Wooden primitive tool

[wpjson]

Found this among a pile of homestead furniture and tools. Any idea what it may be? Made of wood and 38 inches long.

 

[Flint311]

A yolk of sorts for carrying water pails, etc. Hollow part goes over shoulders and goes around neck. I could be wrong, I was once before! :rotf:

 

[Coot]

You are correct. It is a yoke for people to use for carrying loads that can be made up in two equal weights. I carve these & kids at events get the idea pretty quickly when told that it works like a backpack & lets you carry things using your back & legs & not your hands & arms.

 

[wpjson]

Thanks. Now I need to find some small person to try it out. :haha:

 

[Black Hand]

You are correct. It is a yoke for people to use for carrying loads that can be made up in two equal weights. I carve these & kids at events get the idea pretty quickly when told that it works like a backpack & lets you carry things using your back & legs & not your hands & arms.

It looks a little deep and small for use as a yoke.

 

[gearheart]

People were smaller back then. Fetching water might also have been "woman's work" They're smaller still.

 

[Coot]

I have seen many originals and carved many new ones. It is often surprising as to how small a neck hole did and does work. The only person who could not wear my standard size neck cut-out was an NFL player (who didn't really have a neck). :grin:

 

[Black Hand]

It isn't the size of the neck-hole (though it appears quite small), rather the very depth and small size of the dished area. I guess it could be a yoke, but looks very uncomfortable...

 

[Nativearizonan]

I'd say yoke. The person it fit may not have had the huge shoulders we often see these days.

 

[Coot]

If someone buys one of my yokes from me in person, I offer custom fitting - sort of like wood shoes in Holland. Many people think that a bigger person needs a bigger yoke but that is very rarely the case. 99% of the time the custom fitting involves removing small amounts of wood that relieve rubbing at either the collar bones or the vertebrae at the back of the neck - it is a case of the shape of our bodies rather than the size. Once fitted properly, a yoke is comfortable & a labor saving device for moving wood & water to a camp - or in the case of one non-reenactor customer, carrying buckets of Purina Alpaca Chow to her herd. :grin:

 

[Ranger1759]

It's most defenatly a human yoke for carrying water buckets....it's missing the cord and hooks on each end....I have one similar...just google primitive yokes and you will see what I'm talking about....

 

[omarick1948]

Good guesses, but your all wrong. The deep recess tells you this. Frontier Dentists used these for their patients. This is a "Drool" cup!

Yuck! :barf:

 

[Nativearizonan]

Toy boat that met up with Mini-Jaws?

 

[Billnpatti]

Flint nailed it, that is exactly what it is. :thumbsup: In use, the yoke fit around the neck from the back and the yoke rested on the shoulders. The buckets hung by a length of rope that fit in the grooves on the ends of the yoke. The length of the rope was made so that the buckets hung at an arms length. The yoke carried the weight of the buckets and the carrier's hands were used to steady the swing of the buckets.

I've only seen it used to carry buckets of water but I suppose you could hang anything from the ends of the yoke. :idunno:

 

[BillinOregon]

Rick, better a drool cup than a bleeding basin. Honey, have you seen my box of fleems?

:rotf:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

People were smaller back then. Fetching water might also have been "woman's work" They're smaller still.

How about a yoke for a pre-teen? In a large family it might have been passed to each of the next children as the older one gew out of it?

LD

 

[Artificer]

Indeed, "fetching water" for cooking, cleaning, bucket bath's, etc., was long considered acceptable chores for children. They may have gotten the water from a river, stream, well or pump - depending on the period.

Also, a child would have been expected to help feed farm animals and such a yoke would be just the ticket for chicken feed, grain for horses or mules, and other things.

Indentured Servant Children and Slaves were also expected to work and this small of a yoke could have been used for them.

Kids had to "grow up" much younger in those days and of course Child Labor Laws were still well into the future.

Gus

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I know I had the luck to be loaned one with the lines and hooks at Fort Frederick two years ago. Added a couple of firewood slings, one to each line, and hauled an amazing amount of wood in two trips to the wood pile. They really give the carrier an advantage.

LD