Old Tools and Old Terms February 2008
It’s interesting how the subject for this article came to mind. Last week we visited dear friends who live some distance from the Windy Knoll and the conversation of old tools came up. I knew immediately that would be my subject for this week.
In the conversation John mentioned how he used to “frail” stove wood. It seemed to me that I remember that word being “flail;” however, when I looked it up the definition is an instrument used in the harvest of wheat. Duh! So much for that. Now about the splitting of stove wood — First the trunk of the tree has to be sawed in whatever length was needed for the old wood stove. These pieces were hauled to the house (in our case) where the splitting took place. The chunk standing on end was halved, and then quartered using a double-bitted axe. Now a larger and longer piece of log was standing on end with a double-bitted axe driven into the end so it was stationary and it was here that the quarter piece of wood was “flailed” (?) against the axe blade to make smaller pieces of wood that would go in the stove.
Farmers had to wear many hats in their profession and lots of different tools were required. Sharpening tools was a big job and grindstones were quite common. We have two here now – one is hand turned and one can be turned by peddling with the feet. Daddy sharpened axe blades, hoes and such on the grindstone. It could be used to smooth rough edges of metal and such, too.
Other old tools:
Treadle sewing machine – this was a necessary item for the farm wife. Clothes were homemade for the most part – men’s shorts were made from feed sacks and sometimes underwear, too. All women’s clothes were made at home as well.
Churn dash – all farm families had and used such as they milked cows and made their own butter.
Butter paddle and mold – these items were regularly used right along with the churn and churn dash. Men who whittled oft times made paddles. Molds came in different sizes – usually one pound or half-pound size.
Fro – this was used in making shingles for roofing and they were quite dull. Perhaps you’ve heard the term “dull as a fro.”
Foot adz — this cutting tool was used to size timbers, John believes the floor joists under the oldest part of this house were hewn by use of an adz. House built in 1895.
Grubbin’ hoe — This hoe was stronger and larger than a regular hoe and was used for heavy-duty work. Many times such a hoe was used to cut roots when a new ground was being cleared.
Glut — The glut was made from dogwood and was wedge shaped. It was used when splitting rails for fencing. It held the first cut of the log open so splitting could continue on down the length of the log. When the back of this house was torn down, in the renovation process, John found several wedges such as this. The glut was used as a shim in the rock pillars for leveling and steadying. The builder back then had to know what kind of wood to use for shims that would be lasting. They have lasted, huh?
Anvil — This tool was used at the blacksmith shop. My uncle (and my grandfather – so I’m told) were blacksmiths and the anvil was used in hammering and shaping hot steel. Making horse shoes, rims for wagon wheels and such.
The list could go and on, but this is a few of the many tools farm families of yore needed with their style of country living.