MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Wendyf]

It makes me think of harness - pre leather collars, swingle trees and yokes,or something to do with farm carts, but I cant see how or where.

[chinatyke]

The two pieces of wood in The Thing's jaws look as though they could be barrel staves.
No idea what The Thing is.

[Gloria]

Think you are going off track so here it is. We saw it in the Vasa Museum. We think it works by being hit from the left which tightens the jaws to clamp.

image.jpeg

[Tizer]

I note the word bordklämma. In Danish the similar word bordsklämma translates as `table clamp' so I suppose it could be used like those metal screw clamps that we use now for fixing something to a work bench. Alternatively, from the setting in the photo it looks like it's being used to hold planks together, perhaps while glue sets in the joint. Another possibility is that it's simply one of the many clamps that must have been needed in the old boats to stop stuff moving about or slipping overboard.

[Gloria]

I would think it was used for holding planks together. It was quite large if I remember rightly, a good 3ft plus in length. Must put something to gauge size by next time I take one of these.

[Tizer]

Of course my comment about holding planks together was pre-empted by China's barrel staves post!

[Stanley]

I still think that rather than clamp together it is intended to hold something apart while something else is inserted. It reminds me of the clamps used by besom makers and firewood bundlers. Think about the pliers used to install rubber castration rings..... It's the shape of the ends and the wear pattern on the outside that leads me in this direction. (I also suspect it's incomplete.....)

[Gloria]

I can't say if you're right or wrong Stanley, this is just as it was shown and there was no other explaination about it.

[Stanley]

So in effect this mystery is going to have to remain a mystery?

[plaques]

Gloria. Not quite given up on this. web site Vasa..
An image from the site.

Vasa.JPG

The caption just says 'clamp used in boat building. Ignoring all the light brown bits of wood it could be used for pulling the planks into line to suit the curvature of the ships hull. The wedge show in the jaws opens up the jaws on the left and pushes the far end together, the working end, to clamp the part in question. ie: the light brown wood is a simulated plank.

[Tizer]

Can anyone guess what's going on here?

[Marilyn]

Fire fighting?

[Tizer]

I knew that would be suggested but no, it's nothing to do with fire fighting (even though it looks very much like that!).

[chinatyke]

Transporting rocks and building materials to build a path somewhere remote? Previously done with horses at a fraction of the cost.

[Gloria]

Spreading lime?

[Wendyf]

I'm with Gloria. It looks like lime.

[chinatyke]

Spreading lime?

I wonder if they do muck spreading the same way?

[plaques]

Burning cocaine. Lots of happy cows.

[Stanley]

P. That makes sense. I couldn't see the wedge in Gloria's first pic.
The Chinook pic. Are they adding what's in the bags to the water to stop algae growth?

[Gloria]

You can just about see the wedge on my pic Stanley, but it wasn't easy to spot. Think we have the right explanation now as to how it works.

[Tizer]

China and Gloria are getting very close but not yet the correct answer. Look closely at the figures below the Chinook!

[chinatyke]

The smoke is possibly a marker smoke bomb for the Chinook to spot.
Is the Chinook collecting something to be transported away? Culled cattle or something like that?

[PanBiker]

Foot and mouth outbreak, livestock burial with quicklime maybe?

[Stanley]

It's my eyes you know..... All right it's smoke and not a pond. It's a fire in a valley and so yes it's burning culled cattle.

[Gloria]

Are they dropping culled cattle to be burned?