Special pliers?

[trucmech]

This tool was found in the dirt on a farm site. It looks like a pliers but it is specialized. My first thought was a tool to mold with. It has round depressions on each jaw, about 3/4 inch across. The jaws do not come together all the way. I have been soaking it and finally got it to open. Any ideas on use?

 

[mike1111]

hog ringers

 

[sd pete]

Thats my guess too. A pic would be nice.

 

[fixerupper]

Yep. I'd like to blame some partial hearing loss on using one of those while the sow is singing in my ears. Jim

 

[Brian Dan]

With out seeing it, might be a water pump pliers.
Were used to remove the snap rings on heater hoses.

 

[trucmech]

Sorry I tried but did nto get pic on last night. will try today.

 

[Ky. Hauler]

Ahhh, the ETD knibulator pin plier. Quite rare.

 

[PJH]

I agree - hog ringer. I can see it without a picture. I find them laying everywhere. We must have had a dozen pairs, some fancy spring loaded ones with a limiting screw, some plain, seat-of-the-pants type that you skweze 'til you're satisfied (not the hog). Ringing, castrating, tusk busting. Ah, the memories. I've pritnear forgot what a hog smells like.

Also used to install seat covers in old cars, and tags on equipment.

 

[Ky. Hauler]

Boy, that brings back memories. I used to "cut" hogs. Used a cable loop to get them around the upper snout and then slice away. Sometimes I cut to deep and used a ribbon like suture to sew them up. Did they mind? No, they went straight back to eating. Why do hog lots smell like sulpher?

 

[PJH]

When I was in high school, we had an old deacon in our church that would hire me and a friend to help him cut his hogs. He always waited 'til they weighed about 125 pounds before he called us. His hog lot had a shallow pond in it, and those hogs were all muddy and slippery, but we'd catch them and rassel them to the ground and hold them while he did the honors. Boy, what a mess. Mom would make me strip off nekid in the yard, then hose off myself and my clothes before I came in the house. I always told the old guy to call me when the pigs were a couple weeks old and I'd help him for free, but he said he loved to watch the fight.

 

[Anonymous-0]

"Why do hog lots smell like sulpher?"

In pigs, microbial conversion of manure is done in both the large intestine and their excrement. The feces and bedding all give off volatile compounds. Manure is mainly composed of undigested dietary residue, bodily secretions, bacteria cells, and their metabolic remains. In a swine’s large intestine and in the feces, protein that is ingested is broken down by microbes, and the remnants of this reaction are largely responsible for the odor causing particles. If you feed hogs a lot of protein, more than they need, more sulfur-containing groups are being excreted. Compounds like skatole, responsible for the unpleasant odor in male pigs, also known as boar taint, are produced by the breakdown of indoles. Amylase is an enzyme that is released into the pig intestine to aid in the breakdown of starches. Since this facilitated process exists, more protein is passed through the intestine which results in more microorganisms, producing more odorous compounds.

Cattle, on the other hand, have a fecal composition that contains lower amounts of protein and a higher percentage of starch. Cattle’s fibrous diet... dictates a lower need for amylase in the small intestine. The microorganisms found in the cattle manure will harvest the starch as their main source of food instead of protein, and as a consequence, produce differing compounds than swine, usually considered less offensive.

 

[JerryD]