hey Ken,

Technically, the US Gov't decided to lump us in with the existing labor classification of "rough carpenters", rather than create a new one just for us. They did not see enough of a distinction.

We did not choose the label, but decided not to fight it, as we have been treated pretty favorably by the Dept of Labor throughout the apprenticeship program application process.

Rooster,
I don't have heavy horses,,, yet. I was offered a team of canadians this year,, but couldnt' figure out how to afford them. I DID rescue a standard bred ex: race horse, ex: show horse, nursed him back to health over a year and a half,, and am having a riot driving him in a small buggy, and bought a cutter this year. The cutter was SO much fun,, have bells!

Cheers.
dave

Canadians? Cheval?

Canadians are a breed. Isn't cheval a cheeze?

Note to all: Spending some time returning all my tools to 25 degrees,, and am improving techique. We're working older materials,, 12 year old pine,, and hemlock. The hemlock is quite a beast to work. Spend a moment looking at grain,, process, process,, attack!

Thanks for your support!
d

I am sure we are talking about the same thing, and it ain't cheese. I think they are a very distinct horse. I could not eat one. This may be the connection to cheese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat

Here on this Canadian border often a mutt of a horse is referred to as a Canadian Chunk, this is not the Canadian Cheval, the original original horse stock of this area.

http://horses.suite101.com/article.cfm/morgan_horses_and_the_canadian_connection

I hear a grinder works well on old wood.

Tim

or a belt sander....
Dave knows about that one.

There are a bunch of Canadian horses at Upper Canada Village.

Timbeal,
I don't think I could eat horse meat. I was offered a team of canadians this winter,, but already board out one, and couldn't afford the team. Need more space. Timbeal,, what kind of horses do you have?

And yes Mark,, sadly the belt sander gets picked up pretty quickly these days. :->

dave

Note to all in this thread! Thanks for your responses. My cutting has improved. Still working my chisels back to 25 degrees.
Thanks again
dave

Here is a horse (looks Canadian to my untrained eye) at Upper Canada Village around 2004 during an outing for my daughter's school. I was not able to check out this apparatus (bucking logs?) and have not had a chance to get back.

Hi everyone tonight:

That picture that you posted is a sight for sore eyes.

By all means that is a purebred Canadian horse I am quite familiar with then at UCV. They helped erect quite a few of our timber frames by way of a gin pole apparatus.

In the picture that is a horse powered drag saw, the canadian horse walks in circles and through a gearing ring on the sweep power it creates shaft rotating motion that is also geared to the drag saw which in turn has gearing and a fly wheel, that pulls a large stiff saw blade back and forth across the surface of large logs to cut off blocks of wood for in most cases to be split up for the cook stove.

The large blade has teeth very much like its smaller cousin the two man cross cut saw with rakers at set spacings to rake out the saw dust. The man operating the drag saw can when the cut is finished advance the log ahead for the next cut.

The sweep power can be used for many purposes other than the one shown in the photo, we also ran a shingle mill but needed three or preferrably 4 horses to produce enough steady power to work with. You could also fasten teams of horses instead of singles which in turn would up the power dramatically say if you needed the power for operating a threshing machine, although the two horse tread mill was a better and faster means to produce fast rotating power for that particular purpose.

once again thanks for posting that picture it sure brings back old memories, and I hope the explanation is enjoyed by all.

Just before I leave this thread, off to right of the picture stands a three bay barn which you cannot see, it was visited by a good group from the TTRAG a few years back when they held their easern conference in Morrisburg.

I was delighted to have been asked by the TFG mangement team and chosen to lead the group for a complete tour of the UCV historic site at that outing, we had a great time!!.

NH