What is it????? Update: SOLVED

[abunaitoo]

I think I might have posted this before, but I can't find it.
I'm guessing it's for making dimples in sheet metal.
No brand name or maker on it.
Some place where I might be able to get some instructions for it.
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[ReloaderFred]

That would be my guess as well. You might try talking to some sheet metal shops and see what they say. Just take the picture with you and they may know how to use it.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Rick Hodges]

It is a vermin eradication kit. You carefully chose a size backing cylinder appropriate for the pest you wish to destroy....carefully place them in the shallow cup, the largest size appropriate for the infamous Florida cockroach aka "Palmetto Bug"....then smash the sucker with the mallet. Repeat as necessary until the infestation is gone. [smilie=s:

[wwmartin]

It's a blacksmithing kit for forming the protruding parts on the chest ares of primitive metal female body armor.
WW

[corbinace]

A friend suggested maybe for repairing Brass instruments, as in trumpets or french horns.

[robg]

It's defiantly a thing of purpose.

[WILCO]

It's defiantly a thing of purpose.

It's an Asperly Aimless Barrel Tuning Kit.
Only three known to be in existence..............

[mdi]

Are the "balls" screw in heads for the mallet?

[JimB..]

Just trying to imagine the parts and how they interact. Behind the balls is a socket and a pin, are those simply for storing the mallet?

If you look at the stems on the balls is there evidence of striking?

I initially liked the idea that they would be used to hammer sheet metal, like making a hammered copper bar top or some sort of art in a sheet of copper, but that doesn’t explain why they are stored in a metal plate or why that plate has indexing features.

[Dusty Bannister]

I was thinking it could be used to form cups of various sized for decorative purposes. Sleigh bells are made in two pieces and that would utilize the centering gauge feature of the removable ball anvil and adjustable position of the anvil from the post. One half being pierced and then fastened together with sort of a standing seam. But why in HI ??

[EMC45]

hornsurgeon is a member here. Maybe he can shed some light.

[Markopolo]

What does the rest of the arm you can't see in the pic look like???

[parkerhale1200]

Maybe to caliber canons.
In the old days people where casting canons.(1400-to even 1900)
Up coming weekend I will show this picture to some members of our shooting alley.
We have one and a half dozen canoneers, I will ask them, I hope they can be of any help, if I am correct.....IF

[country gent]

We used balls similar to those with a ring 1"-2" tall to dome steel plates for bases. but this required a heavy press to do the hammer would have been a joke. I'm thinking it for removing dings from pipes and tubes. In the food industry plastic balls of tubing ID are ran thru behind a run to get the last out of the product pipes.

[abunaitoo]

Took more pictures.
I thought the balls would mount into the hammer. Wrong.
Hammer it made of brass.
The balls look like they mount into the movable base.
The rod looks to small to mount a dial indicator.
Some kind of measuring tool. Maybe a concentricity gauge
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[LUBEDUDE]

Looks like jeweler’s tools to me.

[gwpercle]

Being a professional draftsman....I can tell you it isn't used in the drawing/drafting and design business.

Have no earthly idea what it is.....how much did you pay for it ?

Gary

[abunaitoo]

Got it free.

[TNsailorman]

Owner probably didn't know what is was either. I don't, james

[D Crockett]

I do not have any idea as to what it is really for. but if I had that thing I would be making ladles with it. if you ever deside to get rid of it maybe we could work something out D Crockett

[abunaitoo]

I'm googled it on metal forming hand tools, metal working hand tools, jewelry making tools.
Mostly looking at the pictures.
Nothing even close to it.
I even posted it in the hobby machinist forum.
Nothing.
Any other suggestions where I might try????

[corbinace]

http://www.votawtool.com/small-dent-rod-ball-set.html

Only a sugestion, not an answer.

[SOFMatchstaff]

I think you will find it to be a variation of a dapping block tool set.

[Traffer]

I don't think it's a hammer. I think that handle is just for positioning the balls in to whatever it is for. Certainly wouldn't need that kind of precision for peening something. It may be that the handle is for holding the various balls in position to test their fit. Perhaps for ball bearing replacement. Is there anything that has various sized dents or cups that would need to be comparison measured with the different balls? I like puzzles like this. It stretches one's research muscles.

