While reading one of Annie Proux's short stories, I found the following passage. I can't say I have heard of such a use of the chain in all my years of surveying and reading.
“…During the next decade Duquet began to acquire tracts of woodland in Maine. Dred-Peacock’s genius in the legal procedure of acquiring remote “townships” was immeasurable, and an old acquaintance from Duquet’s first years in New France, Jacques Forgeron, scouted out the best timberland. Forgeron, a surveyor when he could get work, a voyageur when he could not, had joined forces with Duquet in his earliest days. Together they had entered the fur trade, had paddled, portaged, walked, and sung the rivers of New France. Forgeron was something of a Jonah, who attracted foul weather, but he had a curious regard for the wild forest and often told Duquet that it could be the source of great wealth. This man cherished his measuring chains and could use one as a weapon, swinging it around and around until it gained velocity and the free end leaped forward to maim. And if he had used it in this way in France, the old days counted for very little. Now he was a partner in Duquet et Fils, perhaps even a friend, if a business tie between two friendless men could be so described…”
…’Ho la! Who say you come my land, cut my tree?’ Duquet shouted, forgetting his careful English. He was so furious that his voice strangled in his throat. Forgeron advanced beside him, lightly revolving a section of his 33-foot chain…”
-“Rough Deeds” by Annie Proux. First published in The New Yorker, June 10 and 17, 2013. Copyright 2013 by Dead Line, Ltd.
> …’Ho la! Who say you come my land, cut my tree?’ Duquet shouted, forgetting his careful English. He was so furious that his voice strangled in his throat. Forgeron advanced beside him, lightly revolving a section of his 33-foot chain…”
> -“Rough Deeds” by Annie Proux. First published in The New Yorker, June 10 and 17, 2013. Copyright 2013 by Dead Line, Ltd.
Nothing against Annie Proulx, but somehow I'm just not seeing that passing the ordinary laws of physics. The mass on the end of the chain is the handle, right? But if all you're setting in motion is less than half the chain, when you let it fly, the dead weight of the rest of the chain not in motion would have to spoil the show. Willing to be shown otherwise, though.
I can see it as a swinging weapon, but not in the forests of eastern Canada or Maine. The locales described were usually dense forests with much undergrowth...I would like her email to see if see found such an incident in her research...
I'd have to agree with Kent. This sound like something out of Mortal Kombat...
> Willing to be shown otherwise, though.
We've been looking for banquet entertainment for Rendezvous 2015. I have a nice, heavy 66-footer and I would be willing to swing it if Kent would be willing to be the target.
> We've been looking for banquet entertainment for Rendezvous 2015. I have a nice, heavy 66-footer and I would be willing to swing it if Kent would be willing to be the target.
No, but I'm willing to nominate a stand-in. :>
>?could use one as a weapon, swinging it around and around until it gained velocity and the free end leaped forward to maim
I think I've tried swinging an object on a rope, and found I couldn't start it going all at once.
I think it would be possible if
a) you started swinging a few feet of it and paid out the rest of the chain gradually until you had the whole thing swinging,
b) you had sufficient clear area for this to happen without striking an obstacle,
and c) the target person didn't shoot you or throw a branch to tangle with the chain, or run away before you were ready to let it fly.
That sounds like a Jackie Chan rope trick with a horseshoe tied on the end in Shanghai Noon.
The same trick was appeared usinga dog chain and a mechanical ball complete with saw blades and knives in Kill Bill Part One.
A brass Gunter's chain with solid handle could be quite effective in the hands of a master of rope dart.
😉
>c) the target person didn't shoot you or throw a branch to tangle with the chain, or run away before you were ready to let it fly.
That reminds me of the time the disgruntled adjoiner came at me swinging a 2x4x8 over his head and saying how he was going to kill me. It all looked pretty threatening when he was in his yard but when he got to the dense underbrush (where I was) he repeatedly kept getting it caught in the brush and could not advance. Of course this made him even madder.
I suppose my hysterical laughter didn't help the situation, ha ha
“Facts are the enemy of truth.”
? Cervantes
I think that Kent and I are on the wrong track in our literal analysis. Ms. Proux has given surveyors an opportunity for surveyors to join the ranks of the super heroes, now in such abundance. Jackie Chan, Tarantino and the Chinese cinema point the way to a survey hero with plumb bob, chain, and some kind of tripod instrument...Yep...maybe in the next Avengers or X-Men...
> Ms. Proux has given surveyors an opportunity for surveyors to join the ranks of the super heroes, now in such abundance. Jackie Chan, Tarantino and the Chinese cinema point the way to a survey hero with plumb bob, chain, and some kind of tripod instrument...Yep...maybe in the next Avengers or X-Men...
Let's NOT forget lasers! LASERMAN seems to be a mild, unassuming individual until he sets up his TOTAL station in front of the villain's lair and then the epic battle is on!
> While reading one of Annie Proux's short stories....
Whew. I was afraid this was going in the "lonely surveyors out in the wilderness with no women-folk around" direction. Not that there is anything wrong with it.
I envision a salty old northeast surveyor filling her head with BS based on her question about "throwing chains".
I don’t mean to sidetrack but it is my understanding that primeval or virgin forests did not have much underbrush. It was after cutting or second growth forests grew that dense underbrush developed. Vintage pictures that I have seen have verified the ecosystem’s nature.
I don’t know the time or setting of this story. Around here, original long-leaf pine forests did not have much underbrush. One could see for quite a distance unless when fringed on wetlands, rivers or creeks.
Early settlers had open grazing and naturally caused brush fires also kept underbrush at bay.
I am assuming that these Maine forests were also coniferous and had the same characteristics.
Brings to mind the scene from Raiders of the Lost Arc where Harrison Ford pulls out his pistol and shoots the guy swinging around the sword. Moral of story: don't be swinging a 33' Gunters chain in a gun fight. 😀
"Grunter's Chain Whip" with "dead man" point:
"Chain Whip" with Brass sling handle and custom, razor sharp, "tally" blades:
DDSM:beer:
I was wondering if the author had never seen a surveyor's chain and was envisioning a regular simple chain (tow-chain type links) that manufactured to be 33' long. Maybe there are some 2-pole chains with heavy links that I haven't seen, though.
Naah, Kent....
Hub's still in jail!
-JD-
> > While reading one of Annie Proux's short stories....
>
> Whew. I was afraid this was going in the "lonely surveyors out in the wilderness with no women-folk around" direction. Not that there is anything wrong with it.
Just so you know, Annie wrote Brokeback Mountain, also.
That's where James is going with that one:-P
Don
