Curly Maple Gunsmith's Tool???

[Tanselman]

I have a curly maple hand tool that I think was used by gunsmiths [cabinet makers also used curly maple tools at times], but no one knows what it is. I thought it might be used for removing/replacing early shotgun shell primers, but no one that looked at it at gun shows agrees. Handles are 11-1/8" long and fine curly maple with a pinned hickory cross-bar at top. There is a handmade iron screw running through one side, with a hickory tube sticking out near it that may have held a small metal tip [just a guess]. The other side has a small hole, about 1/4" in diameter, directly across from the hickory tube, that runs completely through the handle. Below it is a larger hole across from the metal screw that is about 1/2" in diameter and only goes about 2/3 the way through the handle. It has fascinated collectors at several gun shows, but no one knows what it is. What do you think it was used for?

Shelby Gallien

[Rich]

Just a guess, but maybe a homemade cherry pitter.

[Rich]

It could be a blackpowder revolver pistol loading press. Google it to see modern ones. Depends on the distance between the pegs to see if it would work.

[Frozen Run]

Nutcracker?

[Hungry Horse]

 I think the important feature is the steel pin, and the fact that the corresponding hole is greatly oversized. The oversized hole seems to have been bored oversized, and shows little wear. The wooden pin on the other hand has seen a lot of wear. This is a very interesting tool.

Hungry Horse

[HSmithTX]

No idea but it appears to me that it is a two stage something or other.  The pin with the hole has a lot of wear at the entrance suggesting that a lot of somethings were forced into that hole, I am guessing that the screw used to have something on it based on how large the corresponding hole in the other handle is and relative lack of wear on that side. I see it that you would put something on either the screw position or the pin with the hole position, do an operation there and then move to the other position and complete whatever it was. 

[snapper]

You can post an image in Google and it will search based on the image.   

I did that with your item and no matches

Fleener

[Tanselman]

Well, the KRA crowd wasn't much help either this weekend.

Shelby Gallien

[A Scanlan]

Probably "southern" in origin.  The bulk of the KRA crowd don't like "southern" stuff!