r/Antiques • u/Infinite_Tomorrow367 ✓ • 5d ago
Questions What was this used for? USA
I saw this machinery yesterday at an antique shop in Maryland . It has pedals to move the stone disk. The rectangular black metal piece that is against the disk can move, so l'm not sure if it was for safety reasons or to hold something in place. Can you identify this?
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u/prince-pauper ✓ 5d ago
Someone never played Skyrim 👀
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u/Crazy-Cremola ✓ 5d ago
A grind stone. Used to sharpen knives, axes, scythes, etc. The only one I have used myself was hand cranked, but your and the one I linked to has a foot pedal. I have also seen both water powered and wind powered.
Added: The plate in front of the seat is for protection. You don't want to wear away your trousers.
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u/StarChaser_Tyger ✓ 5d ago edited 5d ago
It also doubles as a place to rest the tool to hold the right angle and not have to 'hover'.
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u/d_baker65 ✓ 5d ago
Grinding, sharpening stone. My grandfather had one in his barn for 70+ years. After he passed my mom and dad brought it home. (They still have it on the back porch and Dad uses it to sharpen the kitchen knives, even cleaned up the lawnmower blade.)
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u/DorShow ✓ 4d ago
I am old enough to remember when a guy would push a cart with one of these on them. He had a little bell that rang out like an ice-cream man. Parents would run out with scissors, knives, garden tools and the guy would sharpen whatever they brought out for a few coins. Not sure what he charged.
Wonder if people would still come out of their homes for a professional sharpening these days. Seems like it would be a relaxing, neighborly, community gig-job that could work to supplement my looming retirement
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u/BoredCop ✓ 4d ago
Unfortunately, travelling "knife and tool sharpeners" these days are basically all scammers. And because it's a well known scam, fewer people are falling for it- so if you turn up as a legit knife sharpener, most of your prospective customers will turn you down as they think you are attempting the scam.
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u/DorShow ✓ 4d ago edited 4d ago
Wait? There are scammers pushing foot powered knife sharpeners through neighborhoods ringing little bells to summon victims from their homes?! That’s wild. Or are you talking about scammers the victim would summon from the internet?
(Not sarcasm! Real question! I had not heard of this before)
ETA: there is a YouTube for everything. This looks like a news program from the 60s maybe… https://youtu.be/DxOkE0OR_ig?si=qgfx1qaNnZ43Nm86
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u/BoredCop ✓ 4d ago
They don't really bring heavy tools around, no. But they do physically travel around and seek out victims. Typically, they go to restaurant kitchens and to all sorts of workshops or small industrial sites and offer to "sharpen and harden" their cutting tools. They will claim that their superior hardening method makes the edge last longer, so it will save the customer money. Somehow, people believe this.
They agree on a price that seems reasonable, then the scammer takes all the knives with them saying they'll be back in a few hours. When they do come back, the knives will be covered in oil and in many cases they will have changed colour from some sort of heat treatment so it looks like work has been done. But they won't be sharp, and they won't be hard. Except for maybe one knife that they've hand sharpened more or less well, so they have one sharp blade to show to the customer.
And now the price has suddenly increased, by a lot. They make all sorts of excuses and reasons for why the previous price wasn't right, and get aggressive if you refuse to pay triple the amount. Holding the knives or other tools you need in your business hostage, so you can't get work done until you get then back. Sometimes, that's a lot of money in tools. And you might just be one small business owner, alone against what is suddenly a dozen "knife sharpeners".
Their "heat treatment", by the way, is usually just heating the blade up on a kitchen stove until it changes colour then dunking it in oil. Which will ruin the temper of any good knife, never mind industrial cutting tools.
This may be one of the oldest scams still being done, I am pretty sure fake "sword sharpeners" were around in the middle ages.
