Hello from Hazard!
Wayne Franks, who reads us in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, says our copper bathtub (Item No. 1126) is similar to a copper-and-wood vat that was used to dip hogs into boiling water to scrape the hair off when butchering.
(We know our item was a bathtub because it came out of a house in eastern Ohio.)
We heard from several more readers who knew Item No. 1127 was an 1800s, Civil War era cutting tool called a fleam (or phleam) used when blood letting was a common medical practice.
Our thanks to Lori Hollo; Tina Dazey, Louisville, Ohio; Eli Miller, Mesopotamia, Ohio; and Ken Brown, Rock Creek, Ohio.
Reader Richard Bader, of Middletown, N.Y., says there’s a little distinction between the fleam (our tool) typically used by veterinarians for blood letting. The human tool was a similar instrument, the thumb lancet.)
We knew Item No. 1128, first shown last week, was used for eggs, but Tom Saltsman, of Canton, Ohio, wasn’t exactly sure for what use.
Rob Phillips, of Washington, Pennsylvania, writes that his grandmother had something similar that held only four eggs. She used it for washing, cooking and dyeing eggs. Dennis Graham, Greensburg, Pennsylvania also knew it was used for hard boiling eggs, but likewise says it was also used for coloring Easter eggs.
A timely hazard-ous item, eh?
And so we’re moving on to Item No. 1129, submitted by Jim May, of Suffield, Ohio. He adds the marking on the tool shows it was made by the Wizard Mfg. Co. in Tiffin, Ohio. Does anyone know how this was used?
Email us at editorial@farmanddairy.com; or by mail to: Hazard a Guess, c/o Farm and Dairy, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460.
And if you’ve got an item in your closet, shed or attic that you’re sure will stump our fair panel of hazard-ous readers (we’d prefer you know how it’s used), please send us a clear 35 mm photo or email a digital photo, along with complete dimensions and description. You can use the addresses listed above.
