Steel Fingernails (some kind of tool)

Garry Edwards

Garry Edwards

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The small horse rescue/rehoming charity that I'm involved with buys and sells to raise funds, and we've come across these, which are with something else that came in - but we have no idea what they are, so if anyone could help please . . .
fingernail_1.jpg
fingernail_2_red.jpg
They're in plastic bags and boxes marked "Steel Fingernails". The face side and edges are machined, they are obviously some kind of cutting tool and I'm guessing that they're for wood.
Length at longest point: 34mm
Width at longest point: 30mm
 
Might they be some kind of steel collet?

– MED Engineering Ltd MED 9/32" STEEL COLLET SET - Med Engineering

<p>Simply the best 9/32-inch standard stem valve collets available, CNC machined from EN24T steel. The design features a precision taper, bead radius and bore, and when used with our steel valve retainers the spring heights can be maintained within 0.003-
www.med-engineering.co.uk www.med-engineering.co.uk
 
And a good thought, but the edges seem to be machined to cut - maybe not obvious from my top-quality Samsung phone photos - and I can't think of any reason why collets would be machined that way.
 
could be a collet for drill bits.
 
It looks like they have been machined from a piece of stainless steel tube, think the sort of thing used for handrails etc. You can see the inner surface is rough which is the natural surface finish from the manufacturing processes used to make seamless tube while the outside has been brushed. If you look at the image below you can see how these items came from this type of tube.

MAIN_STAINLESS_STEEL_PIPE.jpg


Maybe the are exactly what they say they are, steel fingernails. Was the person who dropped them off into cosplay, maybe fancied themselves at the next cat woman?
 
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if you arrange them in a circle, how many make a complete circumference i.e. 3 or 4 for a collet or drill head set.

PS although I note from the pictures you might only have 2 :thinking: so possibly only scrap metal if not a set???
 
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Box Brownie said:
if you arrange them in a circle, how many make a complete circumference i.e. 3 or 4 for a collet or drill head set.

PS although I note from the pictures you might only have 2 :thinking: so possibly only scrap metal if not a set???
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Good point. I only have 2 with me, brought back to photograph and ask the collective expertise on TP, but there's another 998 or thereabouts that I left behind . . . 3 would make a circle, so drill bit collets sounds plausible.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Good point. I only have 2 with me, brought back to photograph and ask the collective expertise on TP, but there's another 998 or thereabouts that I left behind . . . 3 would make a circle, so drill bit collets sounds plausible.
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IMO you would be hard pushed to sell them 'for what they are/might be'!

Best bet might be to weigh them and look at scrap steel prices?
 
They don't look like wood cutting tools. I'm not seeing a sharp edge on any plane, so they'd just tear up the wood if scraped across it. :thinking:
 
The shear number (approx. 1000 off)?perhaps implies their usage in a 'wearing' situation (are the bags labelled with hand written labels or something more stockroom like i.e. a computer printed adhesive label?)

Just thinking outside the box :LOL: if they are perhaps designed to be fitted into a cutting head tool ~ think, on a way larger scale, the replacement teeth for an excavator bucket or a mole boring machine???

I return to my point that unless a potential buyer knows what they are they would difficult to sell on = scrap value sale!
 
Tori_T said:
They don't look like wood cutting tools. I'm not seeing a sharp edge on any plane, so they'd just tear up the wood if scraped across it. :thinking:
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Poor phone pics and shown here larger than lifesize - but the edges are pretty sharp, and they're graduated too, with the angles changing. I agree that they wouldn't work as a scraping tool, but it seems to me that they would work as a cutting tool. All a bit of a mystery . . .

I asked my youngest son about them last night, he's a highly-skilled agricultural mechanic who often has to fabricate parts, so is very much at home on lathes, and he doesn't have a clue about them - he says that they don't look like collets to him.
 
I'm wondering if they're offcuts from something. If viewed from the side, it looks like they've been cut with a fine bandsaw or similar (judging by the posted shots.)
 
I've heard of steel (or metallic) fingernails being used for cosmetic purposes. could they be for that?
 
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They are the shape of the end of a wood turning spindle gouge, perhaps someone had them a shaft of some kind that they could be attached to as replacements.
Though they would need sharpening.

