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The other tool, below the gauging caliper, is a pair of pulpwood or firewood tongs. These tongs have handholds and could easily be slipped over pulpwood or firewood of maybe 4 to 8 inches in diameter.
One reason for the red paint and no wear: New Old Stock (NOS). There are always a few items of anything manufactured that are never sold or used. I don't see how this tool could be used to lift round cannon balls as someone else suggested because for something round, I would think, you would need at least a pair of three-pronged tongs.
I also was able to send photo copies to Eugene Sanders on his Letz feed grinder. Let's keep those pictures of mystery tools coming.
MYSTERY TOOL
I bought this "something" at a sale but don't know what it is. It has jaws like a shaving horse, but it isn't a shaving horse. Any ideas? Robert Miller 409 S. Center St., Delta, IA 52550.
SWEET MEMORIES
The story on making sorghum molasses in the October 2001 issue was a hit with me.
When I was a kid, we lived on a farm near Ralston, Okla., on the Arkansas River. My father always planted a small patch of sorghum cane. The making of the molasses was when the fun got good.
A sorghum maker came with his equipment, which was not very sophisticated. The juice was boiled in a big kettle. The skimmings were ladled off into holes dug in the sandy ground. When one hole was full, they dug another.
We kids then sifted a fine layer of dust over the holes until they looked like the rest of the ground. When neighbors stopped by to chat and learn how soon the maker could come to their place, a youngster or two usually came along, and soon a game of tag got started.
We knew where the holes were and we'd dodge a zigzag in the chase, but the chaser usually took the short cut.