Twenty plus years ago I had a lot of fun stopping at antique stores and flea markets looking for blacksmithing tools and artifacts as we traveled.
Back then prices were very reasonable and the supply of interesting finds was plentiful. In just a few years I found everything I needed to get started setting up my blacksmithing shop.
Most of the time I was well informed about what I was buying and could make wise choices. Occasionally i would see something unfamiliar but intriguing. A tool collector I knew had advised me to buy anything interesting which i had never seen before it it was in good condition and affordable. That advise never failed me that I am aware of.
This may the the exception to the rule. I don’t know that this object was supposed to do and it might not even be authentic.
Only recently did the memory of this item creep back into my consciousness. Quite by accident while doing a Google image search for something I got off on the Keen Kutter path. As I scrolled down through jillions of images I realized the only thing I owned with the logo was probably on my forge room wood bench and I could not recall handling it for a very long time.
I found it and inspected it closely for the first time and noted a previously unnoticed detail. I’ll get to that at the end.
A couple of times I’ve actually used the tool. When I was gardening a lot I used it to slip over the top of a rebar stake and it helped make the driving easier. At least once in the shop I experimented with using it to assist in upsetting the end of a bar.
Information I found on this site gives some information about the logo trademark.
So, let’s have some fun. Who knows what this tool is called? What is it supposed to do? And finally - what is the deal with the Swastika?
Zen on - go find where the maps end.
This question was solved in a later post:
ReplyDeletehttp://persimmonforge.blogspot.com/2017/02/keen-kutter-tool-solution_21.html
And I notice the swastika is level and counterclockwise and probably older than 1940? I suspect something close to this is probably the answer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_use_of_the_swastika_in_the_early_20th_century#cite_ref-buffum_92-0
"The Buffum Tool Company of Louisiana, Missouri manufactured "High Grade Tools for High Grade Workmen" from about 1909 to 1922. The Buffum company's trademark was a swastika. During World War I it made bayonets and aeroplane parts. The company's logo was the "Good Luck/Blessing/Swastika Cross" and many of the products, sold nationwide, had "the good luck cross on them."