18 Odd Objects People Never Would Have Been Able To Identify If The Internet Hadn't Come To The Rescue
I may not know everything about how the world works, but I know one thing for sure: humans will forever be finding weird little thingamabobs they can't identify and need help from others to figure it out. Lucky for us, we have the kind souls over at r/whatisthisthing to assist. Here are 18 recent finds from the sub and what they turned out to be:
1.This 4-inch long piece of metal attached to a small strap:
"This is what it’s from: a bar bell."
2.This paddle with a small embedded magnet and some cut-out holes bought at a thrift store:
"It's an aid to tying fishing flies. In a post from 'Cover Fly Tying' on Facebook on August 28, 2016, the text translates as: 'Tyers' Butler: The butler of the striker! The best way to keep your tying tools organized, within reach, and out of the way! No more wasted time looking for tools, gaining effectiveness when we do those 30 minutes to tie some flies!! Cover Fly Tying - Tying Tools and Materials. Inbox for inquiries!' Here's their picture of it."
"Yep, that’s a fly-tying tool holder. The magnet is for holding hooks. The larger hole is for a bobbin, and the two smaller holes are for scissors. You keep your best one for thread and one for materials. The small holes are for whip finishers, dubbing needles, hitch tools, and the like. It’s a useful thing; I’m forever losing my smaller tools."
3.This 2-foot by 1-foot hinged metal cabinet built into the wall in someone's home between their kitchen and bedroom:
"Looks like one of these."
"Yep — it's a shoe care cabinet. My great-aunt called hers a polishing stand.
The fancypants '40s and '50s apartments my great grandma and her friends lived in also had ironing board cabinets, but they were taller, like 30-50 inches tall, and the boards were all big enough to iron a shirt. A leg flopped out under the board, but I only remember one having space to store an iron in. My grandfather made his up like a horse for me on Halloween when I was little, with a mop dyed brown for a mane and a cardboard saddle for my terrible cowboy costume photo."
4.This family heirloom ceramic, handled vase with floral decor and a hole in the bottom:
u/blue_jay_jay / Via reddit.com
"Looks like a condensed milk holder to me. The hole in the bottom is so you can poke the can up without making a huge mess."
"I thought this video posted in [a related] thread was pretty informative."
5.This black plastic and wire item with measurements on it that someone found in the backseat of their car:
u/butn0elephants / Via reddit.com
"Looks like a hemming tool for a dressmaker's mannequin. The wire hook would be connected to the pole/stand the mannequin is on, the measurement sets the width of the hem, and the clamp is to hold the fabric and pin it at the correct length."
The original poster, u/butn0elephants, then replied, "Solved! This is 100% it! You are amazing! I did take my sister to pick up a dressmaker mannequin, and it must have fallen off! She didn't even know it was supposed to have one!"
6.This one-foot long, wand-shaped item with a carved ivory handle and metal tip:
7.These three rows of purple dots on the underside of a battery:
"This is the Color Alert feature of Energizer batteries. The blue dye is released when it comes in contact with saliva (although water can also activate it)."
"The blue dye is to help alert parents to whether or not their kid might’ve swallowed it. Button batteries are incredibly dangerous when ingested and can quickly eat a hole in the esophagus, stomach, or wherever it adheres. This can be fatal for kids who can’t tell you they just swallowed one."
8.This set of attached double canisters with screw-top lids found in a parking lot:
"It's a military-issue oil bottle for a Swedish Mauser rifle. One side would hold a solvent for cleaning the gun, the other oil for lubrication."
9.This steel object found in a rural creek bed:
"It's a calf weaner."
When asked how it worked, u/thedominantmr669 explained, "The two ball parts pinch in the nostrils of the calf, and the plate sits in front of their snout. The spikes are crushed in this example, but normally they’d be pointed away from the calf to “stab” the mother making her move away and deny the calf milk from the udder. Modern examples are made with plastic."
10.This spinning wooden square hanging from a cabinet near the stove in someone's new apartment:
"Under cabinet lazy Susan spice organizer. Similar idea to this."
11.This cylindrical wooden container someone found in the closet of their newly purchased house:
u/STONETHROWER26 / Via reddit.com
"It's a bentwood cheese box for a large round of cheese. Here's an example."
12.This metal wire shaped into a circle with hooks on each end:
"It is a UHF antenna that attaches to the back of old televisions. The spring-like hinges allow changing the orientation for best reception."
13.This cast iron, cranked device originally from France:
u/LoveThatCraft / Via reddit.com
"It’s an old bottle washer, or rince bouteilles ancien in French. I found the same one for sale on this website. I believe there is supposed to be a rod that screws into it with metal bristles. I also found one that looks similar to this, that is only used for wine. Which would make sense coming from Paris."
14.This collapsible metal tube someone received in a survivalist advent calendar:
"It's a pocket bellow, for blowing air at fires."
15.This brass and steel item with its own carrying case:
16.This brass measuring device with a removable shaft:
u/lotsacrudoutthere / Via reddit.com
"I have a similar one; it's for measuring distance on a map."
"That is indeed what it's used for. It's called an opisometer or a chartometer. I used one in a land navigation course."
17.This ceramic ball covered in ash found with fireplace tools:
"Cape Cod Firestarter. It would be soaked in oil and live in a pot with a tight-fitting lid."
18.And finally, this colorful pen-sized item with a removable, double-ended tip:
u/archbido / Via reddit.com
"It’s for scratching off lottery tickets."
If you enjoyed looking at all these interesting objects, check out some other items identified by the internet here:
16 Things People Found And Never Would Have Been Able To Identify Without The Help Of The Internet
18 Weird Things People Found That They Were Only Able To Identify With The Help Of The Internet
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.
