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Mystery tool
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By Photos by Simon Cheung
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PREVIOUS MYSTERY TOOL
Tough to pin down: Without this clip, oxen wouldn't have a lot of pull
By George Gouldburn; Photography by Roger Yip
This Mystery Tool seriously stumped readers. It seems they didn't get the yoke. So, no one was able to identify this rather burdensome beast.
The tool is an oxen-yoke lock pin, or oxbow pin, and it would have been a tool familiar to farmers who worked the land in the days before the tractor. To harness a pair of oxen to a plow or a wagon, a farmer needed to employ a neck or head yoke. The pin was most commonly used with the former style.
The yoke went across the shoulders of the oxen and then each animal was fitted with an oxbow. The oxbows were made of hardwood and steamed into a U shape to fit under the necks of the animals. The two arms of the bows would go through the yoke. The top of one side of an oxbow (usually, the inside arm) was drilled to receive a locking pin, which would hold the oxbow snug to the underside of the animal's neck and keep the yoke secure to its shoulders.
The oxbow pin was originally a hardwood pin carved by the ox drover. As time progressed, this pin developed into a metal pin and then a locking pin, such as this month's tool.
Although the primacy of draft animals on the farm has long passed, the practice of training and using oxen is still around today. Organizations such as the Prairie Ox Drovers, based in Alberta, and the Midsouth Ox Drovers Association in Arkansas keep up the tradition of using oxen, as well as the use of the customary tools.
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