My wife and I went to the Madison-Bouckville Antique Fair this year. Twelve show fields. Over 2,000 dealers. Acres of stuff. I went looking for unusual tools, and this is what I found…
 |
The moment I saw it, I knew I must have it. Never mind that I had no idea what it was. I mean, it was only five bucks!
It is obviously a special purpose tool hand-made by a trad-man, and made very well. That’s what appealed to me.
As I was looking it over I figured it might have been made to hold sandpaper and be used with two hands for a particular smoothing or shaping application.
The sponge-like padding on one side would provide a soft backing to the sandpaper, which would be desirable for some sanding jobs.
The guy selling the tool told me he thought the same thing, but when his father-in-law saw it he immediately identified it as a hide puller.
A hide puller (if you don’t already know) is a tool used by trappers to help separate the pelt from an animal (fox, coyote, etc.).
The process involves first hanging the animal, then making the necessary cuts and pulling by hand to get the hide started. Then the hide puller is attached. With this particular tool, the hide would be clamped and gripped tight with two hands. Then, holding tight, the body weight of the man could be used to pull and strip the hide down.
I could find not find a hide puller like this on the internet (Google images thinks it’s a lemon squeezer). And I couldn’t find a decent short video of a hide puller. But I did find This Excellent Video Tutorial showing how to skin a raccoon.
I’m not entirely convinced that the tool is a hide puller. Why would a hide puller have that padded spot?
It’s a conundrum. Your insights are welcomed.
No comments:
Post a Comment