any idea what it is?

Oh, Oh, I know, I know!!!!!!!!!
It’s a rare-woodworking- vise- machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But you already knew that I guess.
Well, I tried anyway!!!!
Sorry I couldn’t be more help!!!!!!

-- BUILT TO LAST WOODWORKS, West Blocton, Alabama

It looks like some kind of bender or for making curves in something? Or perhaps for holding something that is curved or bent? I’m not sure if it is a woodworking device or not…Interesting though…

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

looks like an early version of a handsaw mitering devise .
run the wood in against the fence and clamp down and with hand saw in holder ,
( saw with no back to it )saw part and flip over .
do this on both sides , and you get a miter . ?

either that or it’s the english equivalent ,
of the tortilla maker .

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

looks like it might be an earlier version of the carvers vises that they have… the ones that swivel every way imaginable… it looks like it can move around from all the knobs and things on the back…

Looks like a Miter Corner Clamp to me…
In the picture, the corner is on the other side… with the pieces going into the corner from Left & Right, then clamped down.

... Well, it is just a ‘guess’... :)

-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"

looks like a cross bow…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

This is gonna bug me until somebody nails it.

Didn’t one of the mags run a ‘What’s this’ contest every month? This be a good one…

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

I have no idea, but it looks like the wing thing is on back wards and should be turned around. It also looks like it should hang from the vertical flat bracket so that you can work it from the front.
I’m probably way out in left field, but that’s nothing new.

I agree – I think the wing/bracket/clamp/thing is probably backwards. I can’t figure why you would want to clamp a miter joint with a gap. It would be simple enough to put the post somewhere that the joint could close.

I love the description: “SOMEONE THOUGHT IT WAS POSS[ibly] AMERICAN” ... oh, well that explains it!

-- http://www.north40custom.com -- http://north40studios.etsy.com --

Yeah don’t blame that thing on us MATE!!!!

-- "Not skilled enough to wipe jam on toast!"

The register number identifies it as UK. Can’t be American.

-- Vince in Greenville, SC

I agree with everyone.

-- Dudley Young USN Ret.

Sure it isn’t a hood ornament?

-- Jim, Anchorage Alaska

Looks like a form for steam bending with the two slots in the back to slide the strips of wood in.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

I doubt the company that made it knows what it does.
-Rabbet

Surely not an olive oil grinder.

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

I doubt the company that made it knows what it does.
-Rabbet
ha ha ha ha ha….!ROFLOL.

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

rusty boomerang, wing-nutted to a door knocker!

rusty boomerang, wing-nutted to a door knocker!
ha ha ha…. door knocker of that size? ...neighbors from all corners of the house will open their doors!

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

I don’t know what it is but since it’s a tool I believe I need one.

-- Father of two sons. Both Eagle Scouts.

9 pounds….....buy it Scotsman! After all….door stops cost 10 pounds!

-- Don, Pittsburgh

It’s gonna bug me till we figure it out. The “RD No 47404” makes it a British piece. The number is a “Registered Design Number” issued from the early 1880’s used in the UK until the 1930’s. I can’t find a website to look up the number, but someone in the UK with access to their archives or patent office records might be able to find out.

I almost think it’s not a woodworking tool, but for some other trade, but who knows? My thought was that it was some sort of bending device as well. But I don’t think it can actually “clamp” anything down firmly enough.

-- Brian S. --- "If you’ve worked on the building of a boat, it belongs to you the rest of your life." -Bob Prothero

I bet David has it right! saw would cut right along the edge of the base which is wood, so wouldn’t damage saw, or could have been mounted to a larger base, but that would have left a telltale kerf. There are two fences at right angles, and the other piece seems to be at 45*. The part that is in the air seems like you could turn the top screw in to tighten the guide on the saw for adjusting play.

-- Fred, Springfield, Ma

What stumps me is the mamby-pamby nature of the vertical clamp. It looks like it’s only big enough to clamp 1/4 in board, but with the screws and metal stub on that part, it almost seems like that’s the stationery mounting bracket.

-- Laziness - Apathy = Efficiency