lower left what you have?

Phil
269653 Phil Schempf <philschempf@g...> 2020‑01‑06 Re: Whatsit: Brades #25 Made in England
A little more digging came up with this image from a 1957 Tyzack catalog
http://trowelcollector.blogspot.com/2014/12/s-tyzack-1957-catalogue-
now-available.html">http://trowelcollector.blogspot.com/2014/12/s-tyzack-1957
-catalogue-now-available.html


with a clearer illustration of a line pin.  More info on line pins here -
https://www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/line-pins/what-is-a-line-pin

Is that the whatsit under discussion?

Phil
269654 Mick Dowling <spacelysprocket@b...> 2020‑01‑06 Re: Whatsit: Brades #25 Made in England
Hi John, GGs

Second attempt, posting to the list this time.

Here’s either a link to a photo of my collection of line pins, or a link to an
album. If it’s the album it’s pic 22 and 23.

You’ll see a US style pin which might be more familiar to you on the far right
side of pic 23.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/
Whb932PaeWX6RR8u9 ps://photos.app.goo.gl/Whb932PaeWX6RR8u9>

Yes, I collect line pins. I may be the worlds foremost collector. I may also be
the worlds only collector.

Mick Dowling
47 Patterson st.
Coburg Vic 3058 
Australia
269655 Mick Dowling <spacelysprocket@b...> 2020‑01‑06 Re: Whatsit: Brades #25 Made in England
John, GGs

More line pins.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/
74UtdazsBPY3sRZ96 ps://photos.app.goo.gl/74UtdazsBPY3sRZ96>

Mick Dowling
Melbourne Australia
269657 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2020‑01‑07 Re: Whatsit: Brades #25 Made in England
Mick & Phil just about had a “photo finish” on this one!
Mick’s initial inadvertently off-list response came in at 4:29, followed by two
others, then Phil’s arrived at 5:24, less than an hour later.

Thanks to you gentlemen, I now have a 100% positive identification of this tool!

Note that I was way off, hypothesizing that it was a tree-grafting tool!

Now, if I could only remember where I got it! I’ve been sorting recent
acquisitions; this was in a bag with some other stuff that I do recall
purchasing, but where this Line Pin came from is a question mark.

John Ruth





Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 6, 2020, at 5:53 PM, Mick Dowling mailto:spacelysprocket@b...">mailto:spacelysprocket@b...>> wrote:

Hi John, GGs

Second attempt, posting to the list this time.

Here’s either a link to a photo of my collection of line pins, or a link to an
album. If it’s the album it’s pic 22 and 23.

You’ll see a US style pin which might be more familiar to you on the far right
side of pic 23.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Whb932PaeWX6RR8u9

Yes, I collect line pins. I may be the worlds foremost collector. I may also be
the worlds only collector.

Mick Dowling
47 Patterson st.
Coburg Vic 3058
Australia



On 7 Jan 2020, at 7:40 am, John Ruth mailto:johnrruth@h...">mailto:johnrruth@h...>> wrote:

GG’s, esp. UK Galoots:

I have a mystery tool in hand.

Marked “25 / BRADES / Made in England”

Does anyone have a Brades catalog, other than the 1941 edition posted online at
toolemera.com<http://toolemera.com><http://toolemera.com">http://toolemera.com>? ( That 1941 edition does
not list pattern 25 on the index page. )

Bugbear contributed this back in 2005:
http://swingleydev.com/ot/get/144874/single/

The tool is about 6”long, a single steel forging.  The “business end” looks like
a Bay Leaf in profile, which is 3” long and 3/4” wide.  The 1/8” cross section
is “lenticular,” meaning it’s like the cross section of a convex lens. The edges
are DULL.

The 1/4” dia. shank of the tool ends in a 1” round flat top about 1/8” thick.
No signs of hammering on this flat top.

No idea what it’s purpose was, or even what trade it belongs to, as it’s clear
that Brades / William Huntsman & Sons made tools for a wide variety of trades,
including mason and agriculture tools.

My current best SWAG is that it’s for grafting fruit trees, but don’t ask me why
I believe this.

John Ruth

Sent from my iPhone
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269658 "Andrew B." <andrew.bouland@g...> 2020‑01‑08 Re: Whatsit: Brades #25 Made in England
snip> John has a Brades Mystery tool (line pin)

            
269659 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2020‑01‑08 Re: Whatsit: Brades #25 Made in England
Andrew,

It’s a good example of The Porch in action!  Identifications of “whatsits” are
among my favorite topics here.

Since I’d not encountered these before in over 40 years of “tooling around,” I
surmise that this tool must have gone out of style, replaced perhaps by
something less intrusive to the mortar.

John Ruth
Spending some time organizing the shop area today.

Sent from my iPhone

Recent Bios FAQ