Dump find

Dump find - Roofer's Tool?

Jake von Slatt — Mon, 06/08/2009 - 13:24

I found this at the town dump last week, I'm speculating that it's a roofer's tool for bending flanges on to sheets of copper. It's about 4 feet long, the hinges are brass and there is a steel blade edge on both side of the central slot. It is clearly for bender rather than cutting.

Let me know if you recognize what this tool is for!

jcret — Fri, 06/26/2009 - 17:02

Could it be folding table that paper hangers use to paste wall paper? My father had a table like this that was the same width as a roll of wall paper and allowed him to paste the paper with little spill to the side and easy to wipe up for the next roll. The slit in the middle wouldbe used to make a clean cut down the strip to be hung.
Just adding my $ .o2.

jcret

Not so sure it would be used for bending.

Waterbug — Tue, 06/09/2009 - 02:57

No visible way to clamp the metal. And why the dados? I'd guess this is part of something else but I have no clue what.

Odd to use boards for bending since the stress would be on the weakest dimension. I don't think I'd want to use the steel blade to bend copper. The oak would have been fine or, if I was a Coopersmith I would have just used copper to clad the wood. The longest standing seam you could make is 4', not too useful.

Workers tend to use their same skills to make tools. It looks like the butt hinges are nicely mortised and overall a fine bit of carpentry so I would guess its use was in carpentry.

Any clues in wear marks?

Folding surfboard?

crowgrl13 — Mon, 06/08/2009 - 15:38

Folding surfboard?

It's very heavy. I think its

Jake von Slatt — Mon, 06/08/2009 - 16:11

It's very heavy. I think its made of oak, not a good floater! ;-)

Does it have holes indicating a handle?

CharlieInCO — Mon, 06/08/2009 - 14:35

It looks to me like an old sheet metal break, as here. So you could indeed use it as you describe. I'd kind of think it would have something for a lever handle on the ends.

Definitely looks like a home

Marrock — Mon, 06/08/2009 - 19:24

Definitely looks like a home made sheet metal break.

A friend of my father's that was a roofer (his CB handle was Tarbaby) had one similar for bending metal flashing but his was metal.

I don't think it's homemade

Jake von Slatt — Mon, 06/08/2009 - 19:47

I don't think it's homemade - just really old.

It does have a pair of

Jake von Slatt — Mon, 06/08/2009 - 16:10

It does have a pair of handles, you can just see them at the top, they're hard to see in the grass.

Flashing break

jringling — Tue, 06/09/2009 - 13:26

Step flashing for asphalt shingles is usually only 6-8" long. Step flashing for roll roofing is usually only 36" long, so this is probably a flashing break made in the late 50's to mid 60's, made by a roofer with a good set of chisels...