Tool ID help please,
 

Hello Friends,
This tool came to me as part of a lot of tools, and I have no idea what it is for. It is marked Acier Forge, VAR, Made in France.
Anyone?
Thanks[

ATTACH=CONFIG]305994[/ATTACH]

Looks like an old VAR lockring tool that would be used on cup and cone style bottom bracket lockrings and old headsets that have notched adjustable cups instead of wrench flats.


-j

+1 on what Greenfieldja said .

Maynard.

+2. They worked pretty well on the old 6-notch lockrings.

+ 5 I have two other bike nerds here that are wasting time with me.

Also on track hub lockrings.

BTW, "acier forgé" in French means "forged steel".

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful.
Jeremy

Take care when using this tool. While it is the best lock ring tool i have used (Excepting the size specific campy and Shimano types that encircle the ring) the replaceable hooks/dogs can scratch the BB shell. They have a cut away to help reduce this possibility but careful positioning is still needed. Andy.

I learned that one the hard way. Still, it's the best I've ever used. It will also tighten/remove track cogs.

The lockring, not the cog. You still need a chain whip to get the cog off.

A chain whip is not necessary to remove a fixed gear cog. Once the lockring is removed you can reinstall the wheel and mash the pedals backwards to break the cog loose. In fact if the fixed gear cog has been in place for awhile and ridden up hills or sprinted on a bunch it may be very difficult to remove with a chain whip unless a long cheater bar is used to add more leverage...in this case using the bike may be easier and quicker.

-j

That's just a pedal-actuated chain whip.

And probably operating with less mechanical advantage than a decent-sized actual chainwhip, meaning you need more force than you would with the chainwhip...