Let's Rock

Had some interesting pre-owned finds in the last few weeks, the most gloatable of which (to my mind) is this solid brass rocker blotter.

Hey, that's totally a tool, isn't it? Plus probably also an offensive weapon, owing to its 1lb 11oz weight.

You know me, though. A new old tool through the door, and I'm hitting the interwebs to find out more about it before you can say "History Nerd". Which I duly did. No maker's marks to go on, but despite the more ornate (and frankly, rather nicer) knob and lighter weight, it seemed to me to bear all the hallmarks of these. In particular, the standard size model.

So I cheekily sent off some pics and asked Desk Accessories if it was, indeed, one of theirs. Impressively, I got a reply back in mere hours, and yep, an earlier incarnation of same. Nice. A lot more recent that I had expected when I bought it, but that's not a matter of any concern to us users anyway.

Thus I'm now blotting in high style, with added muscle building courtesy of the sheer weight of brass. Plus it does double duty as a desk toy - reaching out to give it a little nudge to set it rocking every so often is strangely satisfactory.

All rather a relief, as it happens, as I can now quietly retire the wooden knocked-together-in-twenty-minutes "proof of concept" version I had been using. The best that can be said about it is it's a good example of why you want sharp blades in your bandsaw...