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Saturday, October 22, 2011

What is this (can somebody tell me?)

10 comments:

PM of NZ said...

Some sort of chain snig? (Can be easily hooked round some load and the chain shortened to suit)

robertguyton said...

Maybe Pm ... it has fencing wire tied through one end, in a hard-to-do 'knot' that farmers used - it's quite old I think. There isn't really space to fit onto chain of any significant dimension...

PM of NZ said...

More than likely to be part of a horse drawn chain trace typical of the type used for ploughing.

Does the hard to do knot look like a figure of eight? If so, it easy to do, even in HT wire. The fencing wire probably is a red herring - replacing a lost shackle.

robertguyton said...

Could be... though the 'slots' are only wide enough for wire - could it be some sort of 'tensioner' or joiner for a fence?

Anonymous said...

Why do you ask if you already know?

PM of NZ said...

Have a squiz here, RG.

Looks like an early fence tensioner.

robertguyton said...

Anonymous - I don't know, I'm just putting two and two together as I get new ideas. I still don't know, but I'm about to look at PMofNZ's link.

robertguyton said...

Thanks PM, you are got it. I see that I need two of them, and I have only the one. I remember finding some hames that were missing their 'hooks' that swung from the sides and going into E Hayes and Sons in Invercargill and being taken down into a storeroom where they had boxes of them, new! Incredible. I wonder what else they have secreted in there?
I've some other odd things (lots of odd things in fact) that I don't know their purpose, especially a blade that has puzzled me for a long time, so tomorrow I'll post another, if I remember. Thanks for your help

gravedodger said...

I still use a "Page" wire strainer and yes it is half of the wire clamp.
It is less damaging to the wire than a "Hayes" which uses a kinking as part of the friction to grip the wire.
The "Page" strainer aso utilises a different 'chain system where there are a large and a small claw to "climb the chain", alternatively.
BTW The clamp pictured above is much easier to put on 3inch Barbed wire than a 'Hayes'. FWIIW.

robertguyton said...

Thank you, GD, for that information. I'm interested to hear that the 'Page' strainer is still in use - in fact I'm encouraged to hear that it is. It's a graceful piece of technology, though I've only seen the one part so far! I understand your point about the kinking caused by the 'Hayes', having strained the fences of my own land and those of a dairy farm or two, with those. I still struggle though, to enjoy working with high-tensile wire - give me soft ol' No.8 every time. Barbed wire, not so much. I've seen a collection though, of barbed wire that goes back to it's origin - fantastic stuff, but the early ones could only really be described as plain nasty :-)