Thursday, February 9, 2023

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.








59 comments:

  1. I'm going with 'laundry fork'.

    nick

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  2. Wash tub sticks for doing laundry.

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  3. ummm so not for flicking womens off a cat pile?

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  4. It's called a "brides fork" or "laundry fork." It was used to place clothes on lines and to manipulate lines.

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  5. used in weaving. I think there should be a wheel between the forks.

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  6. Might be to help pull your boots off. Prongs would go against the heel.

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  7. I 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.

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  8. Looks like a wool boiling fork but since not discolored, possibly a fruit branch shaker.

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  9. Laundry wash sticks

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  10. Looks like a stirring fork for cooking in a large kettle.

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  11. I 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.

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  12. For pulling the wash out of boiling hot tub to run through the wringer.

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  13. Here's a similar one for sale that says it's for serving:

    https://www.italiancookshop.com/products/wooden-two-pronged-fork-27cm

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  14. 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.

    -Outlier

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  15. I love that stuff but alas don't know this one. I am always looking for Fresno's.

    I 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.

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  16. 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.

    -Outlier

    P.S. Sorry if this is a double post. It didn't look like the first one went through.

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  17. wash stick or laundry stick? Just a guess. see - https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_323720

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  18. I think they were used to push laundry down into a tub to wash . The ends could grab the clothes and swirl or lift them.

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  19. Called a Bride Stick Or Laundry Stick. Used for stirring the clothing in a boiling cauldron.

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  20. It is the lever that was used to pump old time organs. Just saw one in a movie titled " Texas" from 1942.

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  21. My 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.

    https://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

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  22. not 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.

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  23. It is a washing stick, which was used to lift clothing from boiling water and put them into the rinse water.

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  24. I'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.

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  25. Tobacco 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.

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  26. Replica of Biden’s tongue.

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    Replies
    1. Great guess, but not nearly long enough (long tongue liar) LOL!

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    2. Damn good one anon, but alas you get no credit for being anon.

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  27. Have not used one of these since the honeymoon. The horror, the horror...

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  28. Pre-mechanical age tuning fork?

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  29. It's for poking the little shit in both eyes at the same time.

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  30. https://www.prices4antiques.com/kitchen-household/sad-irons-laundry/Washing-Equipment-Wood-Bride-Stick-Fork-Two-Tines-Carved-Side-Hooks-30-inch--D9734544.html

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  31. That'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.

    It 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

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    1. Assbeater! BBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! Good one Nemo!

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  32. After 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.
    https://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

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  33. Mikey Obama's ball scratcher.

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  34. Which CB? I was in the one off I93 the other day in Londonderry.

    -- Nitzakhon

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  35. It's a snake sticker to pin the rattler down while your wife whacks off the head with a hatchet.

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  36. Ass scratcher?

    Exile1981

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  37. Also looks just like a modern pasta fork.

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  38. It's the forked tongue woodenhead joe speaks with.

    CC

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  39. They’re for stabbing French fries. Made popular at Nathan’s in Coney Island.

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  40. Well Bunk Strutts beat me to the punch…it only works on the triangled head of poisonous snakes though

    but 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….

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