When I first came across this interesting item at a church sale and had no idea what it was and neither did the church ladies, I carried it around for months in my knitting bag and asked anyone and everyone I thought might have an idea of its use.
Knitters, weavers, crocheters, tatters, spinners, fibre artists etc. were asked. I got many opinions but nothing definite and nothing from a follow-up on the leads.
So I donated it back to the thrift shop. It sat for weeks in the sewing section. It obviously was not a 'hot item'.
Last week I bought it back again. And did another query stroll of staff and customers.
One new suggestion was – for lace making! That had not been considered. I asked Google to search for "someone, please, who knows what the heck kind of tools are used in making lace" and then remembered I could click on Images also. Well, of course, in less than .17 of a second I had six zillion sites to look at. I looked at them all some of them. I did not see anything at all like this. I sent the photo to a lace museum asking for identification. No reply.
Somebody, somewhere has to know what it is. And how to use it. ???????