What is it....

[RugerFan]

A friend found this in a horse barn and has no clue what it is. Says it's about 4 feet long. Anyone have an idea?

https://i.postimg.cc/TwnY8Dvt/Mystery-thingee.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[cwtebay]

Looks like a handle of some sort. Any more pictures?

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[trails4u]

being hinged and having 'forks' on the end, I wonder if isn't intended to be slid under/into something at floor level, and then used to pick said something up?

[RugerFan]

Looks like a handle of some sort. Any more pictures?

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https://i.postimg.cc/gcH4mcdJ/Mystery-thingee-2.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

https://i.postimg.cc/xTsRNsXV/Mystery-thingee-3.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[CastingFool]

My guess is that it is a Giant nutcracker.

[Texas by God]

An articulating bludgeon. [emoji58]

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[SSGOldfart]

Press for sugar cane use to make molasses

[Ateam]

Looks a lot like a flat stock (steel) bender with the radius's cut inside the hinge ends, so it could be a bender of some sort, or for compressing leaf springs on an old wagon...

[Gewehr-Guy]

My guess is a wire stretcher. Maybe for checking corn, and tightening the check wire?

[Gewehr-Guy]

I just saw it is in Alaska, probably not for checking corn !

[RugerFan]

I just saw it is in Alaska, probably not for checking corn !

Actually my friend currently lives in TX. I’ll have to check to see if thats were he found the thing. Definitely not in Alaska.


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[SSGOldfart]

Do the bolts on both sides line up ?

[RugerFan]

Do the bolts on both sides line up ?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200203/8cf0b61975f07210315da29e939f85f3.jpg

Hard to say exactly as I just have pics on FB to go off. Here is another pic.



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[RugerFan]

So now I'm told the item was found in a barn in Maine.

[Hossfly]

It may be a type of barb wire stretcher or tightener put those two prongs into wood post or tree and tighten up the wire of course you will need an extra set of hands to drive in a staple at the right place tho. Will be a learning curve with this tool, simple as it is.

[kfarm]

Cow horn nipper

[SSGOldfart]

Cow horn nipper

Yep could be!!

[Winger Ed.]

It may be a type of barb wire stretcher or tightener put those two prongs into wood post or tree and tighten up the wire of course you will need an extra set of hands to drive in a staple at the right place tho. Will be a learning curve with this tool, simple as it is.

This is a strange one.

I've got relatives with working & old generation farm & ranches.
I've never seen anything like that in a barn, or seen anything it might could have been used for.

It looks home or shop made, but if it had been used for fence work,
you'd think it'd be all beat up from being hammered on or having wire wound around it tightly.

Not convinced about the horn thing either.
If it held a horn to be cut- it should have a rounded gripping surface, if its sort of for whacking them off- there'd be a cutting edge,
and you'd think it would be blood stained.

The closest I can get is--
It could be a pry bar to move or bump something around in close quarters, maybe in a shop or warehouse,
but the load wasn't heavy enough to need a big pry bar or lifting machine.

It could be pushed in, hinge side up,
then the handle lifted to move something or lift it enough to get something under it.

[JimB..]

Could be a sort of emergency brake on a leather machine belt, although I’ve never seen anything like it.

I could see it for stretching or tensioning a belt or strap, but not a wire.

[beechbum444]

What about a jig for holding wooden wagon wheel while replacing broken spokes

[Dusty Bannister]

I have not figured out what the two prongs on the end are for, but it almost makes me think the hinge part is opened, and a leather harness strap is inserted and when the handle is straightened it clamps on the strap and when pulled on the handle the strap is tightened. Maybe it would have application for a coach builder. Were the old stage coaches riding on leather straps?

[Idaho45guy]

Sell it to The Cracker Barrel and they'll put it on a wall in one of their restaurants...

[fast ronnie]

I don't know what it is, but I noticed there is a relief that would be on the inside of the hinge when it is folded. It doesn't appear to have any scarring or wear marks, so I guess it could have been used to tighten around a leather strap and pry to tighten it for some reason. If it was for wire, it would have some marks for being used.

[willowbend]

Looks like a bacon stretcher...

[JimB..]

The prongs remind me of the bottom of a portable farriers anvil which is pounded into something convenient when shoeing horses, but it doesn’t seem that this was pounded into anything. If the tine fit into something relatively stationary the lead for the horse could be run through. When the handle is lifted the lead is loose, when the handle drops to horizontal the lead is held tight. But it’s big for that, and a dowel or hook to tie the lead to would be smaller and more efficient.

Same for reigns on carriages I’d think, but I haven’t looked through old pics.

[wch]

Could it be a flail used for threshing?

[ACC]

Horse shoe remover. Seen something like that before. My farther in law had some blacksmith replace his horse's shoes. But that one is for claisdale horses.

Being from Texas you see all kind of things.

ACC

[Bwana John]

Is that the "left handed smoke bender" they were always send me to find?

[hwilliam01]

Just a guess, but it looks like a tucker arm for a manually operated hay bailer??

[monadnock#5]

In my teens I worked on my uncle's dairy farm for 2 summers, and over the years have seen many vintage specialty tools from lots of places. But I ain't never seen one of those.

[jsizemore]

Cheater handle for short arm winch. Missing the ring that slides over the handle and prongs when in the closed position.

[WheelgunConvert]

Harness adjustment for horse drawn farm implements.