Hello from Hazard!
We solved Item No. 637 with ease (we’re on a roll!) and we show a second picture of Item No. 637 this week, with a second tool that was indispensable for using Item No. 637.
Last week’s mystery item is a slater’s stake, used with a slater’s hammer (see photograph) to cut, trim and install roofing slate. Fred Landsberger from East Palestine repaired slate roofs for 15 years and was quick to identify it. He learned to mark and cut the slate backwards and upside-down, so you flipped the slate over when you actually put it in place (the chipped side tended to flake off, so this prevented the top side from flaking.)
This was also used to punch holes in the slate.
Thanks also to these sharp-eyed readers: Joe Hanf; Russ James from Wellsburg, W.Va.; and Norm Spiker, Columbiana, Ohio.
Reaching back to Item No. 636, the hand planter or “corn jobber” (some say corn jabber), we heard correctly from the following readers: Carl Skeels, Lewis Center, Ohio; Leta Brant, Mantua, Ohio; Betty Svaboda of Newbury, Ohio; Paul and Barb Miller of North Canton (Paul remembers his parents planting 5+ acres of corn with a corn planter like this one); Brian Moore, Chester, W.Va.; Joe Betz, Library, Pa.; and Robert Herriott, Cortland, Ohio.
The sender of this week’s item didn’t include his/her name or address, so we’ll thank the anonymous donor.
If you think you know what it is, send your guess to: Hazard a Guess, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460; or via e-mail to: editorial@farmanddairy.com.
