What are they?
I was recently in a Cracker Barrel restaurant having a bite. For any not familiar with the chain, they are decorated with various tools, signage, and other items from days of yore. There are particularly a lot of early "primitive tools" (brace and bits, augers, oxen yokes, funnels, crosscut saws, coal oil lamps, carbide lights, and the like). I was just finishing my meal when a gentleman sitting at the table next to mine asked if I knew what the two "sticks" were hanging on a nearby wall (I guess one cannot hide "country"). I told him I did not. So, I thought I would post them and see if some of the informed audience of TFI would have some input on the stick mystery. They are about 3' long X 1.5" in diameter and the space between the two forks is app. 1*1.5" wide. They are not identical and are definitely handwaved from what appears to be Hickory wood. The ends are not sharp and are more or less squared off flat. I am looking forward to finding out just what these two items are.
I'm going with 'laundry fork'.
ReplyDeletenick
Wash tub sticks for doing laundry.
ReplyDeleteummm so not for flicking womens off a cat pile?
ReplyDeleteIt's called a "brides fork" or "laundry fork." It was used to place clothes on lines and to manipulate lines.
ReplyDeleteShoe horn?
ReplyDeleteused in weaving. I think there should be a wheel between the forks.
ReplyDeleteMight be to help pull your boots off. Prongs would go against the heel.
ReplyDeleteI believe they are for use with a laundry tub. You would move the clothes around with them i the tub and then use them to remove the clean clothes so you could hang them out to dry. I'm sure the ladies would be thrilled to get one for Valentine's Day...or not.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wool boiling fork but since not discolored, possibly a fruit branch shaker.
ReplyDeleteLaundry wash sticks
ReplyDeleteIt's a henweigh.
ReplyDeleteAbout 5 lbs
Delete..and worth it's weight in gold.
DeleteLaundry Fork
ReplyDeleteLooks like a stirring fork for cooking in a large kettle.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure but I used something like this, although mine was metal, to remove a drive line from a tractor pto. The drive line was froze to the pto, slid the y or u end over the pto between Tractor and drive line and started prying.
ReplyDeleteDis bee wayciss!
ReplyDeleteFor pulling the wash out of boiling hot tub to run through the wringer.
ReplyDeleteLaundry forks
ReplyDeletepickle barrel forks?
ReplyDeleteHere's a similar one for sale that says it's for serving:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.italiancookshop.com/products/wooden-two-pronged-fork-27cm
Based on the context clues my initial guess was that it was some sort of knitting/yarn fork. But in all the images I saw of those the tong ends were curved outward and/or there was a hole just below the fork. In my image search I came across a few images of laundry forks. That's my guess. It's an old-school laundry fork/washing stick.
ReplyDelete-Outlier
I love that stuff but alas don't know this one. I am always looking for Fresno's.
ReplyDeleteI will guess the forked end slides on to some fixed cylinder object of some type allowing pivot/swing from the center hole from the other end.
At least I didn't cheat, on this one.
DeleteBased on the context clues my initial guess was that it was some sort of knitting/yarn fork. But in all the images I saw of those the tong ends were curved outward and/or there was a hole just below the fork. In my image search I came across a few images of laundry forks. That's my guess. It's an old-school laundry fork/washing stick.
ReplyDelete-Outlier
P.S. Sorry if this is a double post. It didn't look like the first one went through.
wash stick or laundry stick? Just a guess. see - https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_323720
ReplyDeleteI think they were used to push laundry down into a tub to wash . The ends could grab the clothes and swirl or lift them.
ReplyDeleteCalled a Bride Stick Or Laundry Stick. Used for stirring the clothing in a boiling cauldron.
ReplyDeleteIt is the lever that was used to pump old time organs. Just saw one in a movie titled " Texas" from 1942.
ReplyDeleteMy curiosity got me to searching. Believe it is a wooden paddle fork for stirring the clothes in the wash tub in the hot water. Found a few on Etsy that look very similar.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.etsy.com/listing/1341150081/old-wood-washing-fork-primitive-laundry?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_all&utm_custom1=_k_0ad8e7574efa1ca4b34d84b29daaa738_k_&utm_content=bing_319339185_1304020917004184_81501327774781_pla-4585100928622219:pla-4585100928622219_m__1341150081&utm_custom2=319339185&msclkid=0ad8e7574efa1ca4b34d84b29daaa738
Tom in Alabama
Laundry Fork
ReplyDeleteUmm, a back scratchier...
ReplyDeletenot sure what they are, but they look like they'd be handy for getting a loaf of bread out of one of those old-style clay ovens.
ReplyDeleteIt is a washing stick, which was used to lift clothing from boiling water and put them into the rinse water.
ReplyDeleteI'd have said 'dying forks', but they aren't stained up. Dying clothing, used for moving the cloth around without getting your hands the same color. I'm probably way off, but that's my story.
ReplyDeleteTobacco is hung in barns to cure after being harvested. The individual stalks are hung on sticks, which are then set on top of beams in the barn to suspend the tobacco for air drying. such sticks would be hung all the way to the roof of the barn involving a lot of overhead reaching (and climbing). I SUSPECT these are tools for lifting the sticks onto higher locations that are hard to get to by hand alone.
ReplyDeleteReplica of Biden’s tongue.
ReplyDeleteGreat guess, but not nearly long enough (long tongue liar) LOL!
DeleteDamn good one anon, but alas you get no credit for being anon.
DeleteHave not used one of these since the honeymoon. The horror, the horror...
ReplyDeletePre-mechanical age tuning fork?
ReplyDeleteLaundry fork
DeleteIt's for poking the little shit in both eyes at the same time.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.prices4antiques.com/kitchen-household/sad-irons-laundry/Washing-Equipment-Wood-Bride-Stick-Fork-Two-Tines-Carved-Side-Hooks-30-inch--D9734544.html
ReplyDeleteThat's a laundry stick. My mother had one that she inherited from my grandmother. It was used to stir laundry in a large pot before the invention of the agitated washing machine.
ReplyDeleteIt also served time as an assbeater for when we did something that riled up Mom. The whacks weren't that hard. They just served notice that Mom was pissed.
Nemo
Assbeater! BBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! Good one Nemo!
DeleteAfter reading the comments and doing a little research, I believe the "washing stick" is going to be it. That would explain the "boat paddle" end which would be used for stirring/agitating the clothing item being washed and the forked end for snagging clothing. I found one on an ended auction at Ebay.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ebay.com/itm/134140374490?nma=true&si=lalBmZRKJzsgiVpvV4oe%252F3JAdF0%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
and on this informative page.
https://americanprimitive.com/objects-art/3-wash-sticks
Mikey Obama's ball scratcher.
ReplyDeleteWhich CB? I was in the one off I93 the other day in Londonderry.
ReplyDelete-- Nitzakhon
It's a snake sticker to pin the rattler down while your wife whacks off the head with a hatchet.
ReplyDeleteAss scratcher?
ReplyDeleteExile1981
obviously they are shrimp forks
ReplyDeleteAlso looks just like a modern pasta fork.
ReplyDeleteIt's the forked tongue woodenhead joe speaks with.
ReplyDeleteCC
Carpet swatter
ReplyDeletecarpet swatter
ReplyDeleteThey’re for stabbing French fries. Made popular at Nathan’s in Coney Island.
ReplyDeleteWell Bunk Strutts beat me to the punch…it only works on the triangled head of poisonous snakes though
ReplyDeletebut having growled up in Harlan County, I can testify that it was also a culturally approved corporal punishment device guaranteed to be felt thru the backside of heavy duty bibbed overalls….
Amish cattle prod
ReplyDelete