Woods related

[pioneerguy600]

I am setting here tonight reminiscing about the older men I worked the woods with years gone by and I remembered some of the odd ways they could measure things. They used items they had on hand, no pun intended, they knew their hand span from their tip of the little finger to tip of the thumb fully stretched out, the length and width of a plug of chewing tobacco, the length of a box of wooden matches were some of the things they used I know the distance from my out stretched arms from thumb to thumb is 6 feet or a fathom around here.Does anyone else remember or know of other items other than measuring tools such as tapes,folding rules and yard sticks. Also does anyone know what the term hands high have to do with measuring horses? Chainsaws were just becoming popular back then so one could use the bar length if you were really stuck, had to insert that statement to keep it sorta chainsaw related. LOL

Pioneerguy600

 

[cjcocn]

I am setting here tonight reminiscing about the older men I worked the woods with years gone by and I remembered some of the odd ways they could measure things. They used items they had on hand, no pun intended, they knew their hand span from their tip of the little finger to tip of the thumb fully stretched out, the length and width of a plug of chewing tobacco, the length of a box of wooden matches were some of the things they used I know the distance from my out stretched arms from thumb to thumb is 6 feet or a fathom around here.Does anyone else remember or know of other items other than measuring tools such as tapes,folding rules and yard sticks. Also does anyone know what the term hands high have to do with measuring horses? Chainsaws were just becoming popular back then so one could use the bar length if you were really stuck, had to insert that statement to keep it sorta chainsaw related. LOL

Pioneerguy600

The thickness of the paper of a cigarette pack to measure spark plug gap at 0.030".

Hands was a measurement, but to standardize it they assigned 4" to equal a hand. Measure to the withers, btw.

Also, time as opposed to distance. How far is it to x's camp? - About 3 hours. ..... How much wood do you have to cut? - 'Til lunch.

I don't know that I'm old enough to be posting in this particular thread, but if I remember anything else I'll post it up too.

This could turn out to be a good one!

 

[pioneerguy600]

The thickness of the paper of a cigarette pack to measure spark plug gap at 0.030".

Hands was a measurement, but to standardize it they assigned 4" to equal a hand. Measure to the withers, btw.

Also, time as opposed to distance. How far is it to x's camp? - About 3 hours. ..... How much wood do you have to cut? - 'Til lunch.

I don't know that I'm old enough to be posting in this particular thread, but if I remember anything else I'll post it up too.

This could turn out to be a good one!

Good ones, thanks
Pioneerguy600

 

[parrisw]

I measure my oil mix by glugs, does that count?

 

[Tzed250]

Dollar bill is 6" long...

 

[Frank Boyer]

The trappers/frontiersmen that settled around Michigan measured distance by pipes. Meaning that they smoked a certain number of pipes of tobacco when they traveled to a destination. The distance would varry quite a bit if they were going up stream or down stream.

Rock climbers note that a climb is X number of pitches. The climbing ropes are around 165' long and how many times they went the length of a rope (or a fraction there of) was a pitch.

 

[turnkey4099]

A worn silver dime was a good feeler gauge to set plug gap back when.

Harry K

 

[Stihl 041S]

Beer tab was .014 I think and Miller was thicker, the wrting on top of can making it so.

 

[pioneerguy600]

All really good ones, I purposely left out the axe handle lengths as it was the most used measure that I heard on a daily basis,they all made and hung their own axe handles and knew the lengths but it varied between individuals and did not make a real accurate means when comparing a lenght between 2 or more choppers. There was always strides,boot lengths and the old swede saws took replacement blades of various lengths of 36" - 60 " and they could lay the saw with the blade mounted and measure off the length of trunk to make a pulp stick or saw log. Never saw a measure tape in the woods until the mid 60`s a few oldtimers carried a folding rule in their bib pocket.
Pioneerguy600

 

[slowp]

I get asked, "How much blowdown is on the ground?" If it is a small patch that I can see most of, I'll visualize it on log trucks. A log truck grosses around 5 thousand board feet. I conjure up the loads in my mind and then tell them my estimate. I've come so close to the actual cruise volume that it scares me!

The log trucks in my brain are all a metallic purple or pink color.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Short distances were measured in paces in the woods and longer distances were measured in chains, can`t remember how long a chain was.
Pioneerguy600

 

[TDunk]

A match book cover was a good gap setting tool for points.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Ok I won`t give this one away for a while. How do you find/tell the height of a tree without climbing and measuring it, accurate to +- 6".
Pioneerguy600

 

[super3]

A match book cover was a good gap setting tool for points.

You beat me to it!

 

[Stein]

Ok I won`t give this one away for a while. How do you find/tell the height of a tree without climbing and measuring it, accurate to +- 6".
Pioneerguy600

Cut down an adjacent one that is the same height and measure THAT one?:greenchainsaw:

 

[GASoline71]

Axe handles... "Her a$$ is 2 axe handles wide!"



We call cases of beer "Racks" 'round these parts... Half case is a "Half Rack". 6-pack is a "Quarter Rack"...

Gary

 

[parrisw]

Axe handles... "Her a$$ is 2 axe handles wide!"

Gary

ha ha LOL, I've heard that before.

 

[Taxmantoo]

Ok I won`t give this one away for a while. How do you find/tell the height of a tree without climbing and measuring it, accurate to +- 6".

Walk away from it on the level until the top of the tree is at a 45 degree angle, then measure the distance to the tree? Works better with conifers, I'd imagine.

 

[slowp]

Ok I won`t give this one away for a while. How do you find/tell the height of a tree without climbing and measuring it, accurate to +- 6".
Pioneerguy600

Simple, you take your loggers tape and measure out till you see the tippy top clearly. Take your clinometer out and using the percentage side, take a reading at the top, take a reading at the bottom, add or subtract the two which I'm not going into here, then multiply by the percentage of 100 feet (75 feet distance from the tree would be 0.75). gotta make slope corrections on steep ground too. Or there's some formula using the sun and a stick...

Or you could cut the tree down then measure it.

A chain is 66 feet.

Axe handles are for beating men who make comments about women's bums being 2 axe handles wide.

 

[GASoline71]

Ok I won`t give this one away for a while. How do you find/tell the height of a tree without climbing and measuring it, accurate to +- 6".
Pioneerguy600

The ol' "Stick Trick"...

Gary