What Are These?

I think they mark centers.

-- Bob in WW ~ "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

That’s kind of what I think to, but what makes me wonder is that 0.600 seems to be an odd ball diameter for a hole. Plus, they are so thin if you put it in a hole it would be hard to get it in straight, to say nothing about getting it back out again.

-- Joe

painter’s bench cookies ???
?

-- A Planer? I'M the planer, this is what I use

They look like dowel centers to me.

-- Bondo Gaposis

I’m only guessing – but they make me think of old leather chairs that used a series of tacks to hold the leather in place.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

This is a long shot, but i’m inclined to say that they are scraps of brass from machining off a longer brass rod. Those may have been the part that was held in the jaws, and whatever they made got cut off and that was left over.

I’m only suggesting this because I’ve got lots of things like that in my shop junk drawer of “things i’ll find a use for someday”

They look like markers for your golf ball when putting.

-- https://www.artisticwoodstudio.com/videos

The definitive answer:

They are parts of a damifino.

-- Improvise.... Adapt...... Overcome!

Did he ever do any surveying? They sort of look like property line markers. Just a WAG.

-- Steven.......Random Orbital Nailer

EASY! they are round discs of brass!!!;)

-- I cut it 3 times and it was still too short?!?

Is there a center point on both sides? I am thinkg dowel markers.

-- The more I work with wood the more I recognize only God can make something as beautiful as a tree. I hope my humble attempts at this craft do justice by His masterpiece. -- Tim

@Rich – Good thought, but the point is much too small to hold anything.

@A1Jim – Golf ball markers? Would work ok for that, but I doubt my Grandpa ever set foot on a golf course let alone even held a club in his hands. Hmmm – but – my dad was a chauffeur for a millionaire lady and her daughter for awhile. You might be right.

@AtomJack – Neither one did any surveying, besides they are much too small to mark a property line. You would lose it in the dirt, LOL

@TrBlu – Center point on only one side.

I just thought of another long shot. Could they be die blanks prior to being stamped into a coin or token?

@Edziu – They look too finished to be cut-offs, and much too thin to be what remains in the head stock.

Dowel Center Advocates: I don’t think so because they would fall into the hole.

-- Joe

I’ve seen mention of something along these lines, but I don’t think my brain remembers them because they don’t really translate into modern methods well.

However, if they are in fact dowel markers, these would be the type you use before boring any holes, thus they would not fall in.

-- The mark of a good carpenter is not how few mistakes he makes, but rather how well he fixes them.

They look like a version of those plastic pads tacked into the bottom of chair legs to protect the flooring and the chair leg.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Grumpy might be right… They look like furniture slides…

-- Please like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/daves-workshop