This month's item is known by many names, but it's most commonly called a sickle grinder. Hand-cranked sickle grinders came about in the 1850's and were widely produced by the turn of the century.

While their primary purpose was to sharpen bar sickles on mowers and farm equipment, they quickly evolved. Soon, manufacturers made attachments so that other tools could be sharpened - a sort of "all in one" tool.







Most of the sickle grinders we found online had only a single stone in the center, but we did manage to find a couple with an extra wheel like the one shown in our picture. Check out this one from a 1920 issue of Machinery Journal. The picture our winner sent in identifying this month's item shows another dual-stone sharpener.

It's important to note that our sickle grinder is portable, which makes it easy to transport and use on large items. Normally, there would be two arms on the back, allowing a bar to be slid in to secure the grinder when clamped in place. The portability would have allowed the user to sharpen any part of the blade necessary. To see an example of how it was affixed when in use, click here.

As the market for sickle grinders expanded, stationary pedal-operated grinders became popular, allowing the user to sharpen a wide variety of tools and implements.