[Pressman]

corbiance nailed it. Dent remover for musical instruments.

[copdills]

I have no Idea what that is , but its COOL

[gwpercle]

Got it free.
Well the price was right. Describe the hammer, brass with a flat face ? What is the other end ?
I enjoy a good what is it !
Gary

[abunaitoo]

Hammer is two piece. Handle and head. Head has a flat and round surface.
I looked through the musical instrument site. Didn't find anything like it.
Could it be some kind of concentricity tool for tubing ????

[parkerhale1200]

To get a dent out of your car?

old fasion way

[parkerhale1200]

216203216204

Just a wild guess

[GoodOlBoy]

It is a planisher/planishing kit for forming metal into curves, bowls, domes, etc. Yes many of them were used to gently remove and reshape brass musical instruments. Some of them were used for jewelry, coppersmithing, and yes larger versions were used to make helmets, knee cops and elbow cops, and shield bosses for armor (and are still used for that by groups like the SCA). Basically any time you want to make a dome shape or curve/cup out of flat metal that is the kind of kit you need. With it's age, size, and the hammer type I would say it probably was designed for copper, or aluminum.

FYI Search "Planishing Stake Kit" and you will see modern versions. That is a very old one, AND you only have the ball side (which the kit honestly may have only come with originally).

Flat side of the hammer is used for working and forming the outside of the "dome" while the sheet of flat metal lays on the stake. The round side of the hammer is used on the inside of the "dome" while it rests on either a flat surface, or in a cupped piece sometimes simply worked into the top of a log (dishing stump) or board on the workbench.

Also bear in mind that alot of coppersmiths, silversmiths, jewlers, etc made their own planishing kits, and this MIGHT have been homemade by somebody.

Edited (again) to add: As for instructions.... erm there are basic planishing instructions around though alot of them are for machine shop power tools these days. The ideal person to ask is whoever built it (good luck with that). However playing around with some fine sheet copper on it using basic guides online should be both safe, and incredibly frustrating until you get it down.

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/hammer-your-own-copper-hardware
https://22293-presscdn-pagely.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/Hammer-Your-Own-Copper-Hardware_5F00_8.jpg

Honestly it is a heck of a nice find and gift from whoever you got it from. Not many people have the skill or knowledge to work copper or other metals on hand planishing setups these days, particularly one with that fine of stakes (fine as in small).

Ok so edited one more time to add the question my wife asked when looking over my shoulder: "How the Hell did you know what that was?" My response was pointing at my noggin and saying "There's alot rattling around up there."

God Bless, and One Love.

GoodOlBoy

[GoodOlBoy]

Oh oh! Since the other post is so long winded let me add here. That kit needs to be cleaned up badly before it is used for copper, brass, silver, aluminum, etc. Otherwise the rust texture will show up in the work. My advice would be to take some very VERY VERY fine emery cloth, and/or steel wool, and some oil, and slowly polish (please don't sand them) each one of those stakes by hand. Once that is done, keep them with either a light coating of oil, or beeswax on them to keep them from rusting again.

Edited to add (sorry I do that alot): The reason those stakes are rusted on top and not on bottom for those curious... Copper planishing often used heated copper, but at low temps, so the heat would have been just enough to add to the chances of oxidation in the steel. So long as the kit was in regular use it is very likely the rust never formed, but once it was shelved.... bingo. IF you are going to use heated stock on it I would think you would want to lean towards beeswax for the treatment, not oil. Because the oil will eventually cause a discoloration that will transfer to the stock being worked, where the beeswax "shouldn't".... to quote a tv series i loved "I smell a whole lot of 'should' coming off of this plan."

It will take alot of time and "play" with fine sheet metals to figure out what you are going to do with it, and how.

God Bless, and One Love

GoodOlBoy

[abunaitoo]

Sounds like that's what it is.
I'll do a search to see what else i can find.
Thank you

[GoodOlBoy]

Anytime. I love seeing tools I don't know what they are, and then seeing what they are when somebody actually knows. It was kind of a thrill to actually be the one to know what it was for once!

