"It says “do not discard,” so we didn’t. Now we have no idea what it is for."
A: "It holds the filter inside a shop vac."
"Large Circular Glass Object. Measures 6.75″ x 2″. Has been laying around as a conversation piece for many years, but no one knows what it is or where it came from"
A: "Looks to me like a lens for a train signal light."
"Weird glass ball, suspended by screws, in a metal frame, bronze or gold colour in appearance."
A: "It is a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder. You place a strip of card into one set of grooves in the piece that curves behind the sphere, point the opposite side of the sphere towards the equator, and the sphere will focus the sunlight to burn a track on the card. The card has hours marked, and more the card is burnt, the brighter the sunlight was."
"Large machine connected to a school building with a barrel underneath it"
A: "Dust collection system, probably coming out of the wood shop."
"All metal object, pumpkin shaped. No markings, wondering what it’s used for. Found at a ski cabin."
A: "Fruit bowl. We used one of those at our restaurant to hold oranges for pressing juice."
"Small metal rod with hole in one end, fell out of clothing"
A: "It’s part of a broken earring"
"These suspicious looking inset dots with different plastics on all the outlets in my Holiday Inn Room, no it’s not a button."
A: "It is the circuit breaker reset for the outlets."
"Square canvas bag with leather straps"
A: "2101 SQ. Meese Inc. Madison Indiana."
"Strange looking structure found close to a hunting cabin in the swedish woods."
A: "It’s a home-built feeder that dumps out grain periodically. It draws deer and other game to the area for hunting."
"Pottery bought in Mexico. Had a hole at the bottom as well as through the center shaft, thus could not hold water. Something that looks like a musical note is engraved on the bottom side next to something that reads like “KE? MEXICA”."
A: "It’s a jewelry holder made by potter Ken Edwards."
"Yellow box around the size of a human with a pole that has a light."
A: "It’s a solar-powered torch used in some parts of the world."
"Possibly-copper handle/tool found in an Irish pub in Marbella, Spain. Owner didn’t know its use, said it came with the pub when purchased."
A: "It’s a rope guide for a boat. The wood from a dock seems to be repurposed into a bar."
"This weird fuzzy thing was in my vent when I closed it"
A: "It’s part of the register gasket has come loose and tried to get away. The metal vent is called a register."
"Wooden box containing small metal pieces with images on…also contains thin brass pieces of various lengths."
A: "Letterpress for sure."
"Small bronze container with screw cap with small stick. Approx 5 inches long, 2 inches wide and 4 inches tall, found at flea market."
A: "Taykit pocket stove. It’s part of a vintage camping stove."
"Some kind of tool with a metal head and a wooden handle."
A: "Depending on your location it could be called a pickaroon or a hookaroon. Source is my 90 year old neighbor who worked in logging his whole life. When I asked him about his hookaroon he said he used it to position logs going into the mill from the lake."
"Small, hand-carved(?), wooden item. The sticker has some unknown symbols."
A: "The symbol is the Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge in Boy Scouts."
"Found this beautiful flat copper object in an airbnb kitchen, what is it used for?"
A: "it’s the lid to a copper pot."
"About 6cms long, Metal with some pivoting parts found in a thriftstore haul."
A: "That is 100% the center spindle of a record player that permits a small stack of records to play one by one. It drops another down once the one before it finishes playing."
"What is this rounded square multilayer hard plastic part with 65 holes and grooved corners for potentially fitting another piece? Discarded in the thousands alongside a Union Pacific railroad."
A: "Pandrol ‘Anti-Abrasion Tie pads’ — this is what these components are. These are to reduce abrasion of the junction of steel railroad rails and concrete railroad ties."
• Don't insult other visitors. Offensive comments will be deleted without warning.
• Comments are accepted in English only.
• No swearing words in comments, otherwise such comments will be censored.
• Your nickname and avatar are randomly selected. If you don't post comments for 7 days, they both are reset.
• To choose another avatar, click the ‘Random avatar’ link.
Meese Inc. was a supplier of canvas bacpacks to US military.
Maybe a US Air Force mail satchel?