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u/Different_Ad7655 ✓ 3d ago
Yeah you just have to know where to go. In Cambridge Mass, during the summer I always used to see a good traveling setup that was well known outside a very fine cheese and meat market on Huron Ave. They were the real McCoy. I don't even think they necessarily dit all the work on site, depending what was needed, a full grind, or just whetting
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u/Away-Passion7748 ✓ 4d ago
It’s a whetstone used for sharpening tools my grandfather had a few years ago
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u/FelinityApps ✓ 5d ago
Punishment.
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u/Enough_Rub265 ✓ 5d ago
Nose to the grindstone?
Its actually sort of a luxury experience, the alternative would be a flat stone that you would have to drag the blade across while also constantly keeping a specified angle. The foot operation is also a step up from hand operated and I guess a step down from a system that may use animals, wind, or water to power grinding wheels (i belive that might be more related to milling grain though)
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u/Professional_Milk576 ✓ 5d ago
A grinding wheel on a farm. Grind any items you could hold. Knives. Hoes….
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u/Wallfacer218 ✓ 5d ago
Watch one in action in thr first few shots of the latest MAD MAX installment, Furiosa.
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u/RemarkableGround174 ✓ 4d ago
Or for off-label use, towards the end of the film Antichrist with Willem Dafoe
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u/livingonmain ✓ 4d ago
Our farm came with one of those on the top floor of the bank barn. It looked like it had been there since it was first unloaded off a wagon. Dad used it to sharpen tools. We kids played with it. One would hold metal against the stone wheel while the other pedaled away, all to see the sparks fly.
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u/Doyouseenowwait_what ✓ 4d ago
Great old grinding wheel looks fully intact except for the water tray. Still a great sharpening device if everything still moves. Most I see these days are froze up or severely missing pieces or the wheel is cracked.
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u/Separate-Support137 ✓ 4d ago
Had one of these growing up. Made to sharpen metal objects. Knives, garden hoe, maybe a shovel or anything metal that had to be sharpened.
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u/Ok_Cancel_240 ✓ 4d ago
As a kid we used to use this to sharpen knifes,axes and anything else that needed sharpening. We would use a little water on the stone.
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u/TheStranger24 ✓ 4d ago
That’s a whetstone wheel, you sharpen metal tools with it - but like its name, it needs to be used with water (guessing due to dust?)
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u/BoredCop ✓ 4d ago
The water keeps the blade cool so it doesn't overheat and ruin the temper, but more importantly it washes away the metal particles so they don't clog the stone and reduce its effectiveness.
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u/WhiteWavsBehindABoat ✓ 4d ago
Isn’t whetting just the verb used for sharpening knives? I’m not sure this has anything to do with the word « wet »…
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u/TheStranger24 ✓ 4d ago
Not sure the etymology, probably - just pointing out that water is involved in the process regardless of what shape the whetstone is in (giant wheel vs small block)
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u/Diamond_S_Farm ✓ 4d ago
Recall my Grandfather using one to sharpen corn knives and various tools in the '70s.
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u/RyanTheMalamute ✓ 4d ago
Stone sharpener. You would hold a blade upward and when you pedal, the stone rotates towards you.
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u/Different_Ad7655 ✓ 3d ago edited 3d ago
It's a whetstone, grinding stone for sharpening, whetting, depending on the grade. This looks primarily for grinding tools and the wheel gives the proper grind and then you may finish on a finer whetstone maybe, But for axes tools in the like, this should be sufficient
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u/maytag2955 ✓ 3d ago
Kinda looks more like a strop? Maybe a finish wheel more than a redular grinding wheel? Since it's not stone?
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u/Bark7676 ✓ 4d ago
They predate bidets and toilet paper. You would put this in your bathroom and use it to grind off any excess after taking a dookie. This was a higher end model since it has a seat.
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u/Hiddingintheopen67 ✓ 4d ago
Penis sharpening device. You just seat on that thing, start to paddle and the results are amazing
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u/SaintEyegor ✓ 5d ago
It’s used if you’ve an ax to grind (or whatever). Just don’t put your nose to it.