Asked on Mar 26, 2012
Does anyone know what this is?
+347
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!
Looks like ice tongs. They use that to pick up Big Blocks of ice. Remember the old Ice House
Ice tongs for picking up big blocks of ice
Before refrigeration, big blocks of ice would be delivered to your house to put in a big metal refrigerator type box, or concrete ice cellars...the delivery man would use these ice tongs/picks to pick the ice off the truck and carry into your cold storage area. My great grandparents had an above ground cold house where blocks of ice kept perishables cold.
It appears to be tongs that an ice delivery service used to deliver the ice for our 1940's icebox. The block of ice would sit under the icebox to keep it cold. He ice man would grab the ice between the two pointed ends and then carry inside holding it with the one hand with the oblong loop. My gosh that takes me back more than 60 years.
Ice blocks,
It was used to pick up a block of ice.
Used for Ice Blocks. Looks great for the paper towels. Nice piece.
It's for picking up logs to put in your fireplace. Sometimes comes with fireplace accessories .
Ice pic
I meant Ice block picker upper
It is an ice pick.
Ice tongs
I've tongs for when they had blocks of ice for non electric refrigerators
Sure do! They are Ice Tongs. I remember, as a little girl, our "Ice man" coming through our house carrying a big block of ice, then putting it in the bottom part of our ice box. They weren't called Refrigerators in those days!
They are large ice tongs, when ice was delivered by the Ice Man. I can't see the bottom but that's what it appears to be. EJL.
these are ice tongs---used by ice houses to move ice around and by the ice delivery man (years gone by) to carry ice from truck to inside the home to the original Ice Box, which worked very well to keep food safe!!!!
Before refrigerators had freezers, the iceman delivered ice to homes in huge blocks and used these tongs to carry the ice. I have a set myself. Have seen pictures where people have hung them on the wall and used as paper towel holders....very cute.
Ice block carrier i’ll Bet
Many, many years ago my father owned an ice factory and that definitely looks like the tools the workers would use to pick up the planks of ice.
Don't know what there called, but they pick up-up bails of hay.
Ice tongs .
Depending upon what size it is, it's either for picking up blocks of ice or for bales of hay. It's old.
defiantly is ice tongs !!
Ice tongs! I remember the ice man coming to our house with a new block of ice when I was 5 years old. We never locked a door, so he always came in the kitchen door, and you never knew when he would appear! Can you imagine that now?
I can't believe that no one out there knows what this is
it is the tongs that were made to carry blocks of ice
back when the big cube of ice kept everything in the fridge cold
they are ice tongs
see it does pay to be old sometime
they are for carrying blocks of ice they are ice tongs
they use to use them to carry blocks of ice for refrigeration
children (boys that is) used to get chips of ice from the blocks; courtesy of the nice ice man. House wives would hang cardboard (pre printed) signs in their front door windows saying how many lbs they wanted. A different amount on each of the four sides of the sign. In the house we own, the original owner (born in my bedroom in 1908) told me that where our d.w. is now, once stood the ice box and the ice man could fill it from an opening outside.
They're 'ice tongs'. A hundred years ago 'ice boxes', the fore runners of refrigerators, used a block of ice to keep things cold. The ice was delivered to your door. The guy would throw a piece of leather over his back, use the ice tongs to throw the ice block up on his back and deliver it to your apartment.
Yep, ice tonges! I’ve been using a pair for a paper towel holder for manY years. Love to take antique pieces & use them for something entirely different than their original use!
Looks like Ice tongs.......in the old day, Ice house would deliver ice to homes and this is how they carried the block of ice..............kinda hard to tell how big they are in a picture...
have not seen them foe many years. The ice man used then to get ice. Out of the truck.
tongs to carry blocks of ice, they must be very old. before the frig. there were ice boxes, blocks of ice were delivered to your home carried in on tongs and placed in your Ice box. could be wrong but when i saw them thats what crossed my mind.
That looks like the tool they used to pick up square chunks of ice to put in refrigerator to keep it cold before they had refrigeration like we do today. The Iceman used used to come around in a truck to deliver the ice. And I believe the ice chunks were cut out of the rivers and streams when they froze over.
dry ice or salt block grabber/holder
is it what they used for ice blocks when ice was delivered?
Probably a new piece made to look like the old tongs used years ago when people had blocks of ice delivered to their homes. I had one I bought that was a paper towel holder. Kind of cool!
look like ice tongs
Ice block tongs. I have one too and have seen them turned right-side up and hung or suspended for paper towel holders.
They used those to move blocks of ice back in the old ice plants . There was one near my house.
These can be ice tong, for the big blocks of ice. Or, wood tongs, for grabbing a hunk of wood to throw into the fire place.
You can do so many neat hinging things with them now.
tonges for large blocks of ice
These are vintage (or reproduction) ice tongs. Often used as a paper towel holder.
Ice tongs! Yes! ...and I think your paper towel use is very clever!
Caring ice blocks , before we had fridges
it is used to pick up large cubes of ice - like for old time refrigerators
This is for leading cattle around by the snout. Not very pretty used like scissors, how ever you close them by opening the handles.
It was used to carry a block of ice.
Looks like a tool for lifting ice blocks. In the old days the ice man delivered blocks of ice for ice boxes. Pre refrigerators
looks like a turn of a century ice block carrier..
It was used to pick up big blocks of ice back in the day...
Almost everyone knew the answer but I was terrified of it at first. Haha. I thought it could be a torture equipment back in the day (well maybe for ice blocks, yeah?). But that's a very creative way to repurpose it! Kudos!
It is an ice pick to pick up and move blocks of ice.
ice tongs used to carry large blocks of ice in the 30s and40s
It was used to pick up blocks of ice
blocked Ice tongs
Ice tongs
Picks up ice blocks from the past
Ice block carrier.
ice tongs
An block of ice picker upper
Looks like it’s for grabbing and carrying blocks of ice.
pick up logs? ? ? ? ?
THIS IS A TOOL USED TO TRANSFER. LARGE BLOCKS OF ICE FROM ICE TRUCK TO ICE HOUSE/HOUSE
in old days it picks up ice blocks
Ice block grabber
It picks up ice chunks that are cut into cubes in frozen ponds or lakes
Looks like a vintage ice grabber
Hay bail grabber
ice block lift tool.
ice block lift tool.
Is it an ice tong.? Used before fridges to move ice into ice boxes.
Ice tongs for. Lifting large blocks of ice. I found a pair in 'm my 107 year old house and kept them just because!!