Hazard A Guess: Week of April 22, 2004.

Hello from Hazard!

Before we get to last week’s item, we need to wrap up Item No. 707, which we unveiled last week as a leather riveting tool.

Readers sending correct answers included: Charlie Spencer, Sewickley, Pa.; Jerry Teagarden, Claysville, Pa.; Richard Lee, Cool Ridge, W.Va.; and Dan Williams, Salem, Ohio. Williams adds that the riveter he has is marked “Standard Specialty, Salem, Ohio,” and on the reverse, “Handy Riveter Patent Pending.” He’s also seen an example of one in the Salem Historical Society Museum.

Thanks to everyone who contributed a response to Item No. 707.

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Now, on to Item No. 708, which received many quick identifications.

It is a single wire fence, or barbed wire fence, stretcher, although the handle on the item we show is not original to the tool.

The clamp goes over the wire and there are metal teeth on the end to bite into the post, which anchors and holds the wire tight while driving the staple or nail.

Quick to respond were: Myrta Litman, Washington, Pa.; Ralph Ritter, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Don Ringer, Cambridge, Ohio (who adds they work OK “if the wire clamps are not worn out as mine are!”); June Leech, Washington, Pa.; Lloyd Ward, Barnesville, Ohio; Wayne Cooper, Fombell, Pa.;

Kay Sigler, Canton, Ohio; Tom Miller, Spartansburg, Pa.; Jerry Teagarden, Claysville, Pa.; Linda Dinsmore, Washington, Pa.; Gailey Henderson, Williamstown, W.Va.; James Miller, Louisville, Ohio;

Bernie Bucchianeri, Monongahela, Pa.; Hugh Coffman, Marietta, Ohio; Paul Sharkady, Canonsburg, Pa.; and Doug Knox Sr., Claysville, Pa. (This must have been the week for readers from western Pa.!)

Knox shares a family story now legend regarding the tool. Knox’s son reluctantly had to help his grandfather repair some fence and was holding the stretcher while his grandpa stapled the wire. Somehow, the grandson let the tension slip and the wire lacerated his grandpa’s fingers.

Well, it seems Grandpa wasn’t sure the slip was an accident and got a little hot under the collar – and chased his grandson with a hatchet.

“Thank God, my son was a cross-country runner!” Knox writes.

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I don’t know if Item No. 709 will elicit any tales from your family’s closet, but here’s another item to identify, shared by Thomas Price of Salem, Ohio.

Do you know what it is? Send your guesses to: Hazard a Guess, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460; or via e-mail to: editorial@farmanddairy.com.