What Is It?

Brother Johnny, our Associate Pastor, owns a consignment shop and has these tools he's trying to sell, but he doesn't know what they are. SO! If anyone knows what they are, could you please enlighten us? :)

The are quite heavy. One end is like a wrench or even a wire cutting device. The other end slides up and down, but there's no real action going on that we can see. So what is the sliding action for? And is it a wrench or cutting device on the other end??