Had the opportunity to celebrate the olympic flame coming through our little hamlet the other day. What a procession. Lots of sponsors trucks and organization. Just one picture, though. I began to understand why it took so much money to have the flame go across Canada. It was here for about half an hour, and then everyone was gone.
Working on the metal parts now. There are some difficult parts to fitting up the pole for the bob sleigh. Will have to research the different labels, when is it a tongue and when is it a pole???? More on that later. Over the years, the metal parts have worn, been refitted, twisted and generally well used. After all, this is a sleigh that was actually used, not just sitting as a lawn ornament.
As I was writing this, I realized I didn't know the correct terminology for most of the sleigh and carriage bits that I was trying to write about, so here is the beginning of a short glossary
the hammer strap on the new pole
the yoke strap or pole iron on the new pole Apparently it really doesn't matter whether you call it a pole or a tongue, the terms are interchangeable.
Pictures of the old roller and new oak roller
This is why you don't use red cedar for a roller. Keep in mind that this sleigh was totally restored five years ago. It wasn't that the cedar rotted, but it did crack, and then because of the numbers of holes drilled in it and the cracking, it just came apart.
I put these pictures in to show the difference. This is the end of an old oak shaft. Looking at the hardware we took off this shaft it could be a hundred years old or possibly more. The oak is relatively un damaged with very little wear or rot. The shafts were broken close to where they attach to the horse, and we picked it up for the hardware, but the oak is still strong after all that time.
This is the hold down for the tugs that came off that old oak set of sleigh shafts. Unfortunately, there was only one on the singletree.
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