What might this be?

[JD 4520]

Dad used them on the farm and I forget what for and how.
I know they “slide” open and then grip something.

 

[monkeyduster]

Maybe a wire puller of some sort...

 

[Smokeydog]

Cable puller. Used by telephone company mainly.

 

[workinonit]

I have several of those laying around that dad collected. That's a single use item for sure.

 

[Doorman63]

Cable puller
I have 2 in my truck
The garage door industry uses those quite a bit

 

[CADplans]

If you found it on a farm, they were pulling barbed wire with it.

Some people use them to pull woven wire fence, but, you need several of them,

I have one, it is connected to a sledge hammer handle, hook it to the fence wire, pry around a post.

 

[rgr33]

Yep, use them all the time for wire pulling and fence repair.

 

[Cobailer]

I'm pretty sure that is a cable puller. And as the names state, it is used to pull cables more efficiently. They are pretty used nowadays because I've got multiple people and companies come in the repair shop that I own and ask for them. I currently bought 200 pieced and introduced them into the software database created by Auto Repair Shop Management Software | Autoleap. When people come in and ask for it, I'll know what to give them. Meanwhile, it is funny how many people have seen this instrument in their dad collection but don't really know what they are. In conclusion, I might state that most dads are the same.

 

[ovrszd]

I've had this one for years. Don't remember where I got it. Probably a farm sale.

Fasten a come along to it and you have a fence wire stretcher.

 

[ovrszd]

Here's a more modern version that works great to tighten and shorten fence wire.