Asked on Mar 26, 2012
Does anyone know what this is?
+346
Just turn them upside down and open them, then insert a roll of paper towel and tada, you have yourself a brand new paper towel holder that is not only beautiful, but has history and meaning!
Clever way to re-purpose it.
Ice tongs from not so long ago.
I have a pair and they are just sitting on my fireplace with some old cookware . I like the paper towel holder idea. Thanks.
...another creative use for these would be for local highway departments to situate and harness a worker in the back of their pick-up truck and use these tongs to snatch raccoons and possums that unfortunately got hit - all while the pick-up drive maintains a steady and safe speed. For other animals like very large deer this would not be effective. Shovels would still be needed for those that were run-over multiple times.
Tongs for blocks of ice
That size most definitely are/were used in ice
boxs. For you younger readers, cold storage wasn't always a fridge and there was a man that delivered ice to your home Thank God for kelvinators
I have 2 of them as paper towel hangers. I mounted them with cup hooks, and use a piece of pvc pipe or metal rod so the towels roll freely.
Totally agree....Ice tongs.
bubble gum" bubble" measure. LOL
cube ice carrier
back in the old days they were used to put blocks of ice in the top of an "ice" box, aka refrigerator
Yup,ice tongs,my dad was the Ice Man for many years.
Ice tongs,for before electric refrigerators,they used to deliver ice blocks to the houses once or twice a week.
what ever you use them for please dont get rid of them you have a piece of history
Ice tongs! I hail from the northeast and these were used when the river was frozen during "cutting ice" season. The tongs were used to carry big blocks of the ice to be used for refrigeration many years ago.
Ice tongs
I can go back farther in history......when you lived out in the country, a distance from the ice plant you would make that your last stop before you started home. 100# block would be placed on the bumper of the old car, wrapped and covered in blankets and away you would hurry home before tooooooo much melted. Then you used the ice tings to put in the ice box.
Back before there were refrigerators, there were ice boxes. They were generally oak. The top opened and a block of ice was placed inside the tin-lined container. Below this was the part which held your items which needed to be kept cool. There was a sign you placed in your front window with the upper number being the number of pounds of ice you needed for the iceman to bring. These tongs opened so the "teeth" held the block of ice which he delivered.
The Tongs are Antique Cast Iron ice Tongs. If for some reason you decide that you do not want them, I am sure that you can sell the tongs to someone whom would enjoy having them in their home.
They truly are a piece of History and are well worth keeping.
I wish that I had them!!!
Those are Ice tongs. Blocks of ice were delivered to each house to keep food from going bad. Later they were put into refrigerators. that was before electricity was use to keep food cold. Era 1900 or so.
Ice tongs. Saw some recently at an auction. They went for somewhere around $60
I recognized something from my childhood and yep I was right. A must use item so nice you might paint it a color you really like in your kitchen.
Yep they are ice tongs. I was born and raised in SW Virginia I was 12 years old before I knew there was such a thing as refrigerators lol. I have 2 sets of these, one set was my grand parents and the other was my parents. We always hithed old John to the wagon and went to the ice plant on Saturdays to get ice for the week. We also had a spring house we kept milk cream and butter in. One pair of these hangs on my kitchen wall along with my grandmothers washboard and her homemade cooking utensils.
I think those are ice tongs for use with literally an ice box.
It might be worth something! I would check online :)
To pick up ice blocks I believe
Tongs to pick up large blocks of ice. Back in the '50's our neighbor still had an ice box and the ice man would come once a week to deliver blocks to her. In the summer, we neighbor kids would stand around the ice truck and he'd throw off some big ice chips for us to suck on for relief from the sweltering Philly heat.
Used back before refrigeration to lift and carry blocks of ice to put in the "home" ice chest.
Yep sure remeber them the ice truck would come by once a week and us kids would go get up in the truck when the man took the ice in the house and we would get chips of ice , I still have the gravel in my knee when I fell out lol I think I was about 5 years old 1941 or 42
ice picks for very big block pieces of ice, used in old fridges that sat outside the homes as they bought there groceries daily in those days.
That was used to grab blocks of ice. It's an antique. Like above responses. Turn it upside down and you got a paper towel holder!....👍👍👍
I grew up in Cleveland in the 30's and 40's. The Ice was collected in the winter on the shores of Lake Erie and stored in the Ice Factory along Lake Shore Blvd. We didn't have a refrigerator until the early 1940's. Also, as a side note, salt blocks were also gathered from Lake Erie and used for Cow licks on the farms. I remember taking some to our friends on a farm in Mt Galid. Boy does this take me back to a happy time.
Oops showing my age . It's an ice pick for chucks of ice from a truck for freezers which were called boxes hence the name. If not sharp any more hang from tree I use memory wire(forbracelets & necklaces jewelry in aisle) just hook end and bead to end of lenght you desired . Bend end into hook attach large spacers from hard ware store to each wire hung . Make sure ends are closed. Weight of spacers will weigh down memory wire. Must use memory wire cutter or stringcutter from husband , wire will ruin any other wire cutters
It's tongs for picking up ice blocks
Tongs to pick up blocks of ice. I see you have already been told this
Ice tongs---ah yes--childhood memories .........
It's the ice tongs that Moe used to grab Curly.
Ice tongs - I have one just like it and had it hanging on the wall in the basement at one time. I have seen people use them as paper towel holders and they looked great. Would leave it black as it other colors would take away from historic meaning of the item.
Well they are about 60+ years old.....ice tongs. Nice find.
the are ice tongs, they were used for moving ice blocks. My grandmother use to tell me about them cutting ice from the river in the winter and using these to carry and move the ice around. She had a couple of sets of them in her home. They would cut the ice in the winter and store it in special designed "barns" and people would use the ice in their ice boxes (prior to the invention of the modern refrigerator)
One more comment. We burn wood and these are used to wrangle wood, pick up logs, move it...Helps keep fingers from being crushed, etc
It's a set of tongs, used back in the days when refrigeration didn't use Freon or whatever, food was kept fresh with the cool of the ice. Ice boxes, we had one when I was little.
Ice Tongs /Ice men used them in the day to carry Ice when people had ice boxes. I am sure they still use them in Ice houses
They are Ice Tongs. When we were going on a trip we would stop at the Ice House and my Dad would get a block to put in the cooler. I also saw one that had been altered, by a blacksmith, to be used for lumber. The claws were opened up to the correct width and then were welded in that position. Then one of the handles was removed by the blacksmith. You had a very good replica of one of those log grippers, or rollers, what ever they were/are called
it looks very much like what they use to use to carry blocks of ice to the old type of frigs back in the 20's 30's.
antique carrier for blocks of ice when Ice used to be delivered by horse
It is an ice pick! Used to pick up large blocks of ic for your icebox in the day!