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An email from my good friend Al sparked my interest yesterday.
It was an invitation to help him with the project of building a set of logging tongs from scratch. We have some mutual friends who have built a blacksmith shop and they were already on board with the plan. Al picked me up a little before 10:00 AM and off we went. He had cut a couple of bars of 7/8" steel rod and by the end of the day we hoped they would become a tool.

Log tongs are a tool as old as the iron age in one form or another. There used to latch onto a length of timber that has been cut down to pull it out of the woods. They have two pronged arms that through the use of a pivot point, when pulled these prongs sink into the wood and hang on. You hook your chain to the tongs and the other end to your horse or tractor. Now off you go, dragging your log behind you with a very quick and solid connection.

The challenge of the day was to build them the way they might have been built hundreds of years ago... Our pal Ernie had built a small coal fire in the forge just before we pulled into their snow covered drive way. The temperature was in the teens and a foot of white, blanketed the roof of their log blacksmith shop. The ends of the two steel rods were stuck into the fire and we were off. Turns were taken cranking the bellows to get the steel red/white hot and pounding the pieces on the anvil. First we had points and then bent shapes. Next holes were pounded through the red/white hot flattened arms. Clevis and rivets were made. A large steel ring with a forge weld was crafted and pieces and parts fitted. All the while, only using fire and steel.

By late afternoon with a masterful hand by Erny's talented and beautiful wife Darla (The real blacksmith in the group), We had a fine set of logging tongs. We all had fun and Al and I learned a lot from our friends. A great day in the Great White North. Take a look at the pictures I took of the project.
http://public.fotki.com/DonaldL/logging_tongs_101/


Fighting cabin fever, Don
*

Each year in the frozen north mother nature rewards us for surviving yet another test with a sweet reward. As cold, cold nights give way to sunny days our sugar maple's life force starts to flow. The sweet nectar moves through the cambium layer just below the bark and if you poke through out it comes. Drive in a metal spiel with a hook on it and you have a place to hang a bucket. Seconds after you make your effort you'll here the "plink". Then another and another and soon it's plink, plink, plink, plink. Now go hang another and another and another. Collect this sweet to the taste clear liquid and with the aid of a fire you can boil it down into a magic elixir that some call Maple syrup. Today the flow was fast and the sweetness rich. 33 gallons of sap yielded a gallon of syrup. Everything about the process is rewarding but shared with friends it's the promise of spring.

Ernie and Darla have a wonderful life in their log cabin in the woods. We are lucky to call them friends. Always something fun going on and always ready to share the fun. When our kids were home we often made syrup, but always a low tech affair thrown together as the snow started to melt. Ernie and Darla have assembled a genuine sugar bush with a system in place to make the process as smooth as the finished elixir flows. Today I took some photos as we watched and helped a little. We helped a little more than "Hooch" the dog, but he was there to help if we needed him.

After the boil we retired to the wine cellar to choose a few of Ernie's latest creations. A man who can make sweetness from trees has no problem turning fruit into magic. We sat and laughed hard as the problems of the world were solved and the wild deer fed. Snow still covers the ground here in the north, but the trees can catch the sun. They know what's coming and are ready to share with the survivors of yet another long winter.

See our photos of our day at:
http://public.fotki.com/DonaldL/the-promise-of-spring/