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Learning how to swing a sledge hammer in the old days.


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I was was reading the mumblety-peg post and was reminded of this story from way back. Nobody drills by hand anymore, so I thought this might be a little bit interesting/

 

Around 1970, my grandfather was splitting firewood next to his son-in-law, my Uncle Roger. Gramps was 5'8, maybe 130 lbs, if that, and had a smooth accurate swing with an 8 lb sledge. Rager was at least 250, swinging a 12 lb sledge with a hell of a lot of Gusto. They were keeping pace, neither splitting more wood than the other and Gramps was not sweating half as much as Roger.

 

After a bit Gramps explained how he learned to swing a sledge. About 1920 he worked in a mica mine. They had two man teams, one held the drill, the other swung the hammer. If the hammer man missed the drill, they swapped positions.

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Didn't fine the mumbletypeg peg post but I wonder how many kids played it in such a manner that the loser had to pull the peg with their teeth?

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Didn't fine the mumbletypeg peg post but I wonder how many kids played it in such a manner that the loser had to pull the peg with their teeth?

 

 

I have a scar on the back of my right hand, with traces of the 5 stitches it took to close the wound, to prove how I learned not to retrieve my knife before the other kid flipped his.

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I was was reading the mumblety-peg post and was reminded of this story from way back. Nobody drills by hand anymore, so I thought this might be a little bit interesting/

 

Around 1970, my grandfather was splitting firewood next to his son-in-law, my Uncle Roger. Gramps was 5'8, maybe 130 lbs, if that, and had a smooth accurate swing with an 8 lb sledge. Rager was at least 250, swinging a 12 lb sledge with a hell of a lot of Gusto. They were keeping pace, neither splitting more wood than the other and Gramps was not sweating half as much as Roger.

 

After a bit Gramps explained how he learned to swing a sledge. About 1920 he worked in a mica mine. They had two man teams, one held the drill, the other swung the hammer. If the hammer man missed the drill, they swapped positions.

 

They still have hammer/drill competitions I believe and it truly is an art. All over central and west Texas you'll often see a line of fence posts in solid rock. Yep, those hands had their work cut out for them. I used to fancy myself pretty good at swinging a sledge hammer but not to the point of having someone else hold a drill or punch for me.

 

The most amazing wood splitting I've ever seen was done by an old black man named Mose who was in his late 50's when I was stationed in Tifton, GA. We had just felled a giant red maple and they had cut the trunk into 24" sections to bust up into firewood. The sections were nye 4ft diam and ole Mose just eyeballed the "line" and went to work with a single bit axe drawing a line across that chunk of wood. Though he took well over a dozen swings he never missed the line or mark. Finally, he took another look and with one blow from the axe split that trunk. "Mose, how in hell did you do that so easily?", I asked. He just look and grinned "If yo chop as much wood as I did in Mississippi (where he grew up)you could do it too". Mose taught a lot of us how to judge wood and where to start the mark but even at 30 years younger we couldn't hold a candle to that ole man.

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I remember as a boy I always tried to use a drill as an end mill (to enlarge holes when I was limited on drill sizes) by circular interpolating by hand.....alas, drill margins are not cutting edges :lol: .

 

Sure made some funny lookin' holes.

 

GG ~ :FlagAm:

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I'm sure most of us have seen the little guy ring the bell with a sledge at the carnival, when a lot of big ol' boys couldn't do it.

That "test" is all about skill. It's not how hard you hit but how well you aim and your form. It's been a while but I could ring that bell most of the time.

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