What is this tool for?

[imperialbari]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRASS-INSTRUMEN ... 1460553372

[Michael Bush]

Marking the spot where a drill bit goes, deeply enough to hold the bit point (for example to vent valves or add a water key)? (You could chuck a small drill bit itself into it, obviously, but drilling with it would just as obviously be slow slogging.)

[gregsundt]

Any chance it's a handle for soldering?

[Dan Schultz]

I have several small tools similar to it that I use for burnishing in tight spots, removing solder BB's, and just general poking around. Different tips for different things. One tip is like a needle and I use it as a pad @@@@@. The large handle just keeps it from getting lost on the benchtop... which is usually littered with all the tools used on the last job!

[Dan Schultz]

the benchtop... which is usually littered with all the tools used on the last [three-hundred] job[s]!

+1

[iiipopes]

Looks like a really big version of what is called a "pin vise." It's used for anything that requires a sharp point. General poking...

Neat. The 'pin vise' we use in the organ business is more like this:

(mine and my shop's are at least)

We don't use these for sharpening but rather for precisely turning threaded wires that are 0.072" diameter, that are themselves threaded into a compressed fiber disc of .125" thickness, glued to a leather pouch of 0.025" thickness which is glued to the wooden pouch rail.

Ah, yes -- it has been twenty years since I used one of those helping the organ tech restore the organ in the chapel at my undergrad college.

[MartyNeilan]

What is this tool for?

Payment Collection.

[DavidK]

Bloke and TubaTinker "nailed it!"

That is similar to a multi-tool that my father had when we were growing up. It lived in the kitchen drawer.

It has a collet that is compressed by the outer nut or ring. Ours had 3 tips.
Ice pick (closest to this one)
Flat screw driver
Phillips screw driver

You could use that for any operation requiring a small point, but a full handle for better control.
Hand center mark/center punch for drilling
Scraping in tight quarters, maybe to pick out soulder blobs or overrun.
Engraving, But I would expect a more refined tip for that work

[J.c. Sherman]

the benchtop... which is usually littered with all the tools used on the last [three-hundred] job[s]!

+1

+1 grillion!