Can anyone tell me what this is?
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/556062_500921869946131_1700643809_n.jpg
Looks like a bookbinder’s awl.
Any more info? What does the head look like? How long is it? Where did you find it?
Unfortunately, I don’t have any additional info. It is a local company that posts photos like this on their Facebook page and give away the location of a hidden gift certificate somewhere in town (Gainesville, Fl).
I have never seen one with the helical wrap like this one. Here is what it isn’t:
meat thermometer
nail
screw
wood burning needle
Tattoo needle
leather awl
knitting needle
soldering iron
acupuncture needle
dental needle
incremental borer (for coring trees)
antenna
nutcracker
We don’t have any perspective, but given the picture is portrait and not landscape, I am assuming he took it with his cell phone. Given that it is not incredibly grainy, he wasn’t zoomed, so if he was 6-12 inches away, we are looking at 5-6 inches of an object.
At first I was convinced that the gold hue in the middle meant that it was a copper but the more I look at it, the more I think that might just be the reflection in a stainless steel surface of a covered light.
The helical wrap has given me the most grief. I am still leaning towards that indicates this conducts electricity to provide heat but most of those options have been exhausted. I am working on maybe it is some sort of decorative wrap or possibly a grip of some kind.
D
Concrete anchor screw?
Moved from General Questions to IMHO.
samclem
I agree - it looks exactly like the pseudo-screw component of a hammer-drive fixing. I can’t find a comparable example online (they all have a shallower pitch)*, but I have some that look exactly like this at home.
Let’s have a look at the top end of it, please ddaug4uf
*ETA: here’s one:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-tp/114765532/Hammer_Drive_Screw.html
Spiral shank pole barn nail
I keep shying away from any type of nail, screw, etc because the hooked end doesn’t make any sense.
What hooked end? I only see the shaft in the photo in the OP. Or are you talking about the minor bend at the tip?
It’s a self-sealing stem bolt.
(If nobody gets the reference, I’ll understand)
so, you’re asking us to identify it for you, and you claim the prize?
Or did I misunderstand the point?
What does the blunt end look like?
The apparent hook at the end of the point could be damage or a manufacturing flaw.
I believe it’s used to hold grid balls together.
Strange grid balls?
I’m sure he’ll share it with all of us.
No, just regular grid balls. For strange grid balls, the twist goes the other way.
Well played, young Mr. Sisko. 