I could see them having a cutter function on a copy lathe.
 
boyfalldown said:
I've heard of steel (or metallic) fingernails being used for cosmetic purposes. could they be for that?
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It would need people who have massive hands:)
Terrywoodenpic said:
They are the shape of the end of a wood turning spindle gouge, perhaps someone had them a shaft of some kind that they could be attached to as replacements.
Though they would need sharpening.

I could see them having a cutter function on a copy lathe.
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I think that's very plausible, I used to enjoy woodturning in the past, and the angle looks about right to me.
 
boyfalldown said:
I did wonder when you said 30mm across :D ........but stranger things have happened(can you tell I have a teenage daughter)
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I've had two of those, but fortunately they grew up:)
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
They are the shape of the end of a wood turning spindle gouge, perhaps someone had them a shaft of some kind that they could be attached to as replacements.
Though they would need sharpening.

I could see them having a cutter function on a copy lathe.
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Based on your suggestion, I've been able to look in the right places, and you're right, they're replacement cutting tools for spindle gouges, so will be useful to the right person and we'll be able to get some money for them to support our charity.

Many thanks Terry, and to everyone else who made suggestions.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Based on your suggestion, I've been able to look in the right places, and you're right, they're replacement cutting tools for spindle gouges, so will be useful to the right person and we'll be able to get some money for them to support our charity.

Many thanks Terry, and to everyone else who made suggestions.
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So many though. Maybe from some sort of factory or commercial setting rather than a ne man band or hobbyist?
 
woof woof said:
So many though. Maybe from some sort of factory or commercial setting rather than a ne man band or hobbyist?
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Yes, bound to be.
We buy a lot of stuff at auctions (currently online because of the pandemic), sometimes for our own use but mainly to re-sell, which is largely how we fund our charity. Often, specialist items like these attract no bids at all and the auctioneer, needing to get rid of them, will knock them down for a silly low price (typically £1) to a regular bidder like us, and sometimes we get lucky.
 
What other items were in the same lot? That might help guide the guesses
 
It would be interesting to know what they are made of, as tips for spindle gouges it must be something special to be worth the bother. I expect they were braised to U profile channel of a basic steel, for use.

Did you find out who made them?
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
It would be interesting to know what they are made of, as tips for spindle gouges it must be something special to be worth the bother. I expect they were braised to U profile channel of a basic steel, for use.

Did you find out who made them?
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They are stainless steel. Not a grade you would normally choose for tools I expect. Maybe that's why there are so many, they don't last long.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
They are stainless steel. Not a grade you would normally choose for tools I expect. Maybe that's why there are so many, they don't last long.
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Standard Stainless steels. take a very poor edge and would not be worth the effort to use as tips.
Highspeed steel holds its temper and edge well but is not as sharp as Carbon steel.
Carbide tips hold their edge very well indeed, even at very high speeds and tough abrasive materials but do not provide as fine a cut as carbon steel.

Most tool tips are either Carbide or special steels.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
Standard Stainless steels. take a very poor edge and would not be worth the effort to use as tips.
Highspeed steel holds its temper and edge well but is not as sharp as Carbon steel.
Carbide tips hold their edge very well indeed, even at very high speeds and tough abrasive materials but do not provide as fine a cut as carbon steel.

Most tool tips are either Carbide or special steels.
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Very true, which is why I am not 100% convinced that they are any kind of tooling.
If they are ~30mm across the base and three of them make a complete circle, then that makes the tube diameter they were cut from about 50mm, added to that the tube has a brushed finish it looks to be like something often used as an architectural handrail, which is normally a 304 or 316 grade. Maybe they were made by someone who doesn't know much about what they were making, or maybe they are something else entirely?

Also at the base they have a little upturn on each corner, that would serve no purpose as any kind of cutting tool and just adds unnecessary machining.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
Very true, which is why I am not 100% convinced that they are any kind of tooling.
If they are ~30mm across the base and three of them make a complete circle, then that makes the tube diameter they were cut from about 50mm, added to that the tube has a brushed finish it looks to be like something often used as an architectural handrail, which is normally a 304 or 316 grade. Maybe they were made by someone who doesn't know much about what they were making, or maybe they are something else entirely?

Also at the base they have a little upturn on each corner, that would serve no purpose as any kind of cutting tool and just adds unnecessary machining.
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The upturn could be uses to register on to the supporting shaft.
 
