From a friend: “Long antique wooden tool of some kind. About 23.5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide at its widest. It's bumpy. There's some very old string tied around one of the ‘handles?’”
Posted Nov 22, 2023, 10:04 PM UTC
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I think it’s part of something bigger and is a spreader bar with the string being there to shim the fit.
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I’m starting to think so too but I can’t find any good matches. It’s too big to be from a chair back, too plain to be a balluster, too asymmetrical to be a cross bar. I suppose if it was from something handmade we might never know, but it also seems odd that my friend’s mother would have kept it if it were a completely random thing from a piece of furniture or something…
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Not sure that it’s unlikely. Part isn’t glued, comes out, gets set aside, never gets replaced cuz always should get around to it, object leaves household one way or another, piece stays “ should drop that off to Mary since she has that thing now”
I restore old spinning wheels and spare bits are a thing, where the wheel is long gone with bits missing and the missing bit is confusing with no context of what it came off
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Relatedly, have you by any chance ever seen anything like this as a piece of a spinning wheel?
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yes, similar. Some wheels have a crossbrace from the front leg to a bar between the back legs (most wheels have three legs)
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Could it be a crossbar from an old chair?
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This is my guess as well. My parents have chairs that have curvy crossbars like that. It could also be part of the chair back. I’m seeing the darker X markings on it. Those D marks could easily be from the fiber back of the chair. This wood post could’ve just been one of the sides that the woven back was stretched around.
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I think the end "pegs" are too long to be a chair rung.
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Looks like a well used rolling pin
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We had a couple guesses for rolling pin but it’s too lumpy and oddly shaped/sized.
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I mean soft wood would wear poorly and make it that way. But I agree it seems to be part of something else the one end of that "handle" is pointed more than the other.
Maybe a manual tensioner for a belt might make sense for the uneven look?
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Professional rolling pin . Bumpy area may have one w been a pattern …
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The old style industrial kitchen rolling pins could be slotted into a wall for leverage.
I believe that this is it.
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Top adjustment roller for pre-industrial revolution weaving loom. The ropes/threads eventually wear lumps into the roller after a century of use.
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My friend’s full comments: “Long antique wooden tool of some kind. Inherited from my mom in 2015, Appraiser said it was a fid; it's not. We thought maybe it's a belaying pin, but no? About 23.5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide at its widest. It's bumpy. There's some very old string tied around one of the ‘handles?’. Help!”
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Maybe something like a felt roller. When I look at it. I think of haberdashery.
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My initial thought was pasta rolling pin. I’m sure there are some you get that are thinner in the middle.
Or something used to help spin wool.
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We had a couple guesses for rolling pin but it just seems too lumpy and oddly shaped/sized.
I also think it has the look of something used for fiber but we can’t find any exact matches. Too big to be a spindle, ends are too long to be a spool with no endcaps, not quite the right shape for a distaff.
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Maybe part of a wooden chair (the bars facing your back)
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My friend says it seems too big for this
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It looks the perfect size for an upright for a kitchen chair, or maybe a wooden rocking chair. I have pulled spindles this shape out of old kitchen chairs when breaking them down. They would slot into holes drilled into a top cap and the seat, or a bottom cap, similar to this.
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That's what I'm thinking as well. I knit, sew, spin, crochet, tat- and it doesn't look like any tool for any of the fiber arts that I know of. But it does look like part of a chair or possibly an old baby crib.
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Is one end metal?
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Nope, it is all wood.
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My shotgun has something similar to this to restrict the magazine to 2 shells. (Thereby making it a “sporting chance” for the chukar, lol).
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Reminds me of the bar for a plum bob… the bar sits between or on top of stringers and the string can be rolled up to shorten the length of the Bob - couldn’t find an accurate picture
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Bow drill spindle perhaps. Grandad had something like that in his woodshop.
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Looks like a giant piece that would be used to control a kite.
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It’s a marking stick. A plumb line type of thing. Many uses in agriculture but the quality of the wood used here suggests construction.
This stake on one end with another at the other and a piece of string between is how you knew where to dig or where to set the wall or build the fence.
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I think that’s apart of that thing people would use to start fires. No idea what’s it’s called though
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A bow firestarter—this was one of our guesses but it seems to be too big
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Spindle for thread or wool for weaving or spinning?
That was my first thought.
Not quite the right shape for a spindle.