Posted 12 years ago
Rawilson34
(19 items)
Ok, need a lil help here...is this a tiny meat tenderizer?? And how old is it? I got it at Goodwill today, It is a neat piece whatever it is! But if it is a tenderizer it will only be for looks, because if I had to prepare 4 steaks with that I would probably hafta hurt somebody! Any info would be most appreciated!
could just as easily be for marking a pattern on biscuits or pastry.
I tend to agree with justin-sanford, it looks like a tool that puts the pattern on hand made pie tops. Judging by the shape, I do not think you can get enough force out of it to tenderize meat very well. Appears to be made for something soft.
I would say it is a brass stamping tool. Frequently used to punch in a logo etc. in a product. I would take something soft and push the stamp into it. The images on the brass should be reversed so when you use it they will come out correctly. If it was for cooking you wouldn't need brass, tin was used more commonly. Brass is still used on thermo labels to print them in high speed production machines. Modern ones you can interchange where this one is fixed. Getting an impression from using it might shed some light on it. Press it on wax, carbon paper or even into packed dirt and you will get the impression.
What does it say? Too blurry to make out the letters.
fhrjr2 has a point,thinking along those lines maybe a leather stamp?
I tried stamping with it, I can't make out anything! When I look at it through a loop it looks like it has stamped something harder than leather...It doesn't matter what it is I only paid .25 cents and it looks on my shelf!! Thanks for the input!
try placing it on a scanner you will get better detail
I don't think the wood handle would take the heat of getting hot enough to brand with. The handle appears to be made either to hit, or push hard with the palm of your hand.
Scott, I agree with hitting part...I have put a marker across and stamped with it and I can't decipher anything...beit English or another language!! I am going to use a ink stamp pad after i take the lil ones to school this morning and i will post a pic for you to check out. Thanks for your info. *when i look at it through a loop in the crevices it looks like a light chalky green~I will try and zoom in on that and take a pic too!
A wax seal stamp? As shown here? http://waxseals.bigcartel.com/
I was thinking that but I wanted to see a image of the stamp first before I suggested that. I have used my scanner to get detailed images of smalls, like coins etc. it should work for this, just stand it up & leave the lid up.
This certainly is a fun puzzle. I thought about it being a wax stamp but then thought it looked a bit large. I have blown the picture up to 600% and inverted the colors. There is what looks like letters of the alphabet. A's, H & a possible R but not in a sequence that made any sense. Rotating it a few degrees at a time makes some of the individual blocks resemble crude animal figures. The picture blurs out to much to get a clear view but I am loving this.
@walksoft, I tried scanning it today...I still couldn't make sense of it! (I'm running low on black ink so I really didn't get a great pic. I am going to try the carbon paper tomorrow. I am baffled!! Each one of the points seem to have been hammered a little almost as if it were used to stamp metal, but there is no evidence on the handle of that. @fhrjr2~it is a fun puzzle and it is gonna bug me till i know!! I have looked at it through a jewelry loop till my eyes hurt and it just doesn't make sense!!
Can you just post the scanned image?
Brass is a soft metal so that kind of narrows it down a bit. It wasn't used on steel etc. because the brass would break first. The wood looks like walnut so it could have been hit with a wooden mallet without damaging it. However the mushroom end looks more suited to fitting the palm of the hand. If it was made to be hit with another object it should have a flat landing to strike or perhaps a metal or rubber cap to protect the wood.
Other ways to try getting an impression are, a bar of soap, cut a potato in half and press into it or even heat it and press it gently into a piece if scrap wood. The ink pad mentioned above is also a good idea. If it doesn't stamp good the ink will highlight the impression if it isn't pushed to hard on the ink pad.