Well, there you go, Jock...and all. Right there is the reason why the heavy weight throw at the Games is 56 pounds....because every feed store and farm had one or two or more of those things around, and they have a handle built into them, and back around 1800 when the Heavy Athletics were getting started, they were a convenient thing to pick up and heave.
Jock, did you ever see quarter-hundredweight, weights....28 pounds?
Yikes. I'm slightly under 10 stone, which explains why I'm not a Highland athlete.
And speaking of useless facts on outdated systems...
The caber throw is hypothesized by some to be an evolution of an event called "tossing of ye barre", which is documented as having taken place in King Henry VIII time, in fact in his younger years, Henry was supposed to have been pretty good at it.
Did you guys know that "Ye" was never really a word? It was a bastardisation of "the", which used a letter that became extinct. When the printing press was introduced, they needed a way to 'fudge' it, so they used "Ye". But it was never historically pronounced as everyone says it today.
Yikes. I'm slightly under 10 stone, which explains why I'm not a Highland athlete.
And speaking of useless facts on outdated systems...
Did you guys know that "Ye" was never really a word? It was a bastardisation of "the", which used a letter that became extinct. When the printing press was introduced, they needed a way to 'fudge' it, so they used "Ye". But it was never historically pronounced as everyone says it today.
If you look closely at this picture, you'll see that the fellow in the middle is holding a two-handed hammer. That's what I believe...from reading around the web...was probably the ancestor to the 16 pound hammer that we use today in the Games. I can't prove it, but I believe it to be true.
Mainly 56lbs and 112 lbs, but we have some 28lbs and smaller lurking about somewhere. The two handled 16lbs and 8lbs hammers were/are called "sledge hammers", no idea why, but every farm had/has a couple as did blacksmiths, but I think most of them were used on the railways to knock large nails into the wooden sleepers to secure the rails. Many of the tools in the blacksmiths pictures are still in use in our farm workshops today, the vices, anvil, calipers, hammers etc are still in use with us today, amongst all the new fangled stuff thais needed these days!
Interestingly our seed wheat/barley/oats used to come in 1 cwt(hundredweight) sacks and a typical seed rate for winter wheat was one and a quarter cwt to the acre. And before bulk handling off the combine the harvested grain was put into TWO and a QUATER cwt bags. Absolute killlers!
Last edited by Jock Scot; 7th February 13 at 02:42 PM.
" Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the adherence of idle minds and minor tyrants". Field Marshal Lord Slim.
The railroad spike mauls have a long slender head to keep the handle from striking the rail and breaking the handle when driving the spikes on either near or far side of the rail. Takes real good aim.
Got curious and looked up weight - 8-12 lb and handle length 30-36 inches, but often cut down to 26 inches by the pros - They could drive a spike in three blows. woof!
Last edited by tundramanq; 8th February 13 at 06:48 AM.
slàinte mhath, Chuck
Originally Posted by MeghanWalker,In answer to Goodgirlgoneplaids challenge:
"My sporran is bigger and hairier than your sporran"
Pants is only a present tense verb here. I once panted, but it's all cool now.
Hm... a railway hammer. I didn't know about them, nor did I know that they were different from a two-handled blacksmiths hammer or a "regular" sledgehammer.
Jock, I think I would really like to see your farm/estate when I am over there! It sounds pretty interesting! I am wondering if there were ever any events held, like holding one hundredweight in each hand, and walking along a course. The man who goes the farthest, wins.
There are events done like that with large stones that have rings and handles set in them. See the "Smiddy Stone" event done at the Airth Games... Here's a picture and video.
Stones like that were apparently used to tie horses to...the smiddy stane lived in front of a blacksmiths shop, and the smith would tie the horses to it, while he worked on their shoes.
Last edited by Alan H; 7th February 13 at 02:47 PM.
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