What is it?

[oldtools]

Found this in old toolbox someone dumped...

[amertrac]

does it have a set screw in the back ? could be a flag pole top   bob w.

[mikeswrenches]

It kind of looks like the "chalk lines" that the Japanese use.  The reservoir was filled with some kind of ink(I think) and the thread drawn through it.  It left a much finer line than the chalk lines that we are used to seeing.  Probably should be called an "ink line".

Does the line in the picture wind up on the wheel?  It looks like it's made from a very good wood.  Possibly Rosewood?  What are the dimensions?

Mike

[Branson]

  Probably should be called an "ink line".
Mike

It is called an ink like, at least in some places.  It's probably Japanese, but could also be Chinese or Viet-Namese.  The reservoir holds ink in a sponge or cloth, and the line is drawn over it.  Rosewood isn't exactly scarce in Viet-Nam, and quite a few tools are made with it.   

[Branson]

Found this in old toolbox someone dumped...

That's a wonderful find!  It's astonishing what some people will throw out!

With this and a square, you can lay out anything.  I watched once as a Chinese/Viet-Namese shipwright laid out a series of parabolic curves with one of these.

[HeelSpur]

That is a really cool find.

[skipskip]

This is why I love this list!!


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[oldtools]

Just looked it up on internet...
Yes it is a Japanese ink line (Snap-line) but this one looks like it held charcoal or ash in the pot,
(used for temporary marking cloth, rice paper, etc.) normally it would have ink soaked cotten in the pot.
the line was pulled through, hooked at the end, and laid to mark thin stright lines.
some Japanese Kanji caracters on the wheel, need it translated. (probably the owners name)
6 1/2" long, 2 1/2" wide, 2 1/2" wheel, with stiff silk thread. & white inserts that the thread passes through. (looks like Ivory)
looks very old & hand made.

One man's Junk is another man's treasure

[Branson]

"Used for temporary marking cloth, rice paper, etc."  Some site actually said that it was used for marking cloth, rice paper, etc?

In Japanese folklore, Sumitsubo is the name of the magical carpenter of Japan.  Sumitsubo is the Japanese name of this tool.  Whatever else it might be used for, you can't get much more carpenter than this.  The characters for sumitsubo are found on one side of the shop shrine altar  (and the characters for a square are on the other) in every traditional carpenter shop in Viet-Nam.  This altar or shrine is dedicated to Lao Ban,  the Chinese patron of carpenters and shipwrights.  In Japanese legends, Sumitsubo was taught by Lao Ban in a mystical land.

The attached photo is of an ink line from China.

[bird]

Seriously?  You know what a Japanese or Chinese chalk line looks like?????????  Man, I need to follow you around for a while. 
cheers,
bird.

  Probably should be called an "ink line".
Mike

It is called an ink like, at least in some places.  It's probably Japanese, but could also be Chinese or Viet-Namese.  The reservoir holds ink in a sponge or cloth, and the line is drawn over it.  Rosewood isn't exactly scarce in Viet-Nam, and quite a few tools are made with it.

[Branson]

Seriously?  You know what a Japanese or Chinese chalk line looks like?????????  Man, I need to follow you around for a while. 
cheers,
bird.

Worse.  I've watched them being made, and I've used one.

[scottg]

Pretty nice one too. Super traditional shape.
I am jealous.

They are making cheezy repro Tsumitsubo from cast plastic now.
Yuck.
 
I always wondered how come they never have a cover?? The ink/sponge doesn't spill?
      I make a bad enough mess with my own fully closed chalklines.
  yours Scott

[Branson]

>They are making cheezy repro Tsumitsubo from cast plastic now.  Yuck.

EEeeuuuu!
 
> I always wondered how come they never have a cover?? The ink/sponge doesn't spill?

No spilling -- all the ink is retained in the sponge or wad of cloth.

>I make a bad enough mess with my own fully closed chalklines.
  yours Scott

Wait til you play with one of the ink lines.  Using a finger to hold the string down in the spongy stuff as you draw it out makes a real mess of your hands.

[oldtools]

This is one of those tools that I wouldn't use!
I think I will just put it in a glass case on the shelf.

now I gota make a glass case...