God Bless, and One Love.

GoodOlBoy

[abunaitoo]

Did some searching and found nothing like it.
It could just be home made.
Looks real good if it is.
I'm wondering why the rod, and movable ball base???

[GoodOlBoy]

I will be honest in that I have no idea at all why that rod would be there, however, the fact that the base moves the stake closer and further away indicates that maybe it had something to do with either holding the stock (which I am not certain why) or perhaps even holding soldering material on a spool, or something like that. We probably will never know, but I still have this itch in the back of my noodle that says that is only part of a larger kit, and perhaps there was something else that mounted on the rod. If that was used by a jeweler then it is very possible a magnifying lens could have been mounted on the rod for very very fine work. The possibilities are almost endless with it.

Much like old blacksmith tools it may be that without the original user/creator we will never know what every piece was for.

If you do figure something out, I would love to know more about it myself.

God Bless, and One Love

GoodOlBoy

[Bookworm]

For what it's worth, when I saw it I immediately thought "planishing hammer/stake set".

I have nothing with which to back that thought, except a gut feeling, and 17 or so years working in a general repair/body shop, plus a few years in an automotive machine shop.

I have to go with GOB (GoodOlBoy) here.

[ascast]

NOT for brass musicals stuff as those set have many, scores of balls, loose to blow through a hot tub, removing 1 or 2,3 thousands at a time. Then you go up a size and go again. My brother has one of those sets. Obviously, a Coronet and Tuba requires different sets. I think something is missing from your set; mounts on the pole. Funny how the rust is only on the top side.

[Taterhead]

As a Certified Public Accountant, I can attest to the fact that it is not an old fashioned financial calculator. But I kind of have the urge to get some sheets of metal and pound on it some.

[jsizemore]

Dapping set. Just add a dapping block.

[abunaitoo]

Been searching the web for anything that even looks like it.
Nothing.
It might just be something homemade.
If it is, the guy did a great job.

[abunaitoo]

Found out what it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's to form model boat propellers.
Change the pitch to match the speed.
Picture of a smaller one showing how it's used.
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[JimB..]

Okay, how in the world did you find that?

[abunaitoo]

Guy on the Hobby forum knew what it was.
Now we know.
It's good to learn something new every once in a while.

[corbinace]

Thank you for sharing.

[GoodOlBoy]

Wow! Well I was wrong, but I woulda swore it was a planisher. Great find!

GoodOlBoy

[ascast]

WOW! something new for your spare time/retirement income -- propeller repair love it

[D Crockett]

I would of never thought of that that is so cool that you found out what it was thank you for sharing D Crockett

[Knightflyer]

I'd hazard a guess that they once belonged to a Tinker, and used to make bowels and such. I've seen some somewhat similar tools in a jewelry supply store.

[abunaitoo]

The guy I got it from did race model boats.
There was a board set of props that I didn't get.
Bunch of built and unbuilt boats that i didn't take.
mystery solved.

[abunaitoo]

Found a site that shows how to use it.
Not the same as the one I have, but works the same.
http://www.modelgasboats.com/magazine/product-reviews/miscellaneous-mainmenu-633/384-voodoo-cupping-tool

[abunaitoo]

Thank you to ShooterAZ for adding "Solved" to the title.

[D Crockett]

there was a lot of people that guessed a lot of different thing in my wildest dreams I would of never thought it was for fixing boat props thanks for letting us know what it is D Crockett

[lightman]

It looks like I did not post a guess. But, I would have guessed it to be a tool used for forming metal. Something like bowels or ash trays. You find some of the coolest stuff!

[abunaitoo]

Thanks.
I kind of like weird things.
I would guess only a serious, model boat race,r would have known what this was.

[abunaitoo]

According to information i got from the Hobby Forum, It was made by a guy named Jim Osborne.
He must have made a few of them. Guy posted a picture of one in way better condition than the one I have.
Said is sold a few years back for $75.00.
At least mines has all the parts.
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