Another Fairfield Ridge Story

[Henry]

Was watching it rain this morning and it brought back memories of my childhood on Fairfield Ridge.  Although this was much too early for my Dad to start haying, as he always watched the hay grow and would not cut it until it was in the first blow.  I guess you would call that headed out and in the head in bloom.  On a rainy day like this he would bring out the Old Hand Crank grinding wheel.  It was a solid stone wheel set in a frame with a crank that had to be turned by someone and that someone would usually be me.  The wheel was probably two feet in diameter and about 4 to 6 inches thick.  In order to do its job, it had to be wet and Dad had cut an old rubber tire in half and had it under the stone so that the stone set in the water and as I turned the crank, the stone would be wet and Dad would stand there and sharpen his Scythes and the mower sections that went to our old horse drawn mower.

We always moved the grinding wheel near the open barn door where we would be inside, but could see it raining outside.  Actually it was an ideal time for Father & Son to communicate, even though as I remember most of the stories I had heard before.  I have tried to find one of these old grinding wheels on the Internet so I could actually show you a picture of what it looked like, but was unable to find one.

Life was truly simple in those days.  We did not have television and our radio, after we got electricity was never on that much, so for the most part we just visited.  I wonder today how many families just sit and visit without the television on or music playing in the background.  I do wish I had written down a lot of the stories I heard over and over, as today they have just become faint memories of the past.

I am sure some of our old farms here in the area still have one of those old hand crank grindstones laying around, probably even one with an old rubber tire watering tank under it.

I never did turn that old grindstone crank after we moved to Fairfax as I don't think Dad had one, but since he worked with Ralph Ellsworth quite a bit, I am sure probably Ralph had one and they swapped many a story while sharpening the scythes and sections for the hay mower.

[Henry]

Below is as close as I could come to the type of grind stone I was talking about.  The 1/2 rubber tire was attached on the bottom where water could be added to keep the stone wet as you turned it:

[Henry]

I never knew the real reason for needing the water on the grinding stone, just that it had to be wet.  Got the following note from JoAnne that explains it:

Henry,
I remember my father using the whetstone wheel to sharpen blades. He said the water in the bottom was to keep the stone cool, from the friction between the stone and the metal blade.

JoAnne