Dear Lee,

We can’t believe the number of letters we received from readers who want to help solve the mystery of the Collector’s Gallery “what’s-it” in our March issue. Many own their own version of the tool and sent photographs, so now we know that it was made in several different styles, perhaps by different companies, although none are marked. Some have one crosspiece; others, two. The spiral rods are longer on some. All are iron with a brass band holding the rods to the wooden handle. About half have a burnt spot near the end of the wooden handle.

“It’s a meat tenderizer” was the answer given by the most readers. We already knew it was pictured and identified as a tenderizer in an old kitchen book, so we tried using it to pound a piece of meat. Unless you are very careful, you will tenderize your knuckles more than the meat. A good tenderizer has the handle at an angle so your hand won’t hit the table. Other suggestions: a hair curler, yarn winder, yarn threader for a rug loom, cream whipper, wool carder, paint stirrer, plaster mixer, a tool that could be inserted into meat to cook it faster, or a kitchen utensil that scored icing on a cake, stirred maple syrup, or pulled taffy. We lean toward the taffy puller. Several readers said they remembered Mother using it that way. She would heat the iron part so the taffy wouldn’t harden, then thread the strands of taffy into the open spaces. Two people and two pullers were needed to make a big batch. The next best answer, we think, is that the tool was a mixer for thick concoctions like plaster or maple syrup. But we can’t figure out why so many of the handles are burned. We’ll keep looking and asking.