Visting the Black Country Living museum last week, I spotted this tool in the window of the hardware shop. The question is, what is it?
I've put the image up so you can click on it for a larger version. After that, you know all I do. Being in the window, there wasn't a chance to get a better look, nor anyone to ask.
So, tool experts, please make suggestions in the comments please.
13 comments:
Hi - Good Morning Phil. The terms hip, jack, plumb etc are terms for roof timbers. I suspect it's a marking out tool for carpenters cutting the compound angles found in roof joints. Can't quite make out the wording on the wooden part. W????? Maker Bath ?
As far as I know hip, jack and plumb are all terms used when making rafters. Not my area of expertise at all but I'm guessing it helps mark out the correct angles on the different parts of a rafter so that they fir together correctly.
I'm guessing it is a roofer's template for marking angles on rafters
Judging by the wood in the background, might this perhaps be some sort of template / profile gauge for producing / checking mouldings - skirting boards - that sort of thing?
I'd imagine that any machine tools used to produce mouldings might need their cutting heads set up in predetermined positions - standardized radius corners a certain distance from a given edge and a known distance off the "deck" / reference plane - stuff like that.
Of course, it's always possible that I might be rather "wide of the mark" here - apparently not exactly unknown - but, hopefully, this might do for a first guess.
Hi Phil, I''m not an expert, but it looks like a set of templates for marking the various angled cuts need for timber roof construction. EG, see this illustration:
http://www.raftertools.com/help/jackrafter_layout.htm
I think it may be a tool for use by roofers = templates for various shapes and a trimming device for slates.
Christopher Payne
Hello Phil,
I am no expert but from examination it looks like a tool to mark out the various parts of a roof structure and the angles that the parts need to be cut at. No idea how it works though and equally I could be wrong!
Regards,
Woody
This is pure guesswork here.
Looking at the labels they seem to be referring to the wooden elements of a roof, and I'm wondering if they are templates for the ends of the timbers so a uniform appearance was created in the days of cutting wood by hand (the metal one being for more common shapes or not originally part of the set) The carpenter would mark around the template and then cut the wood away with a chisel.
German Zimmerer (carpenters specialised in house building) use a large set square with a similar template on the ends for this purpose. It is rarely used now except in apprenticeships:
https://www.dictum.com/de/winkel-baie/deutscher-zimmermannswinkel-707279?ftr=_12_16_98.5_1_48_12__
You can see the shaped ends if you enlarge the image.
Complete guess but looking at the mechanics of it, I would say its a tool for marking out cuts. Similar to an Engineer's Square but with a selection of pre-determined angled cuts. Simply rotate the template parallel to the metal inner edge and mark using the outer edge. Maybe...
A bit of a longs shot - you have Hips and Rafters on a roof. You can also have a Jack Rafter. So I am going to suggest that your mystery tool is for marking the timber for cutting to length and at the correct angle.
Regards, Geoff
Phil - Hi, Good Morning. Rafter, Rip and Jack are terms relating to roof structures. I suspect that this is a marking-out tool for carpenters to cut the compound angles found in roofing timbers.
I believe this is a set of tools used in roofing with lead sheet. Forming valleys between slated or tiled areas of roofs, adding flashing and so on. The templates are labelled to indicate their use. The (Beech?) wood blocks are formers to shape the lead sheet. The metal tool looks akin to a slater's tool, lacking the point to make nail holes in the slates. Maybe it is simply an edged tool, for cutting the sheet.
Wow - the number of comments on this went through the roof! (Sorry, best joke I could think of)
Thanks for this. Very interesting.
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