I can't see them being for a spindle gouge. How would they be secured? I certainly wouldn't use a spindle gouge that had a "plugin tip" far too dangerous.

The only turning tools I have seen that have changeable tip are used for offset cutting. Not for a tool that gets "plunged" into the wood.
 
munch said:
I can't see them being for a spindle gouge. How would they be secured? I certainly wouldn't use a spindle gouge that had a "plugin tip" far too dangerous.

The only turning tools I have seen that have changeable tip are used for offset cutting. Not for a tool that gets "plunged" into the wood.
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I have been wood turning for the past 50 years and I have seen a steady rise I the use of tipped tools. As is the case with metal turning.
Nothing surprises me today. I do very little scraping and prefer cutting tools and shear cutting to scraping, as it gives a virtually polished Surface directly from the tool.

As these tips show no way of fixing to a shaft, I would suspect that they are intended to be braised on, if they are high-speed steel that would not cause softening. Which takes only a few moments to do.
 
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Terrywoodenpic said:
I have been wood turning for the past 50 years and I have seen a steady rise I the use of tipped tools. As is the case with metal turning.
Nothing surprises me today. I do very little scraping and prefer cutting tools and shear cutting to scraping, as it gives a virtually polished Surface directly from the tool.

As these tips show no way of fixing to a shaft, I would suspect that they are intended to be braised on, if they are high-speed steel that would not cause softening. Which takes only a few moments to do.
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But what do they (braised tips) achieve that, can't be done with a good sharpening system?
 
Graham W said:
Can't help thinking that they're offcuts from some other project...ie scrap.
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Except that they're the perfect shape and have the perfect angled cutting edge for gouging wooden bowls.
And they're in two cardboard boxes and two thickwalled plastic bags each clearly labelled "300 steel fingernails" and "200 steel fingernails" - not many people box and label scrap.

I accept that they're made from stainless steel, which doesn't seem to me to be the ideal material, but presumably it has qualities that make it suitable.
 
munch said:
But what do they (braised tips) achieve that, can't be done with a good sharpening system?
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in my opinion nothing at all, except it allows the use of expensive special materials to be used for the cutter while the shaft can be low cost steel.

However a majority of my turning tools are still carbon steel with the remainder high quality high speed steel. I sill get the best cut from my old carbon steel tools most of which are tempered to be on the hard side.

I have never used carbide tip for wood turning, but I can see that it would be useful for production turning of some tropical hardwoods that contain crystalline mineral deposits.
It would definitely help with the turning of some wood composites.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Except that they're the perfect shape and have the perfect angled cutting edge for gouging wooden bowls.
And they're in two cardboard boxes and two thickwalled plastic bags each clearly labelled "300 steel fingernails" and "200 steel fingernails" - not many people box and label scrap.

I accept that they're made from stainless steel, which doesn't seem to me to be the ideal material, but presumably it has qualities that make it suitable.
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Any way of contacting the manufacturer on the boxes? Or through the auction house?
 
Nod said:
Any way of contacting the manufacturer on the boxes? Or through the auction house?
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No, plain boxes with no maker's name, and the auction house probably got them from a liquidator and wouldn't reveal their customer details anyway.
 
TBH, I reckon they're offcuts and that the "fingernails" tag was added because someone thought they might be useable for something.

Good luck with selling them on - might be worth asking a scrap merchant what they're worth. Anything over cost is profit for the charity.
 
Nod said:
TBH, I reckon they're offcuts and that the "fingernails" tag was added because someone thought they might be useable for something.

Good luck with selling them on - might be worth asking a scrap merchant what they're worth. Anything over cost is profit for the charity.
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I'm pretty convinced that they're woodturning gouge inserts, if I'm wrong and they have no value then there isn't enough weight to weigh them in.
I've left it to SWIMBO, she's good at finding markets, and I'll update this thread when I have a definitive answer.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Except that they're the perfect shape and have the perfect angled cutting edge for gouging wooden bowls.
And they're in two cardboard boxes and two thickwalled plastic bags each clearly labelled "300 steel fingernails" and "200 steel fingernails" - not many people box and label scrap.

I accept that they're made from stainless steel, which doesn't seem to me to be the ideal material, but presumably it has qualities that make it suitable.
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In light of new facts I may wish to re-assess my opinion. :)
 
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