Author Topic: Fencing tool  (Read 3338 times)

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Offline Papaw

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2017, 08:28:33 AM »
Ranch hands would carry that on the saddle horn for quick repairs. Many were made by local blacksmiths.
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Offline Lewill2

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #2 on: December 24, 2017, 09:01:00 AM »
There are a few different versions of that one and there are a lot of reproductions of that style out there. I have one in my collection.

Offline Yadda

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2017, 02:39:43 PM »
Better than no hammer at all.
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Offline Plyerman

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2018, 05:30:16 PM »
I've got one, but I don't understand it. Sure it would be easy to carry on a saddle horn, but being so "short", and with no handle, it couldn't be used to strike a very strong blow. I don't think I could pound a decent size nail in with it, for instance.
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Offline rustyfordgarage

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2018, 10:40:49 PM »
I have a hard enough time driving staples with the pliers type fence tools , although I have several and use them for lots of different jobs. If I KNOW I'm fixing fence I have an estwing framing hammer handy.

Offline turnnut

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2018, 10:50:04 AM »
 one thing that we have to remember when we look at a vintage tool, is they used what was available. they learned the
 best possible way to get the job done.

  they did not have computers and fancy machines to push out a new product every month.

  they were the pioneers of tool manufacture's.

Offline Plyerman

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2018, 01:10:41 PM »
Well now, this is interesting. I've just spent the last hour scrounging the web for information about the Atomic Wire Fence Stretcher. Turns out it was patented in 1949 by a fellow named John Birch Glaskin of Colorado Springs, Co.



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Offline Plyerman

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2018, 01:15:06 PM »
The Atomic is remarkably similar to a much older tool, patented by James Halstead Birch of Plattsburgh, Missouri on Oct 2, 1888 and sold by the Birch Mfg. Co. of Granite City, Illinois.

Below is a photo I found on he web of a Birch tool (left) alongside an Atomic tool (right)
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Offline Plyerman

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2018, 01:21:44 PM »
So is it a coincidence that both inventors have the same surname, for their patents 61 years apart?

I also found it interesting that the "saddle horn" carry method, which seems to be widely assumed today, is not mentioned as a feature in either of the patent texts. Instead, the hole in the center is intended to slip over a pole, which gives the user more force when hammering, and more leverage when stretching wire:
 
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Offline lptools

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Re: Fencing tool
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2018, 03:43:45 PM »
Hello, Bob. Great research, thanks for sharing. Regards, Lou
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