Mick_VT wrote:Lily left the valley wrote:Definitely a neat find. The length of that really has me curious as to what it was intentionally built for then.
I wonder if the folks you were bidding against had any plans to use the tool, or just wanted to add it to a collection.
It was likely intended to be used when framing, but it's a handy size for other times when you might want a deep mortise. My hunch is that they other bidders were likely collectors, there was one who wanted it really bad (but not as bad as me)
Ah ha! That makes sense to me. My brain was thinking an alternate to drilling out holes for lighting like on the starting newels of stairs (or table lamp bases with electrickery coming into more homes). [I love that word, by the way, and will use it for a long time to come.]
When I was thinking that, I was also realizing I have no idea when the hand drills I'm more accustomed to (in the true hand operated sense) came into being, as opposed to drilling with branch and sinew/fiber rope.
