What the heck is this Robert Sorby tool? A burnisher, perhaps?

[Russell Neyman]

A friend purchased a boxful of Robert Sorby tools, and this one was included. I'll be darned if I know what it is. It's long and thin, has no sharp edges, isn't HSS, and there's no hole to mount anything. I can't find anything similar in the Robert Sorby online collection. My only thought is it might be for burnishing wood. Any ideas?
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[Jim Morgan]

It's a threading tool support arm, e.g. https://taytools.com/products/robert-sorby-tool-support.

[Russell Neyman]

Great, Jim. Thanks.

[Jim Morgan]

Apparently, it's a relic from the bad old days when tool rests were fixed to be parallel to the ways. Nowadays, we can swivel our toolrests 90°.