Interesting stuff

[ray_parkhurst]

I went to an estate sale of a man who had some very interesting stuff. He was a machinist, watchmaker, woodworker, and perhaps other, though very little had to do with optics unfortunately. Anyway, he had a bunch of precision steel rods in varying diameters from 21 mils up to 45 mils in 1 mil increments. Would anyone have any idea what these would be used for? I don't normally take things home I don't know about, but these were just too interesting.

[Sym P. le]

They sound like gauges of some sort. How long are they?

[rjlittlefield]

Google "pin gauge" and expect to also get a lot of stuff about "pin gage" -- same thing different spelling.

--Rik

[ray_parkhurst]

They are about 5-1/2" long.

Some info I forgot to mention...they are stored in cigar tubes, and each tube has hundreds of them. They seem more like material for some purpose rather than measurement tools.

[rjlittlefield]

Interesting. In that case I have no idea.

--Rik

[bralex]

My thought would be just organized metal stock, since they are kept in cigar tubes, but an outside possibility is thread measuring wires. They're usually a bit shorter, though.

https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn/Mea ... d=12107674

[PeteM]

Could be drill rod, given the length. If so they would be in the same sizes as drill bits, but without the flutes, and likely made of tool steel. Might try a "spark test" to get a rough idea of the type of steel.

[khw]

Of potential use as axel material for the various moving parts (gears and related elements) in watches and clocks. Just a guess since you mentioned he was a watchmaker along with a number of other interests.

Keith W

[ray_parkhurst]

Could these be used by dentists for root canals? I remember seeing some dental burrs in the mix of things.

[lothman]

could be raw marerial for repivoting worn watchparts. Cut off old pivot, drill, press-fit or glue in a piece of wire, turn to dimensions, polish and reinstall.

[ray_parkhurst]

I don't remember who requested pics (their post has been deleted) but I did go ahead and take the pics, see below. Glad I did since I had misremembered the markings/sizes of these rods, which are metric rather than inch. Instead of starting at 21mil, they start at 0.21mm, much smaller. This may change people's thinking about their usage...

[rjlittlefield]

The deleted post was from a spammer who happened to pick your thread as a vehicle for his against-the-rules signature. His account is gone now.

But these new photos of yours are very interesting anyway. I have no idea what these wires are for.

--Rik

[ray_parkhurst]

The deleted post was from a spammer who happened to pick your thread as a vehicle for his against-the-rules signature. His account is gone now.

But these new photos of yours are very interesting anyway. I have no idea what these wires are for.

--Rik

Hmm, his request seemed so sincere.

Indeed I am still puzzled by these wires. For now they will remain a mystery.

[rjlittlefield]

Hmm, his request seemed so sincere.

I agree. In fact every individual piece of the fellow's behavior looked plausible, for a few days. What finally tipped us off was the general pattern of comments, eventually followed by the appearance of a link in signature, to a bicycling website, where popups written in Romanian also said (after translation) "The process is as simple as possible: sign up for the program and share links on youtube, facebook, social media, websites, forums, reviews of various products".

It's quite possible, of course, that the fellow really was interested in your wires, independent of his interests in spamming. But the spam aspects are enough to get him tossed out. If he wants back in as a legitimate member, of course we'll be happy to have him.

--Rik

[lothman]

Indeed I am still puzzled by these wires. For now they will remain a mystery.

hardened and then blued steel, I'm rather sure it was made for replacing worn pivots, but I wonder of the fine steps in size and the large quantity. That's enough for 10 watchmaker careers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p6yjtDA99E