What am I used for?

Once the trees were cut, the branches burnt, the pioneers still had to clear the land, if they wanted to have large fields to cultivate potatoes, grain or hay. The work was faster if they used the strength of a horse or an ox to pull stump removers, like this one. With the horse in front, attached to the stump remover, the farmer would guide the operation.

Copper or bronze pot, deep and round that the settlers used to make ash by burning branches and stumps from trees that they cut. The potash was useful in many ways, such as washing, bleaching and dying wool and cotton, making glass and china. The price of potash was high in the 19th century and so the settlers made and sold a lot of it. For some, it was a major source of money.

This adze or little axe was part of the tool boxes of barrel makers and carpenters. They used it to prepare boards. The blade is set across the end of the handle and curves inward.

The large borer called an augur served to cut holes in big boards used in construction of houses and barns. The boards were held together with a wooden peg inserted in the hole made by the auger. It is the ancestor of today’s electric drill.

The mixing or churning of cream from milk made butter. Cream was placed in a barrel of the churn, enclosed so that the cream could not spill out. Before churning the butter, the housekeeper poured off the whey or butter milk and used it in various recipes such as for desserts and meat pies.

This lamp hung from a hook on the wall or ceiling. The wicked soaked up the oil or melted fat, held in a container. Wax was very expensive for the colonials. This basic lamp gave a low level of high but had a high risk of fire.

The plane is a tool used by carpenters to smooth or remove wood, to make molding and grooves. The cutting or chisel edge, bevelled, that is on an angle, works the
wood on a 45 degree angle. The term "trying or jointing plane" describes the largest plane with a handle.

Ploughing tool made up of a bar onto which picks or disks were attached and pulled by horses or oxen to break up clumps of the soil or to cut drill for the seeds.

Candle molds are made with 6 tubes placed between 2 strips of metal. First a wick was strung through the hole in the base of the mold, then melted animal fat or suet was poured into the tubes. The wick was attached to a dowel, placed on top of the mold, held straight and tight until the suet had hardened.

An old beam, 2 simple runners made from scrap metal, were enough to make a toboggan. The longer the beam, the more the children, the sled can accommodate as they slide down the hills at great speed. The rides comes to an end with reams of laughter from the excited passengers.

Caliper - a compass made of iron with 2 sets of movable arms used to measure the exterior of a diameter or the interior diameter of a tube or cylinder. The name comes from the fact that the silhouette resembles a dancer, possibly on pointed toes. The upper arms look like the dancer with her arms stretched high over her head and the lower arms look like her legs.