Replies

1. 
   EdHarrison | Jul 21, 2004 02:40am | #1

   Way too easy. It's a tool for putting up clapboard siding on the side of a house. Give me a hard question, Alex.

2. 
   JohnWW | Jul 21, 2004 03:23am | #2

   Ian,

   It's a clapboard siding gauge, Stanley #89.  It was used to hold a clapboard in the proper position until it could be nailed in place.  It sold for $1.20 in the 1929 Stanley Tool Catalog.  

   To use it, a pair of small tongues, one is visible under the handle stem, are pushed under the bottom edge of the last clapboard nailed to the wall and the next clapboard is is set on the adjustable height hook that is on the right in the photograph.  The handle pivoted to lock the gauge in place by driving a sharp edged tab into the clapboard, this tab is visible in the detail photo that shows the under side of the tool.  The tool would have been used in pairs, one to hold up each end of a clapboard.  Primarily it would have been used by someone working alone. 

   The curved edge to the left has been bent, originally it was flat and rested against the face of a lower clapboard.

   John W.