Sorry this topic seems to have died a little, I don't believe she was a member of a secret agency! I can't find a use for it still!
This kind works inside the kiln, so you see they look alike, just no handle.
The suggestion wasn't for something that would stay in the kiln. It was for something to move plates that had just been fired.the tool in question appears to be aluminum - it would not take the heat in a ceramic kiln....
could be a tool used to make the ceramic support blocks - the are very high temp clay - I wonder if the run-of-the-mill kiln could fire the support blocks to a high enough temp?
My guess is that it is a tool to mark the top of parker house rolls or something like that. Pottery tools DO NOT belong in a kitchen drawer : )
I hadn't thought of that, the sagging. I guess the supports are made of clay with a high melting point. But, there must be lots of clay that doesn't melt at kiln temps or we wouldn't have any pottery.....It's not like clay melts at high kiln temps.
uhmmm. some exceptions apply.
I used to wander about the countryside specifically looking for clay deposits whenceupon I would "dig and refine my own clay"
yes, run-of-the-mill kilns can/will get to temps that will "melt" clay - depends on the clay. donwanna' talk about the sagged/collapsed pieces I've pulled out of the kiln....
the usual kiln temperature 'indicator' one makes from stepped grades/temp ceramic "cones" - one watches as cones "melt" aka "sag" thus indicating 'it's time to unplug the kiln'
'rollin' yer own' clay means one has nadda clue as to how high a temp to fire - without a few 'test runs.' nothing like digging out 200-300 pounds of clay, cleaning it up (not a simple&fast task) only to learn it can't be fired high enough to fuse into ceramic before physically failing the 'I've fallen down and I can't stand up under this heat'
Darn the luck.
When I saw this thread bumped I had hoped someone had solved the mystery.
Oh well, Someday we'll find out what it is.
I was hoping that this mystery was solved, too.
I don't know if the OP is still here or not, but there is a FB page I follow called "Dusty Old Thing". People post pics of antiques and unidentifiable finds looking for help on it's history. Maybe if Step posted the pic on that page, there might be someone there who knows what it is. Here's the link.
https://www.facebook.com/DustyOldThing
Hmmm...I wonder if they could identify Shrek???