# What is this strange kitchen implement? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452 "2010-07-21T12:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whiteknight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whiteknight/32/4962_2.png) [@Whiteknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiteknight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/1 "2010-07-21T12:10:48Z")
Located in a vacation house kitchen. [Pic 1](http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/510/cimg0090.jpg) [Pic 2](http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/985/cimg0091q.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/2 "2010-07-21T12:40:15Z")
My WAG is that it’s for removing grapefruit sections from a grapefruit half, but I can’t figure out the purpose of the curved cutter in back which would slide over the outside of the rind unless that somehow helps remove the grapefruit section. In short, no idea… ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/3 "2010-07-21T13:03:52Z")
Some sort of crustacean cleaning tool. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/4 "2010-07-21T13:11:30Z")
… oh man, it’s driving me nuts… I’ve SEEN one of those used, I just can’t for the life of me remember where, when and on what. ---
**Author:** ![Whiteknight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whiteknight/32/4962_2.png) [@Whiteknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiteknight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/5 "2010-07-21T13:18:56Z")
Thanks for the ideas so far. If it helps, this was found in a house on the DE/MD beach right in the heart of crab country. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/6 "2010-07-21T13:43:42Z")
It looks like it could be used for splitting crab leg shells, but the curve seems too radical. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/7 "2010-07-21T13:56:25Z")
This is the kind of thing readers of Yankee magazine used to send in to Ask Earl Proulx, who would identify strange implements from days gone by. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/8 "2010-07-21T14:22:37Z")
Grapefruit tool is correct, I think. People have invented [all](http://www.kitchenniche.ca/grapefruiter-grapefruit-cutter-p-1658.html) [sorts](http://www.kitchencontraptions.com/archives/016453.php) of [tools](http://www.grapefruitknife.net/) for cutting up grapefruit, but the basic idea seems to be to use one part of the tool to separate the fruit from the rind, and the other to section it. Yours looks like an odd variant that may have dropped out of common usage in favor of the more common double-headed knife. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/9 "2010-07-21T14:29:27Z")
It’s for committing a gruesome murder, naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/10 "2010-07-21T14:45:12Z")
I’ve seen one before, but can’t say when or where, and don’t know its use. I have failed to find a pic of one after going through several Google image pages of _crab tool, crab knife, crab cutter, grapefruit tool, grapefruit knife, & grapefruit cutter._ In conjunction with my not seeing how it would be half as useful for those applications as the tools that did come up, I seriously doubt it’s a crab or grapefruit tool. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/11 "2010-07-21T14:45:57Z")
My first thought was an odd form of old can opener like [this one](http://wimharwig.com/2010/02/21/tincan-opener/)but I don’t see how the top part would work to lever against the edge of the can. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/12 "2010-07-21T15:01:31Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > I’ve seen one before, but can’t say when or where, and don’t know its use. There was a modified version of the implement used in Start Trek TNG’s episode, _Schisms_. You can see it in this [YouTube clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI0wqTsIq3Q), about 8 minutes, 15 seconds into the clip. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/13 "2010-07-21T15:18:07Z")
[Fish scaler](https://www.thecookingcompany.com.au/utensils/914-fish-scaler-22cm.php) ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/14 "2010-07-21T15:31:16Z")
> [@Baracus](#): > > [Fish scaler](https://www.thecookingcompany.com.au/utensils/914-fish-scaler-22cm.php) Brilliant! Ignorance fought yet again. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/15 "2010-07-21T15:49:10Z")
Indeed! I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Kickback\_Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/cdc98d/32.png) [@Kickback\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kickback_Joe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/16 "2010-07-21T16:03:09Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/17 "2010-07-21T16:06:20Z")
> [@Kickback\_Joe](#): > > NM Humm.. Please explain it to me then 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/18 "2010-07-21T16:07:29Z")
> [@Baracus](#): > > [Fish scaler](https://www.thecookingcompany.com.au/utensils/914-fish-scaler-22cm.php) Nice work. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/19 "2010-07-21T16:45:19Z")
So what does the curved hook thing in back do? The two front parts with teeth obviously scale the fish, so the pointy curvy part is…a gutter? De-boner? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452/20 "2010-07-21T16:54:19Z")
Fish scaler? I’m puzzled, like bouv. This is the kind of tool that needs to come with a user manual and maybe a 10-minute instructional video. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-kitchen-implement/547452.md?page=2)