# OT: 2 Whatsits, A Wherezit, And a Howzit.



## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

Three totally unrelated questions here but I thought I'd throw them out in one thread and get it done.

First I've got these two thingamajigs. Top is some sort of pliers, bottom is ???? That one 7.5" long. The left side is 7/8" square and the right is shaped like a thick shoehorn but straight. I don't even know which side is the handle and which side does the work. Any ideas?










Next is I've got this nice 16" diameter, 1-7/8" wide grindstone in beautimous condition, mounted on some home-grown rusted piece of junk. Where can I find some plans for making a new pedal/hand/?? cranked grinder to fit this big stone on?










And finally a howzit. 32 years ago at a German festival in Detroit I had a french fry. It was one potato that had been run thru a machine until it came out one long shoestring fry curled on itself into one big blob of potato and grease. One potato, one fry. I've been looking for a machine to do that ever since - even joined the Army and did 8 years in Germany, but the Germans I asked had never heard of such a thing. Sadly, no picture available. Howzit done?

thanks
Joe


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

I'll bet that wheel is heavy! Can you mount a pulley on the shaft and run a belt to it and have it powered?


----------



## hotbyte (Apr 3, 2010)

Was the potato thing like this one?

Nemco Fry Cutter


----------



## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

Maybe, the current arbor is a POS and I suspect if I tried to crank it too fast as is there would be metal flying. The entire contraption is falling apart except the stone - I don't think the stone is original to the piece. I can salvage the pillow-blocks that hold the arbor that holds the wheel, and I can probably use some of the angle-iron frame. It would have to be a very slow speed motor to do it though - 1750 would be about 10x too fast.


----------



## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

hotbye - yes! I think. I remember them as being thinner than that, but the concept is the same. That link goes to a partially dead blog with just a pic and some nomenclatures but the pic does look like the thing. I wonder how come the potato strings don't break when they come out. I'll have to track down a Nemco now. Thanks!

Wait, nope - that's not quite it (still, thanks!) I see the cooked ones in the back. Those are like Wendy's curly fries which are normal short fries curled up. I want one long mile long potato string curled on itself and held together by cholesterol and carbohydrates….


----------



## hotbyte (Apr 3, 2010)

Sorry that wasn't it! Here's another whole potato hunk of cholesterol and carbs that was a big fad at local arts & crafts shows. Maybe it would help appease your C&C needs


----------

