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Any ideas as to what this is


OrlinEngh

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My Dad would get tools to stump people, well he was stumped and never did get to find out what this was used for.

I can remember the day he got it at a auction 49 years ago and him saying he had no idea what it was and wanted to see how long it would take to find out. I found it in a box of stuff the other day and thought time to have some fun with it and maybe someone out there may know what it is.

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Maybe this is what some wives would use on auction day to keep their husbands from buying stuff. Theyd hook the two little hooks in their husbands nose and the two big hooks around his ears and if he even looked like he might bid on that horse or mule they'd grab the handle and steer him away. Maybe thats why your dad got it at the auction, the previous guy was able to slip away without his wife noticing!

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My guess is an early life saving device for Lumber Jacks working more than 10 feet off the ground,, probably known back then as a Sky Hook.  On the fast track  down after the Jack mis-stepped one of his tree spurs he would simply unhook this from its scabbard found on his belt and toss, like an anchor, into the branches going by at warp speed. Of course,, most of those great American hero's were intelligent enough to attach a rope into that hoop above the hooking device before tossing it.. Noticing that your fathers specimen does not have said rope Orlin,, I am guessing that this one in particular was owned by a less intelligent Lumber Jack and that is also why your Dads Sky Hook is still in such very good condition. Probably spent its life stuck in the branches of 70 foot Douglas Fir tree while protected by the trees canopy above. 

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Was just talking to a friend and showed her these pics.  She just chuckled and said that reminded her of her days on her dads farm. Not the exact same as the pics but they used a very similar thing to lift and stack hay bails in their barn. They had a rail that circled the barn at the top rafters and with a pully arrangement that ran along the rail.  That suspended this type of attachment and it hooked the bail wires and so they could lift and move it anywhere in the barn to stack them.  Two girls on the lift rope and her dad on the guide rope.  She also remembers taking flying lessons from the loft on that set up.  

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14 hours ago, Snaggletooth said:

Was just talking to a friend and showed her these pics.  She just chuckled and said that reminded her of her days on her dads farm. Not the exact same as the pics but they used a very similar thing to lift and stack hay bails in their barn. They had a rail that circled the barn at the top rafters and with a pully arrangement that ran along the rail.  That suspended this type of attachment and it hooked the bail wires and so they could lift and move it anywhere in the barn to stack them.  Two girls on the lift rope and her dad on the guide rope.  She also remembers taking flying lessons from the loft on that set up.  

That was my initial thought, the top ring to hoist up the hay and the bottom ring to be pulled on to release the hay but then when I looked at the size of it compared to the shoe in the picture its too small you would be forever hauling up hay.

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Well we dont have a yes I know what that is and I have used one. I have always thought it was built to lift and the handle was to guide it, The legs can be moved by pushing and pulling the handle or you can use the ring to move the legs, and note the spring it pulls the legs together. It would be small blocks of ice. 

Fence tool possible, but it would only hold the wire. Good thought, We will have to keep quessing until that person says we had one of those and this is what it does. 

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Not a hay fork or a fence stretcher. Not big enough for hay and no racheting mechanism for fence stretching. Could be a hog hanger but they are generally butchered upside down. Seems a little small for ice blocks. So, with all this verbosity, I don’t know either!!!

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I sent the pics to my uncle who is a 3rd generation farmer.

He said it looks kind of like a logging tong for dragging logs out of the woods. BUT it looks different from the ones he has seen.

I think it looks a little small for logging. But what do I know.

He did say that he is sure it is an antique and in very good shape.

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