Garage sale

[china]

I was driving past a garage sale yesterday (Sunday) and dropped in, picked these up for $5, the lady said they are an old tool for hanging up hides to dry in a tannery
apparently her husband knows about these things. Only problem is now I have to go out in the shed and build a tannery.

[art925]

Or do as I did and buy a boat winch and build yourself a draw bench

[china]

Yes I did think it may be a simpler solution to build a draw bench

[Dennis]

Dear Bob,
As Les has pointed out and you probably know, these are self closing draw bench tongs. A real pain in the but they are, because at each pass they have to be well aligned and tend to slip off the wire unless held as well.
You are better off having hand tongs, which are longer and therefore can be kept closed by hand. The other pitfall with draw benches is the belt, because it also needs care when rewinding, so I use a piece of non stretch rope from a boat chandler.

My home made draw bench which is inexpensive to assemble on any available surface, or a piece of stout timber, also needs a small boat winch, a smooth vice and of course a selection of draw pates. It is invaluable for conjuring up all sorts of wires from ingots , or limited stock, and far superior to any professional version I have tried. Dennis.

[china]

Hi Dennis, yes I do know what they are, although I could not convince the seller no matter how hard I tried, I have heard they are a pain, I have always made do by hand and came across these by chance so it has inspired me, will take my compass and machete and go out in the shed and hack my through all the stuff I should have thrown out, and I'm sure I can come up with enough items to put together a draw bench.
I will post some pics when finish and let you and the others know if I can make the tongs work

[Dennis]

Look forward to it.