What Is It?

It looks like an older tripod leg that is either being glued back together, or has gotten warped, and so you soaked it, and are now letting it dry, and it is clamped to keep it straight.
Just my guess.

I have glued them before.

N

Bought a mint '58 Kay arched top guitar with case for $25 once. The non-adjustable neck was warped beyond repair.

It spent almost a month in a similar 'rack' with weekly tweeking. Sold it for $300.

ps - your linoleum floor reminds me of graph paper...

As God is my witness I thought it is a display of different types of clamps.

What Nate said.

A fellow surveyor who lives about thirty miles west of me was on his roof cleaning his gutters two days before Super Storm Sandy hit us. His wife was not home that day. When she got home she found him on the lawn. From what little he can remember he was on the lawn for about four hours. Off to the ER for him. At the ER they found he had a concussion and one leg broken in a few places. When he left the ER to go to his hospital room his leg looked like your picture.

I'm voting on some form of Pre-Mesozoic era Lenker rod.

Nate nailed it, though Dave was close -- I pretty much emptied my clamp collection in the process.

Up until about 5 years ago I carried my tripods in a homemade wooden box in the back of an open pickup. The box wasn't waterproof (or even close to waterproof), so during a wet winter everything inside was exposed to a good bit of moisture. (I now use an aluminum box that's pretty much weatherproof.)

This is a leg from a Leica GST-10 that I inherited from a former employer, who in turn inherited it from a former employer. I estimate its vintage as mid-60s. This particular leg got wet enough one winter to warp in two directions, which made it impossible to adjust as well as just not very stable. As a result the whole tripod has been sidelined for a few years. However, I've always like it a lot -- light yet sturdy -- so I decided to see if I could bring it back into service.

As Nate suggested, I soaked it for about a week, and weighted it while doing so to take out most of the warp in one dimension. I then clamped to to a straight length of 2x4, and also clamped a couple of Berntsen 3/4" aluminum rods that I had lying around to take out the curvature in the other dimension. It's been drying now, in the house, for almost a week. I'll give it a few more days, then release everything and see how it turns out.

I might even paint the whole thing when I'm done, as most of the original finish is almost as bad as this leg. Any suggestions on painting? I don't want the parts to stick when I'm done.

Van Gogh would suggest irises. Picasso would suggest one-eyed, three-legged women. Monet would suggest a lovely pastoral scene. Da Vinci would suggest stong hands pointing or touching.

Let us know how it turns out. Happy new year, Jim!

Part of your collection of bondage and S&M toys?

jim, if you do paint it, wait until the leg is thoroughly dry. paint next. when the paint is dry, use a floor type paste wax in the channels. that should help avoid any sticking. fighting internal stresses in wood (tripod legs, guitars, etc.) is often difficult and unpredictable. best to take your time with it.

I am often reminded that paint takes longer to dry than I think. Longer than it looks like it takes. Most of the time when mine stuff sticks, I figured it was dry, but no.

Not that I have ever done this.

I use equipment enamel, it's tough. Painting those legs and the dowels will keep the moisture out even in your old wooden box. Mine did stick for a while, not a real problem, only an irritation that I dealt with for a while, did think about rubbing some bar soap on them, never did.
jud.