Mystery Solved: November 2015 Mystery Tool Answers

Reader Contribution by The Farm Collector Staff
Published on December 31, 2015
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November 2015 Mystery Tool A

We have received many responses on this piece, each offering personal experience in using it in many different applications. We cannot offer a single definitive answer to its use, and we cannot refute personal experience, so we are including all responses identifying a tool with apparently limitless versatility. Original photo submitted by Nancy Peterson via email.

Anvil punch. Identified by Tim Scott, Charleston, Arkansas; Louie Frantz, Hallam, Pennsylvania; Randall Marquis, Tacoma, Washington; and Bill Bracy, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. “Using this tool, you could punch holes without losing any metal, unlike drilling,” Louie says. “There were no chips; it just expanded the metal. It was important that the metal be red-hot! The blacksmith would have a helper striking the hammer while he held the punch end of the hammer where he wanted the hole. The only metal lost was a thin slug out of the bottom of the hole. They were made in many configurations. The blacksmith often made this tool himself.”

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