What is this?

[crabo]

My friend bought this because he thought it was cool. He is a tool guy and we think maybe it had something to do with the railroad, but really we have no clue.

[DIRT Farmer]

Looks like a very low pitched tuning fork.

[dmize]

Looks like a very low pitched tuning fork.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As the Great Grandson of a Blacksmith,there are a lot of tools that are hard to identify,some are just made out of necessity.

[waksupi]

I'm sure a rail road guy will check in, but it may be the tool used to switch tracks.

[geargnasher]

Looks like a tool used for assembling girders. The pointy handle doubles as an alignment punch for rivet holes, and the slotted end could be used to grab the edge of a beam and twist it into place.

Could be a railroad tool for aligning track ends and rail tie plates, too.

Gear

[runfiverun]

nnnnnegative on the rail road comments.
i laid and pulled track,and replaced ties by hand.
yep, swung the hammer to drive spikes too.[liked doing this part]

it looks similar to the under track part that switches tracks.
but it would be longer, have threads on the round end,and a hole through the forked end.

[Blacksmith]

It is a rare Aspirerly Aimless Aiming Fork and I can't quite tell from the single picture but it could be a left handed one.

Although blacksmiths use something similar to twist hot iron bars.

[starmac]

I have seen them before, but can't tell you what it is. It does seem to me that it is a tool used by the railroad though.

[Bob Krack]

Working in a sawmill fabrication shop, many of us made a similar tool to help turn beams or plate over. Don't look big enough to do a whole lot of turning, but sometimes it don't take much.

Picture an "I" beam or an "H" beam 10 or 20 feet long weighing 400 to 600 pounds that you need to turn over to cut, weld, machine, or even just mark. The slot would be engaged over one of the flanges and that allowed a person to turn the beam over - 90 degrees at a time.... One that one person could not possibly turn over by hand.

Bob

[bob208]

yep bob got it right it is a beam truner. i have used and made more then a few.

[Linstrum]

I think everybody who said the same thing as Bob Krack and bob28 got it figured out. Yep, trying to tip or turn over a long U-beam, I-beam, H-beam, or railroad track can't be done easily without it. I used a 24" Crescent wrench a lot of times, too, but even that wasn't enough for the big ones. A few times I had to jack up one end of a beam and wind a 5/16" binder chain a few turns around it at the center balance point and give it a lift with the skiploader to assist getting it turned over so I could cut or weld on it.

rl 1110

[JeffinNZ]

It's a tool for extracting Boy Scouts from horses' hoofs.

[Linstrum]

It's a tool for extracting Boy Scouts from horses' hoofs.

And that, too.

rl 1116

[P.K.]

My friend bought this because he thought it was cool. He is a tool guy and we think maybe it had something to do with the railroad, but really we have no clue.

The moment I looked at it it was a ringer for a tool used in many shops. Narrow the tines and you have a glow plug extraktor. Used when extracting plugs when they had done the job and gone too far.