"Charlie Self" wrote in message
I don't know where you got an iron hammer, but use a mallet, instead of
a steel hammer. Now, you can take the handles off, turn new handles,
install them and use a wooden, rawhide (my preference) ...

Your comment brought back memories of when you used to see a lot of rawhide
tools, and rawhide _in_ tools. Rawhide was a staple of the life on the
frontier and one of the handiest things to have around. It was used to write
on, as seats and backs for chairs, as "windows", as shopping bags, as
lariats and whips, as bridles, as glue when ground into a powder ... and,
because of its ability to stretch when wet and seriously contract when dry,
was used universally to fasten things together, much like nails today. The
plains Indians often wrapped prisoners in a fresh buffalo hide and left them
out in the sun for a few days ... constricted their options considerably.
Stranded folks were even know to survive by chewing on it.

I have a collection of J. Frank Dobie works, a Texas historian, folklorist,
and professor of English at the University of Texas in the early 1900's who
wrote extensively about rawhide and its uses in some of his early pieces.
Dobie was raised on a Texas cattle ranch and is well known for having
interviewed old timers about such things.

Fascinating, useful material.

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Last update: 11/06/04