Mystery Antique of the Week
Wednesday November 11, 2009
This piece is a real mystery for everyone. From the forums:
"The brass roller attached has a steel core. There is a rod through the centre with wooden handles on it at both ends. What is it for? Who would use it?"
Post your guess in the comment section below.
Comments
my first thought that came to mind was a pasta cutter
spaghetti cutter…but i’m sure i’m wrong.
I would guess it’s a Norwegian lefse rolling pin.
karinmeares, I don’ t think you are wrong. That was my guess too!
Some form of cookie rolling pin.
Yup, it’s a lefse rolling pin.
Sugar once came in large solid cones. I think this roller was used to crush smaller pieces into a finer state for use especially confectioners.
Norwegian lefse rolling pin, definitely, they are made with potatoes, flour, heavy cream, sugar and are more like a flat bread, although they look more like crepes.
Hmm….But why brass? I mean, brass is a really hard metal. I guess I’d expect it to be used to crease or possibly cut something tougher than dough…even heavy dough.
I’m going for pasta cutter, too. But that sugar theory sounds pretty good, hmm….
I also vote for a pastry utensil of some kind.
I’m with Beth, confused about why Brass and steel core? The Lefse rolling pins I see are all made of wood??
Sugar roller sounds good, but ??
Although Joyce L. has guessed right in the past!
This looks like a rolling pin, almost identical to the ones I use to make a mean apple pie crust.
They would set the type by hand and then use roller to press type flush for printing.
I don’t know. Pasta cutter seems likely…
It was used by typesetters for rolling type down flush and even before printing.
Perhaps something to roll out hot candy?
How about for cutting something other than food if it is of metal and heavy? Maybe for cutting rawhide or leather strips?
This is a long shot; but I think it was used by potters to mark evenly spaced stripes in clay or to cut clay in even strips.
I think it could be a spool for winding bare wire on. It’s possible the handles unscrew and then slip off the spindle from the rod slip on an empty one and start a new. IT actually looks similar to the coil on a wind generator which made me think of wire
Well, it’s definately a homemede implement used in the culinary arts. I would imagine that a Pastry Chef or a Pasta Maker would use this type of tool. Perhaps a potato ricer (which would be used for making lefse, right?), I’m sure it could be used for making pasta as well, or, for cutting strips of pastry for some masterpiece.
The suger theory is interesting…
Before reading all the comments, my thought, too, was maybe a pasta roller or some kind of textured dough roller. Never having been much of a baker, I’m not sure what would need that kind of texture, but I’m sure there are all kinds of old European breads that use something like that.
Because of the material and weight I thought it might be used for rolling out candy, so I did a bit of google-fu and found a similar item. The listing indicates it to be a candy rolling pin.
http://www.thecobblestonefarm.com/store/WsDefault.asp?one=95
Not sure if the mystery item is a candy rolling pin, but they look very similar, so that’s my guess.
It looks like a fur stretcher and flesher machine, and is simulat to one that I used a few years back, It in one step stretches the hide while loosening the fats etc to clean the hide.
I’m sure I know what this is because I own one. My Mom left it to me. The only thing different is my is made from one solid piece of brass. My Mom called it an endruch, (not sure of the spelling), rolling pin. In America it’s called a Spaghetti cutter. I’d love to purchase another one as my 92 year old Aunt wants one badly and I can’t part with my Mom’s.
i think maybe for clay in ceramic or pottery work?