A challenge ... what would this be?

[fearn]

The more I look at this, the more I become interested in the details.

For instance, the area between the two uprights appears to be carved down to an edge, and the supports for the uprights have those grooves which appear to be lined up.

There are a couple of possibilities. Either it's a tool, in which case the details are functionally significant, or it's some sort of symbolic item. In the later case, it's pretty clearly Christian, but I keep seeing some sort of "devil's horn" gesture in the uprights, combined with the three crosses, that makes me skeptical.

I don't have an answer, but despite what Rick's wife says, I keep coming back to something associated with thread or yarn-making. Something associated with a spinning wheel? Given the wood construction and lack of wear, if it was a tool, it pretty definitely had to be used for manipulating soft materials like thread, yarn, cord, or cloth.

Best,

F