Tuesday 12 July 2011

What is this?

 

    My mother in-law found this in her garage that was being cleared out before she listed her home to sale. My husband's father, who was raised on a farm in S. Ontario, had this stashed away in some cubby hole. Knowing how much I love old stuff, she gave it to me, along with a lot of other treasures.
    The backside.


    OK, you can see that it says it's a sheller on the crank handle. But what did it shell?
     Yes, I know. But do you? Let's see how many "farmgirls" we have out there with the correct answer!
     And then please  help me decide where to hang this. What do you think of my mounting it on a board
     then hanging it in the kitchen? Or I could put it on the outside of the garage.
     Let me know what you think!
    
     
     

16 comments:

  1. It's a corn sheller! My Mom and Dad have Grandpa's old one setting at the farm. You take field corn after it's dried and put the cob down in the chute and turn the handle and it shells the corn off! My parents and grandparents grew their own corn, then had it stoneground at a mill in southern Missouri for cornmeal. It was superior in flavor and worth the extra effort. We live 11 miles from War Eagle Mill and they do all the work for me now, I can even buy it locally at my Walmart here in Arkansas. Log onto wareaglemill.com and see all their stoneground products!

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  2. I cheated and Googled it.
    But Joycee described it the best.

    What a find!

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  3. I cheated too. ..and looked to see what your clever commenters would say. Beautiful piece and it should look perfect hanging in a cabin kitchen.

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  4. What a great old find. I would have had no idea but it seems you can't fool the rest of your readers. I'm anxious to see what becomes of it. It looks really heavy.

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  5. That is a great find! I would have guessed a bean sheller but then, I'm not a farm girl :-) I would never have known it was for corn and it must have been a great time saving invention back in the day. It would look great in your kitchen!

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  6. Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday. I'm looking forward to spending some time going through your blog. I saw the bear entry and I'm most intrigued and an teeny bit afraid. Have a lovely Tuesday!

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  7. You can tell what's on my mind...the first glance at it, I said..."oh that's a coffee grinder..hahahaha! Then I clicked on it for more information to go to Google to look for you and saw the sheller and said "wow" that would be handy if you had a bunch of hazelnuts...you can tell I'm not one of those famous Farmgirl's from blog land!!! Then I reminded myself how many times I have gone to Google and done the research and got all excited about giving the person the answer only to go to the comments and see a whole slew of people who actually knew it right away, so...I went to the comments and found the very smart people 'before' I did the study..Ha! xo

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  8. Thanks for visiting my blog today. I looked back a bit at your pics...love the shots of the bear. I am in NJ and we have black bear in the neighborhood. I posted pics of one walking down the street in front of our house recently. People are often surprised to read about the wildlife in NJ-most think of interstate highways and smog when they hear NJ. Or Snookie. Here's the link if you want to see it...I wasn't standing as close as you appear to be : )

    http://joyce-fromthissideofthepond.blogspot.com/2011/06/black-bear-black-bear-what-do-you-see.html

    Adorable little red head in your pictures...I am married to a red head but have blonde children. I am hoping for a red headed grandchild one day!

    Enjoy your day!

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  9. I had no idea what it was, so I cheated and read the other comments! My grandfather actually invented the "corn stalker", but didn't take the time or money to patent it.
    Thanks for stopping by! I love the pictures around your house from the other posts. It looks absolutely beautiful where you are, even with the bear lurking around!
    Your grandson is adorable; I'm sure you enjoy him immensely!

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  10. Oh my grandparents had this...I remember hearing sheller also, but don't remember what...I want to say corn but you don't shell corn??? Oh I am becoming more and more a city girl!!!

    Oh mounted in the kitchen would be great...what a treasure...I am sure it is heavy though

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  11. What a treasure! No point in me trying to guess;o) all your lovely commenters have done the guessing for me!

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  12. My first thought was a corn sheller...only because I've seen something similar at Heritage Park-- when they held the Historical Days Event there.
    But now I'm not so sure.
    I'll read the comments and see what others are thinking! Pat

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  13. I have to confess, I googled it, too. I did have a hunch that it was something to do with hulling/shuking because of the large holes in the back. Great piece!!!

    xo

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  14. Corn shellers! They work for taking the hull off of Missouri black Walnuts too!
    Hey thanks for stopping by my blog. Come anytime.
    We were both born and raised in Jefferson City, well in the country, the mailing address is Jeff City.
    We are only 35 minutes from Osage Beach.
    We live at Osage Bluff now (too small for a post office) but we are on the banks of the Osage River, which comes out of the Lake of the
    Ozarks.
    Where were you born?
    Patti

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  15. Oh boy. I am late to the guessing game aren't I?! :o) Corn huh?! I am new farm girl, just moved to the country 5 years ago and some sweet locals have taken me under the wings. So far the only thing I have learned how to do with corn is cream it. :o) And girl ... that is some delicious stuff! :o)

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  16. I believe this is what I was using to shell corn at our living history museum. That was about 10 years ago, though! It was fun! Of course, if I had to use it for more than just play, it would get tiring after awhile!

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All of your comments are read and much appreciated.
You are dear and lovely friends!