Mystery Tool ID help.

[cthomps]

Hello all.  I purchased an upholster's estate and this tool was part of the lot.  Can any of you tell me what it is?  It says Landis Mach Co and American made.  I have googled all of the numbers with no result.  Thanks Carol


http://s1049.photobucket.com/user/cthomps123/library/Mystery%20Tool

[Darren Henry]

hi Carol. Where was this upholsterer's shop? Urban, country,big city? Doc gave me a nudge about this because Landis is famous for their shoe making machinery---and I were one. I've never seen one back in the days of making shoes---but I have a notion. If this shop were in an agricultural region,and the tool appears to cut holes rather than bend something I have a theory. 

[cthomps]

Hi Darren.  The shop was in a gentleman's home in Minnesota. There wasn't a lot, so I am thinking post "closing the shop, retiring and taking this much home."  I was not there because my brother happened upon it and offered the man 100$ for the inventory for me.  The family was happy to sell it.  So, my best guess is semi rural with a city within 20 miles. 

I thought it was leather related as well.  I did run it buy a high school friend of mine who is a 2nd generation shoe repair/leather guy.  He did not recognize it.  As mentioned, there is no cutting edge of any kind on it, however there could be parts missing.  Like dies maybe? 

Looking forward to hearing your theory :)

[gene]

Maybe something to do with cattle castration?

Texas and Florida are the two biggest cattle raising states in the lower 48. Maybe someone from there might know.

gene

[Darren Henry]

My guess was that it punched holes in the thick canvas used on ag. machinery, like swather canvas and those big belts that connected threshing machines etc. to the flywheel on old tractors so you could repair them with split rivets.

I would get in touch with the good folks at Warkov Safeer leather in Winnipeg. http://www.warkov.com/catalog/index.php The new guy has only been there 15 or 20 years, but the rest have been there since Christ was a lance jack. One of them may recognize it.

[SteveA]

Gene

Never Mind !

[brmax]

Ya after that,  I'm running to the other fence line>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>whewww

heartless I say
ah hahaha

[kodydog]

I was trying to find a CC video on youtube. There are many, but none using this tool. I'll show this tool to my friend the rancher, maybe he'll know.

[byhammerandhand]

My best friend in Jr. High lived on a sheep farm.  He regularly had the grand champions at the county fair.   He said you never want to be standing in front of a ram when it gets converted to a wether.  Apparently, the vet snapped on a big rubber band and the poor fellow walked funny for a number of days.

And that's probably more than you wanted to know.

The company that made this is known for their leather-working equipment.  The shape and orientation of the prongs just don't seem to make much sense to me.

[Darren Henry]

I don't know how big the livestock is in Texas etc... but up here we couldn't lift calves or lambs up to a bench mounted machine that small. Note the scale Carol has included and the holes to mount this to a bench. Wrong tangent Gene.Sorry.

I still defer to the gurus at Walkov. Michael's late father started there in the depression doing bicycle deliveries when he was 10 or 12. Like I said----they have experience.

[cthomps]

Thanks everyone.  Update.  The gentleman had a leather shop in the basement and he did upholstery in his garage.  Darren, I will look into the link you provided.  I am leaning towards leather. 

[Mojo]

Carol:

I believe it is a leather tool as well. What operation it performs is beyond me.

Having had a farm and raised cattle I can promise you it is not a castration tool. There are two methods for castrating a bull - 1.) Banding or otherwise slipping a thick rubber band around the scrotum. The blood flow is cut off and the gonads shrivel up. 2.) A specialized tool which looks like bolt cutters is used to crush the tubes supplying the scrotum.

A funny story was when my buddy, a dairy farmer called me to come over and help him band a calf. I jumped in my truck and drove to his farm and we walked down to the feedlot. He pointed to the calf and said " that's the one ". It was a 400 lb calf and not a baby like I thought it would be. My job was to pin him against the corner of the paddock and lift his tail while my buddy slipped the band over his scrotum. We got it done and when I released the tail and moved back that calf turned and ran over me full steam. My buddy always was a little off in the head. During planting season once he had a bad tooth but didn't want to waste time and money going to a dentist so while he was plowing a field in the tractor he grabbed a pair of channel locks and pulled the tooth himself and continued on plowing.

Chris

[MinUph]

A little to much information there Chris. LOL

[gene]

Sorry to report this folks, but there are more than 2 ways to castrate the nookies of farm animals.

As a kid on a farm in Kentucky I watched Buck Baker, the dad on the farm, take a pen knife and cut off the nookies of piggies and toss said nookies to the dogs. He then slapped the underside of the piggies with a paint brush from a rusty can of some type of antiseptic and then threw the piggies into the pen with the mommy sow.

And for a 4th alternative, here's Mike Rowe, from Dirty Jobs fame, explaining how he used his teeth. Yes, his teeth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-udsIV4Hmc

gene

[Mojo]

My Uncle had a feeder operation for hogs. This is the breeding and raising of hogs to 175 lbs. They are then sold to finish farms who finish them off and then take them to market. He was always having liters of pigs born and when my phone rang I knew what it meant. He needed help castrating piglets.

My job was to grab the piglet, hold it by its rear legs upside down, he made the slit, grabbed the gonads and cut them out. He then applied iodine to the wound and onto the next pig we would go.
He had done thousands of them over the years and it was a very quick procedure. The problem was the screaming of the piglets. It was deafening and annoying. But then if some cut my gonad's off I would probably scream too.

My grandfather also had a hog operation. I can remember him castrating pigs, throwing the gonads into a bowl of salt water and afterwards taking them inside for my grandma to fry up and serve. They actually were very good. I have also had Rocky Mountain Oysters ( gonads from a bull ) and if sliced up and fried right they were delicious.

Dont knock it till you have tried it. My grandparents being true Southerners never wasted food and ate or used all parts of animals. Alot of this mind set stems from the great depression and most people who lived during that era never changed their habits when times got better.

Chris