What is it?

[Grinderman]

I got this item free when I bought some other items at a yard sale recently. The older gentleman didn’t know what it was and neither do I. It was turned from 1” stock and has centers on each end. The knurled sleeve slides over the main body. What is it?

 

[Eddyde]

Could be go-no go gauges for some part. Try measuring the ends and the bore on each end and see if they are slightly different.

 

[Grinderman]

You might be right. The bore on the sleeve seems to be the same on both ends but the turned ends on the main body are about .002 different in diameter. The sleeve will slide over one end but not the other. Why would you need the sleeve though?

 

[Eddyde]

They could be two different gauges maybe for the same part. Perhaps one end of the part had a male end checked with the sleeved gauge and the bored end checked with the "main body"

 

[Jake M]

I got this item free when I bought some other items at a yard sale recently. The older gentleman didn’t know what it was and neither do I. It was turned from 1” stock and has centers on each end. The knurled sleeve slides over the main body. What is it?

Given what you've confirmed about the ends of the "inner piece", and looking at the knurl on both parts, I'm of the opinion that it's two separate tools. Probably with related purposes. The "inner piece" could be (speculating) a go/no go gauge for a particular bore, and the "sleeve" perhaps a go/no go gauge for the mating part. Perhaps (depending on how the sleeve ID measures up) it might conceivably have been for select fitting of these speculated but as yet undefined parts. Have you verified the diameter on each end of the "sleeve"?

 

[Martin W]

I got dozens of them in a drawer one time, from an auction. Mine are marked go -no go on the ends with the size. I have many different sizes up to about 2 inches in diameter. They make perfect pins when pressing bearings on my arbor press and hydraulic press. One long one fits perfectly in my shaper vise handle hole, so I use it to tighten the vise.

 

[Parlo]

Plug gauges usually have one long end for the go gauge and a shorter end for the no-go gauge. This helps with identification amongst other benefits.