Competition - what is this used for?

[launditch1]

Cool comp, thanks!I have bragging rights now do i?

After an hour of looking through my books i eventually found a pic of one similar...Is it an English piece Eric?

Btw, anyone remember 'Bygones' with Dick joice??I much prefer Wendy Hurrell!

 

[Eric_Methven]

Cool comp, thanks!I have bragging rights now do i?

After an hour of looking through my books i eventually found a pic of one similar...Is it an English piece Eric?

Btw, anyone remember 'Bygones' with Dick joice??I much prefer Wendy Hurrell!

Yes, you have the bragging rights.
It is eastern european as far as I can tell. It was gifted to me by a man in Bulgaria. Now that's a place of ancient treasures. I visited a house way up in the Balkan mountains with my Bulgarian friends and during the course of the evening, one of the hosts mentioned that the house had been in his family for three hundred years. He said the cellar was still full of stuff that the original owners had used.
We went for a look and I was gobsmacked. Weaving looms, spinning wheels, wooden buckets, a grain crusher, flax beaters and on and on and on. Stuff everywhere and all covered in cobwebs. I had a poke around and there was no sign of woodworm or any kind of rot either. That was the evening I didn't take my camera. Anyway, I asked him if he would ever consider selling any of the stuff and he said "no!". He asked me what I was after though, and I told him I was after a loom. So he said he'd ask the family and maybe we could do a trade for some leather items (They loved my flasks and tankards). Goodness knows how I'll get it back here though. But that's for next year's visit.

Eric

 

[launditch1]

Wow!Id loved to have seen that.There cant be many places like that left anymore...

The version i have in my book is like half a clog for want of a better description.The fingers go into the 'toe' end and its then tied around your wrist.

 

[Eric_Methven]

There cant be many places like that left anymore...

I fear there won't be for much longer. Bulgaria, like many other ex-communist countries is forging ahead with high-tech information based technologies. Much of the old skills and the old stuff that goes along with them is being forgotten and ignored.
All the young people are heading for Sofia (the capital) and I passed through beautiful old villages that are falling to pieces, populated soley by old men and women. On the plus side, you can buy a property there for as little as £5,000 if you want a "project", or ready to live in for around £17,000.

Eric

 

[British Red]

Brilliant thread Eric - really fascinating