A couple of pliery what's-its

[Plyerman]

I picked up these two tools because they met my main three criteria:
1) Pliery
2) Unusual
3) Cheap!

The seller was asking $5 apiece, but I talked him down to $10 for the pair. The problem is, I don't know what either one of them are. The first one is marked JAMCO and DROP FORGED. It has curved jaws with sharp tips on each end, and hammers on each of the large jaws. I found record of a couple of them having been sold on eBay, with one seller claiming it was for removing hub caps, grease cups, and wheel weights. A different seller claimed the tool was for working on water mains and valves. Not sure which - if either - of these two stories to believe..?

[Plyerman]

The second tool is about 10-1/2" long, and built very thick and heavy duty. It has two sets of jaws, and each jaw has what appears to be a hardened spike inserted into it. There are no markings on the tool. Any idea what either of these tools was intended for?

[amecks]

The alleged grease cup puller...the Snap-On grease cup puller has that same curved handle end although only on one side, not both as yours.  Image from AA.

[bill300d]

I'm pretty sure the first one is a grease cup puller as amecks said.
They have the typical cup graber, hammer to put the cup & hubcap back on, the curved ends of the handles are for pulling the hubcap, and the pointy thing by the cup puller jaw I think is for pulling the cotter pin on the castle nut under the cup.

The look of the second one makes me think grommets

[Plyerman]

Ah okay, that makes sense now on the Jamco tool! I couldn't figure out what all the different functions were, but Bill what you've explained makes perfect sense.


Grommets on the second one though eh? Could be I guess. Hmmmm. Some days I'd like to hop into my time machine and go back and kick these people in the arse who didn't mark their tools with at least a maker's name or a patent date.

[bill300d]

i hear what you are saying about marking tools but then how would you find out about all the other cool stuff out there that you learn about when you research the first one.

If not grommets it must have been something thin that slid in there to punch thru. cloth or sheet metal may be? Were those pins in there sharp at one time?

[Plyerman]

I 'think' the pins are supposed to be sharp. Neither one is now, but someone has attempted to re-grind points onto them in the past. Which would be rather awkward to do without removing them from the jaws. Here is a close up photo. You can see the hole in the jaw opposite the pin.

[Yadda]

Ticket punch for multi tasking train conductors that want to work both sides of the aisle at once?
 

[turnnut]

 my thoughts were also for grease cups.

  the 2nd one, could it be for binding  lead sealers ???  those small ones like on the electric meters, and they used to seal the rail car doors.

[bill300d]

It almost looks like you could make a countersink in sheet metal for a screw or rivet with that.

[Lewill2]

Second set, one jaw pierces up the other jaw pierces down, maybe tin knockers to make pilot holes for sheet metal screws before they made self drilling sheet metal screws??

[Lewill2]

Bob, Did you see this pair of pliers?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Unusual-Antique-Hand-Forged-Curved-Jaw-Pliers-Old-Wrench-Tool/222555818366?_trksid=p2060778.c100290.m3507&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160727114228%26meid%3De596f8892732408d902bba8659c29ee6%26pid%3D100290%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D382133176748

[Plyerman]

It almost looks like you could make a countersink in sheet metal for a screw or rivet with that.

Second set, one jaw pierces up the other jaw pierces down, maybe tin knockers to make pilot holes for sheet metal screws before they made self drilling sheet metal screws??

Best theory I've heard so far. I think I'll go with that, until something better comes along. Thanks guys!

Bob, Did you see this pair of pliers?

I do now! Mmmm, they look lovely.