# What Are These?



## ajosephg (Aug 25, 2008)

While cleaning out my late father's "stuff" I found these with his tools. He was a farmer in his working life, and I never saw them used for anything on the farm. I think he got them from his father who had some wood working tools, and also worked as a tailor.

Do any of you have any idea?

They are made from brass, and appear to be machined, but I'm not certain. It's possible they were stamped.

Thickness is 0.080 and the height of the point is 0.020 inch, and the point diameter is also 0.020. the overall diameter is 0.600 inch.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

I think they mark centers.


----------



## ajosephg (Aug 25, 2008)

That's kind of what I think to, but what makes me wonder is that 0.600 seems to be an odd ball diameter for a hole. Plus, they are so thin if you put it in a hole it would be hard to get it in straight, to say nothing about getting it back out again.


----------



## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

painter's bench cookies ???
?


----------



## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

They look like dowel centers to me.


----------



## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I'm only guessing - but they make me think of old leather chairs that used a series of tacks to hold the leather in place.


----------



## Edziu (Jan 17, 2010)

This is a long shot, but i'm inclined to say that they are scraps of brass from machining off a longer brass rod. Those may have been the part that was held in the jaws, and whatever they made got cut off and that was left over.

I'm only suggesting this because I've got lots of things like that in my shop junk drawer of "things i'll find a use for someday"


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

They look like markers for your golf ball when putting.


----------



## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

The definitive answer:

They are parts of a damifino.


----------



## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

Did he ever do any surveying? They sort of look like property line markers. Just a WAG.


----------



## allmyfingers (Feb 26, 2011)

EASY! they are round discs of brass!!!


----------



## TrBlu (Mar 19, 2011)

Is there a center point on both sides? I am thinkg dowel markers.


----------



## ajosephg (Aug 25, 2008)

@Rich - Good thought, but the point is much too small to hold anything.

@A1Jim - Golf ball markers? Would work ok for that, but I doubt my Grandpa ever set foot on a golf course let alone even held a club in his hands. Hmmm - but - my dad was a chauffeur for a millionaire lady and her daughter for awhile. You might be right.

@AtomJack - Neither one did any surveying, besides they are much too small to mark a property line. You would lose it in the dirt, LOL

@TrBlu - Center point on only one side.

I just thought of another long shot. Could they be die blanks prior to being stamped into a coin or token?

@Edziu - They look too finished to be cut-offs, and much too thin to be what remains in the head stock.

Dowel Center Advocates: I don't think so because they would fall into the hole.


----------



## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

I've seen mention of something along these lines, but I don't think my brain remembers them because they don't really translate into modern methods well.

However, if they are in fact dowel markers, these would be the type you use before boring any holes, thus they would not fall in.


----------



## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

They look like a version of those plastic pads tacked into the bottom of chair legs to protect the flooring and the chair leg.


----------



## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

Grumpy might be right… They look like furniture slides…


----------



## Harry_Ch (Jan 27, 2011)

Those are the pivot points for beam compasses system. Like some one mentioned, they have been asked about before.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

I was about to say furiture slides as a 2nd guess. That's 3 votes ;-)


----------



## kizerpea (Dec 2, 2011)

i have a yankee drill that has one in the chuck…when u twist to tight the chuck fingers slide on it


----------



## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

^^ Since when is cheating a vending machine about saving money? It's about sticking it to the man, baby! ;^D


----------



## REK (Aug 30, 2009)

I have an accumulation of junk, as an expert I must tell you that what you have
is quite a find!!!! At work we call it garbage. Throw them away before they take up
real estate in your tool box….that's what happened to your dad. He found them-kept
them-never used them!!!! And that's why you never seen them…


----------



## ajosephg (Aug 25, 2008)

Re: Furniture slides - Seems like the little point is too little. They are only 0.020 high, not enough to hold them in place. Unless, they were glued on.

Re: Yankee drill - interesting tell me more. (But why would he have had so many?)

Re: Beam Compass Pivot Points - I'd like to learn more about this. Same question as above, why would he have so many? He was not a wealthy man.

Re: Dowel Points - Could work

Re: Brass Quarters - Much too small.


----------



## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

Maybe they are brass nickels. In his day a nickel bought a Coke or a candy bar. On the other hand….did he own the vending machine and he was taken by a night machinist?


----------



## FirehouseWoodworking (Jun 9, 2009)

This may be a longshot . . . I agree with the comments that they just don't seem right for dowel centers.

But you mention your grandfather was a tailor. My mother was a seamstress. As I recall when I was younger, she sometimes had to cover bottons with fabric that matched the dress, or coat, or whatever. I seem to recall the botton blanks having something that looked like these as one of the parts. The fabric was pulled over them and tapped onto the other piece which had an eyelet that was used to sew the button onto the clothing. These might be left over parts.

Like I said, it's a longshot.

Cheers!


----------



## ajosephg (Aug 25, 2008)

@Dave - Could be

The talk about coins and vending machines got me to thinking about the pieces and parts of antique coin holders similar to the link below. Do you think it might be the coin pushers out of these things. It could have been to fit a German coinl.

http://img0.etsystatic.com/il_fullxfull.312787704.jpg

Edit: The back side of mine are smooth, i.e. no point.


----------



## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

You said he was a tailor ?
Some of the long fabric sheer curtains had them as weigths sewed into the corners to keep them hanging straight down.
Todays vertical blinds over patio doors still use that system .


----------



## ajosephg (Aug 25, 2008)

OK troops, here is what I think they are.

*THE FACTS*
Precise diameter - each disc is *EXACTLY *0.600 inch diameter, and *EXACTLY *0.020 inches thick.
I took them to a jeweler (he had no clue as to what they were either) and had him weigh them on an accurate and precise scale.

They weighed *EXACTLY *0.1 ounce.

Based on this, I think they are *weights for a balance scale*. The Jeweler also likes that idea.


----------



## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Way to "balance" all those competing answers!

*;-)* Ka-dunk…'*************************!


----------



## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

Not sure about that one Joe. Why the spike then?.


----------



## ajosephg (Aug 25, 2008)

That is a good point, Grumpy and I don't have a good answer, but here are some not-so-good.

To keep them from sticking together
Calibration
If the scale platform has a ring that they rest in, to keep them from sliding off the ring.

Wish some old timer would come forth and say, "Oh Yeah, we used them to __."


----------



## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

If those were used for weights on a jewellers scale, maybe they did not want to touch them with fingers and destroy the true weight as they placed them on balance scale. .1 ounce is light ! They might have used a tweezer type thing to pick them up ?


----------

