Are lumps of cast iron any use to the smiths ?

[Toddy]

The Uncle (with me, HWMBLT and Son2 doing slave labour) has been clearing out one of his sheds.
I rescued one of the long lump sausage shaped weights that used to balance a sash window.
It's cast iron. Is it of any use to any of the smiths if there's any smithing going on at a meet up that I'm likely to get to ?
Otherwise I think it'll end up in the coup.
I also brought down the cleek from a girr and cleek set, he said that that was wrought iron.

cheers,
M

 

[British Red]

I also brought down the cleek from a girr and cleek set, he said that that was wrought iron.

You can't just make up words - its not fair on my brain

 

[Mesquite]

You can't just make up words - its not fair on my brain

You aren't the only one... I had to google it Hugh

Think a kids toy wheel and stick

Pics

 

[British Red]

Fair enough - anyone for a game of knurr and spell whilst we discuss games?

 

[EdS]

decent wrought iron can be used to make proper quoits if you've got 5 1/2lb of iron

 

[tombear]

I've also got a couple of those big sash window weights i saved that the builders found in the walls. The place had flap type windows put in in the '30s so the weights predate then. I'd be interested to know if they were of use to anyine as well.

ATB

Tom

 

[robin wood]

Fair enough - anyone for a game of knurr and spell whilst we discuss games?

I'm always up for a bit of that, do you have a pressed head? the old boys reckoned it wasn't worth getting out of bed if you didn't have a pressed head.

 

[British Red]

Ahhh I'm a traditionalist - I don't even believe in the sprung spell - knurrs should be human powered by lever action alone

 

[bilmo-p5]

A grommet of 30 or 40mm rope makes a good quoit

 

[ol smokey]

Think that should have been Gird and Cleek, which translates as a Metal Hoop and hooked stick to push it with. An old fashioned toy, which is more or less an antique now a days.

 

[Toddy]

Oi! Antique nothing; mine's still hanging in my shed

Round here it's a girr and cleek............and this set was tethered. The blacksmith didn't make the cleek a free one; it has a wee ring worked on it that holds it to the girr (gird). I recognised right off what the length of metal was in the Uncle's shed. He's nearly 90 and he says he's far too old to play with it now

cheers,
M

 

[Toddy]

decent wrought iron can be used to make proper quoits if you've got 5 1/2lb of iron

Well it's not wrought iron, pretty sure they're cast, but I also rescued the weights from a set of potato (I'm being clear here ) scales, and HWMBLT is casting scowls their way; I think he'd be quite happy for them to head to the coup, so they might be up for grabs too.

cheers,
M

 

[decorum]

... potato (I'm being clear here ) scales, ...

Yup, potato scales ~ easy enough ...

... coup, ...

Which type of coup? D'etat? Restaurant? Misspelled chicken? None of the afore?

 

[Bushwhacker]

I think Morrissey and his mates were more into alternative rock than heavy metal.

 

[Toddy]

:duh:
Tattie scales.....and the coup is where we coup the rubbish ...pronounced cowp not coop.

There's not one word I used that's odd, it's you lot that don't understand plain English

A knurr is a wee carved ball and a spell is a spill, though we'd use them at the fire to take a light, not a whacking great stick of a thing.
Is it not a kind of golf clay pigeon shoot thing ? Like a camachd stick and a ball but not a team game, just one man and a thing to launch the ball ?

cheers,
M

 

[British Red]

Its interesting that there is dispute on what the "spell" is BBC Bradford asserts the spell is the frame that launches the knurr

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bradford/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9379000/9379408.stm

To me thats nonsense - the game was originally played with a seesaw arrangement to launch the knurr. The spell was always to me, the bat.

 

[robin wood]

ah no that is a different more primitive game and has various regional names. The stick thing was the pommel. This is my mate Andy when they did countryfile, sadly the best footage of the huge competitions in the mining villages in the 60's isn't available online any more. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00dnx5z

 

[British Red]

Its rare but I'm going to argue with you Robin

Even the Wikipedia entry disagrees

Originally the ball was thrown into the air by striking a lever upon which it rested in the trap, but in the later development of the game a trap furnished with a spring was introduced, thus ensuring regularity in the height to which the knurr is tossed, somewhat after the manner of the shooter's clay pigeon. By means of a thumb screw, the player can adjust the spring of the trap according to the velocity of release desired for the ball.[SUP][5][/SUP][SUP][2][/SUP]

I have seen (in Cheshire of all places) a "seesaw" based trap which was made entirely of wood - the lever protruded from the box end. The other end had a "dimple" carved to hold the knurr and laid flush with the frame. No springs, hit the protruding end and the knurr flew up and out, Now I didn't do a radio carbon date, but can only assume it predated the sprung versions I encountered in Lancs.

Red

 

[robin wood]

Always happy for healthy disagreement and discussion on interesting subjects. I could always pop by and edit that wikipedia article, it tends not to be so reliable on subjects where few folk contribute.

Undated. View of brothers Adam, left, and Rack (Armitage)Fozzard, right, playing a game of 'Knurr and Spell.' This is a traditional pub game where the knurr, a hard ceramic ball about the size of a golf ball is placed with the Spell. The spell is a mechanised device which holds the Knurr and is tripped when the stick pressed a lever. The ball is thrown upwards and forwards and the object of the game is to hit it as hard and as far as possible with the stick. Around the Barnsley area the stick was known as a pummel, and sometimes the Knurr was known as a potty. The game needed plenty of space and it is thought to have declined when fields and open spaces were gradually built on with factories and housing estates. The Fozzard brothers were born in West Ardsley in the 1870s, Adam Fozzard was at one time the landlord of the White Horse public house. Photograph from the David Atkinson Archive. http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2007517_163598

 

[EdS]

A grommet of 30 or 40mm rope makes a good quoit

Oh no they don't got to be steel or iron:

http://www.mashamsportsassociation.co.uk/quoits-2/ruleshow-to-play/