Identify this tool please

[Peter.]

I think that's a student- or novice-made part that just went wrong as others have said. I bet the vees were filed in the wrong faces by mistake then corrected. That the short vees are on opposite sides when it's assembled is of no consequence, although it might hold taps better if the sides were filed down flat.

We all made what would seem like 'idiot' mistakes back when we knew little or nothing.

[DrMike]

We all made what would seem like 'idiot' mistakes back when we knew little or nothing.

For me, "back when" has been all day today.
To limit the damage I should just stop what I'm doing, go back to bed and start over.

[Richard P Wilson]

It's interesting to note that the blocks, including the notches, appear to have been planed, not milled. Whoever made that, used a shaper.

Which means it's probably a lot older than we think. Would they have still been having apprentices learn to use shapers, even into the early sixties? They were generally already considered obsolete twenty years before that. (Though yes, I know they were still in common use for years afterward, and can still be found in use today.)

Doc.

Yes, apprentices were still taught how to use shapers at least up to the 1980s. Whether they ever used one again ouside the apprentice training school is another issue.

[plunger]

Yes, apprentices were still taught how to use shapers at least up to the 1980s. Whether they ever used one again ouside the apprentice training school is another issue.

Thats true. I was taught to use a shaper in 1988 but when we progressed to the toolroom there wasnt even a shaper there. Only in the apprentice room.

[CarlByrns]

One of those custom made things, the use of which probably died with the original maker. Keep it just in case it can be useful for metal stock and repurpose it.
It looks like you have got the pictures going ok, so have another go with your other thread photos.

It looks a lot like a 'factory' transmission tool, something to hold the reverse gear idler shaft next to the secondary shaft.

[Noitoen]

Thats true. I was taught to use a shaper in 1988 but when we progressed to the toolroom there wasnt even a shaper there. Only in the apprentice room.

I learned ho to use a shaper at John Orr Technical High, in Johannesburg back in 1980

[plunger]

I learned ho to use a shaper at John Orr Technical High, in Johannesburg back in 1980

Are you South African? In 1980 I was sight seeing on the Angolan /South west Africa border during our border war against the Cubans ..Then I did my apprenticeship with Hart ltd. Funny how I hated using the shaper then but now that I don't have one I wish I did. But mainly for dove tails. I have a big wish list .

[Noitoen]

Are you South African?

Nope. I'm Portuguese. Went to South Africa when I was 10 years old, after the revolution in Mozambique in1974. Since we lost everything then, in 1981 my parents sold the house and shop, put everything transportable into a 60 cubic metre container and came back to Portugal. We also wanted to avoid me going to the Angola border. I was turning 17 that year.

[plunger]

Nope. I'm Portuguese. Went to South Africa when I was 10 years old, after the revolution in Mozambique in1974. Since we lost everything then, in 1981 my parents sold the house and shop, put everything transportable into a 60 cubic metre container and came back to Portugal. We also wanted to avoid me going to the Angola border. I was turning 17 that year.

We must be about the same age then. I went to the border in 82 /83 .It was either that or three years jail and being shunned by your community. It must have been tough losing everything . I think you are in a better position now in Portugal. As much as I love this beautiful country things are falling apart real fast. We experience two sessions of two hour blackouts during the day every day these days and the corruption and violent crime is getting out of hand .I have always wanted to see the big waves of Nazare.Its on my bucket list.