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277096 Paul Belanger <pbelanger307@g...> 2023‑03‑12 Mystery Bell System "Mallet"
Good morning fellow galoots,

Came up with a new mystery tool at an antique mall yesterday. My first thought
was that it is a commander, but that is unlikely due to the shape of the head.
This monster is 36” high with a 10” head that’s 6” in diameter. The head is a
massive piece of lignum vitae cone shaped at the end. The  handle is marked
“Bell System” and “6” (I assume for the diameter of the head). The price tag
referred to it being a “mold” (possibly for making a mold?). See photo below
(hopefully!). Any insights appreciated as Google yielded nothing close.

Many thanks,

Paul Belanger

pbelanger307@g...

Also check out my blog on dividers at allencompassingdividers.blogspot.com

https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/281028/3588352?

Sent from Mail ( https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986 ) for Windows
277098 Chris Wolf <hframe79001@g...> 2023‑03‑12 Re: Mystery Bell System "Mallet"
This won't help a lot, but I would suggest that the price tag could be 
confusing "mold" for "maul", which seems like a much more appropriate 
word for it. How much does that thing weigh?

--Chris

Check out H-frame, the site for vintage Black & Decker Workmates
https://h-frame.weebly.com/
277099 Chris Wolf <hframe79001@g...> 2023‑03‑12 Re: Mystery Bell System "Mallet"
A further thought\u2014it looks like a huge pestle, although I can't imagine 
why the Bell System would be grinding stuff that way. Is it possible the 
handle was from a different tool, with the head added later?

--Chris

Check out H-frame, the site for vintage Black & Decker Workmates
https://h-frame.weebly.com/
277100 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2023‑03‑12 Re: Mystery Bell System "Mallet"
Paul,

My SWAG: It's for forming the "bell end" on the lead ( Pb ) jacket of an old-
fashioned lead-covered cable.

The jackets are joined by "lead burning", sort of like welding lead with a lower
melt point solder.

John Ruth
> On Mar 12, 2023, at 10:46 AM, Paul Belanger  wrote:
> 
> Good morning fellow galoots,
> 
> Came up with a new mystery tool at an antique mall yesterday. My first thought
was that it is a commander, but that is unlikely due to the shape of the head.
This monster is 36” high with a 10” head that’s 6” in diameter. The head is a
massive piece of lignum vitae cone shaped at the end. The  handle is marked
“Bell System” and “6” (I assume for the diameter of the head). The price tag
referred to it being a “mold” (possibly for making a mold?). See photo below
(hopefully!). Any insights appreciated as Google yielded nothing close.
> 
> Many thanks,
> 
> Paul Belanger
> 
> pbelanger307@g...
> 
> Also check out my blog on dividers at allencompassingdividers.blogspot.com
> 
> https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/281028/3588352?
> 
> Sent from Mail ( https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986 ) for Windows
> 
> 
> 
> 
>
277101 Claudio DeLorenzi <claudio@d...> 2023‑03‑12 Re: Mystery Bell System "Mallet"
Hey Paul,
That sounds like an old plumber’s bossing mallet?  Giggle search for
“Lignum bossing mallet antique tool” or some variation of that and Bell
System Tools and see if your thingy corresponds.
Cheers from a snowy Waterloo, Ontario (where Spring might never come this
year.  Plus, the snow is so high this year that the rabbits were able to
girdle over half of my orchard trees above the protective mesh that covers
24” of trunk.  Years of work gone to  wascally wabbits.  All they left me
were their little fertilizer pellets… I have to laugh so I don’t go
ballistic, literally).
Claudio

On Sun, Mar 12, 2023 at 10:46 AM Paul Belanger 
wrote:
277103 Paul Belanger <pbelanger307@g...> 2023‑03‑13 Re: Mystery Bell System "Mallet"
Thanks to all for your thoughts. To answer Chris, because of the lignum
head it's got to weigh close to 20 lbs., but I'm not great at estimating.
The "maul" vs. "mold" on the tag is a possibility.
But....I think I may have an answer to my own question. Actually, SWMBO
came up with the fact on-line that a new telephone pole is supposed to have
a 6" ring of compressed soil around the outside of the pole in the ground.
If you plug  "telephone lineman tamper" into Google, the first image you
get is one of these suckers along with a junior example. The auction image
is of a maple version of the tool. My lignum one has to be half again as
heavy. Given the fact that lignum was probably always pretty expensive and
uncommon I'm guessing it's a pretty early example of this tool. Pretty sure
the current technique doesn't use these guys! Now....how to convince my
long suffering wife that it should have a place of honor in the house?

Thanks again,
Paul
277104 Tom Fink 2023‑03‑13 Re: Mystery Bell System "Mallet"
I’ve found the best way to get tools in the house is to bring them through the
garage into the basement workshop, and SWMBO never knows.

Tom Fink
277105 Kirk Eppler 2023‑03‑13 Re: [Sender Verification Fail] Re: Mystery Bell System "Mallet"
Real question that might answer Chris' thought.

Does it show signs of being used to bang on something, like one would a
maul would, or if they used it as a mold, or ground tamp, the appropriate
marks from usage?

And on a separate but related note, I shared elsewhere a list of Bell
system tools.  These are from various generations, so may not be old enough
to have a LV tamper or maul or mold, but if someone has some time, you can
kill an hour or three here.

https://www.telecomarchive.com/docs/bsp-archive/074/074-269-123_I1.pdf

On Mon, Mar 13, 2023 at 10:38 AM Chris Wolf  wrote:

> This won't help a lot, but I would suggest that the price tag could be
> confusing "mold" for "maul", which seems like a much more appropriate
> word for it. How much does that thing weigh?
>
> -
> On 3/12/2023 10:46 AM, Paul Belanger wrote:
>
> > Came up with a new mystery tool at an antique mall yesterday. My first
> thought was that it is a commander, but that is unlikely due to the shape
> of the head. This monster is 36” high with a 10” head that’s 6” in
> diameter. The head is a massive piece of lignum vitae cone shaped at the
> end. The  handle is marked “Bell System” and “6” (I assume for the diameter
> of the head). The price tag referred to it being a “mold” (possibly for
> making a mold?). See photo below (hopefully!). Any insights appreciated as
> Google yielded nothing close.
>
>


-- 
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, CA 

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