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This block of weighted wood came to me along with a bunch of other train goodies from a newer, HO running, neighbor that moved away again and didn't have room for taking everything with them.

   Ive never seen one before, but suspect it is a tool for laying ballast as the channel in the block is wedge shapped; basically a funnel.

IMG_20170704_141003IMG_20170704_140921IMG_20170704_140806 

A ballast tool is just a guess. It was glued as a solid block, but it has come apart.

Can you id this?

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Last edited by Rich Melvin
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Thank you folks.

Marty is right; there isnt anything With it to judge size by. Dumb move, lol. 

Not a ruler, but here the size is much easier to judge.

  I had dug around and came up with some loose HO track.

  It seemed to match up near perfectly too; so I guess I have a ballast spreader now (¿?), even if it would take twice as long to use it, since it would be "Half O" .

Or is it N? I think with N track, the ties would actually fit into the funnel tip. Here, with ho, the ties are wider than the channel tips width by about 3/32".    I know it's not rocket science, but I've never used one to know how wide it should be 'ideally', when compared to the track.

IMG_20170707_124919

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  You know, there is a scarred chunk of soft, thick, black belt leather epoxied on at each end that I had at first assumed was a crude repair attempt. Epoxy would be tough to squeeze thin; gravel in the gaps, etc. I dismissed it as irrelevant. IMG_20170704_140834

  Walking past,  I noticed the leather scars again. They are a match to the ho track. Added to work the ballast down with the soft leather dropping below the rail height when under pressure. 

From the depth, condition, and number of the scars, I can tell it was used to clean track too.

  The glue seam failed from a grain splitting warp in a center piece. When hardwood wants to move, joint pressures build fast. Like busting ice cubes out of a plastic tray, the top popped. I think it is done warping, and has no gaps that wont fill when I re-glue it. The top just had no give at all.

5⅝x2¼x2 and 1lb2oz.

 If anyone needs it's yours for the shipping ....once the glue is dry.

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"This block of weighted wood came to me along with a bunch of other train goodies from a newer, HO running, neighbor that moved away again and didn't have room for taking everything with them.

   Ive never seen one before, but suspect it is a tool for laying ballast as the channel in the block is wedge shapped; basically a funnel."

 

As we all know, when we acquire a tool that is designed for one of the Junior Scales, it transforms into an O-scale flatcar load. 

I had missed Rusty's homemade comment.

 The overall manufacturing quality level is that of being factory built. The shoeshine brush joke, was also an offhanded testament to the quality as it has the same type of finish too. The leather was likely added, but even that is a maybe. The track may have wrecked the original edges and they got trimmed..????

If it was homade, someone put a lotta love into it's constrction for what it is. I think it's made pretty to be seen as more than just a "hunk of wood" on the store shelfs. 

 

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