Well im tired of converting varas to feet everytime I get to a corner that says "to a point from which a L.O. brs S1/2W, 13 1/5 vrs, a d.o. brs N1°E, 3 1/8 vrs" (yes im in Texas) So I am wanting to build a tape or chain that measures in the wonderful yet somewhat mystical Mexican Vara. The material for such a precision instrument is the key. Ideally I would like to have a steel tape graduated in varas and 10ths but alas none are available. I could purchase a blank tape, however I would then need to put a laser engraver back on staff to scribe such a beast. So I was thinking about building one out of some of the newer high-tech low stretch climbing ropes with knots at the Vara marks. Im looking to be within +- 1/2 vara as this is just a general locative tool and I will ultimately locate any found objects with a total station. Does anyone have any suggestions on the materials?
Why not just mark Varas on the back side of one of your fancy modern feet/tenths tapes? Use a paint pen or something.
I have an old K & E add chain that is soldered and stamped. I'm not certain anyone makes those anymore but it might be worth trying to buy a blank one..
Sharpies and other markers just rub off after about 3 weeks
I found someone who makes them, the bad news is its from 1891.
When I have a deed in Varas I plot the deed using varas then scale the drawing to feet, label the lines and print the map and take it to the field.
Try this: http://www.durablesupply.com/saksolpainst.html
It's what junkyards and mechanics use to mark car parts.
If you choose to use rope, Braided Polyester Rope has less stretch than Nylon and better UV protection than Polypropylene. That's the reason it's used on flagpoles.
If it was me doing it, I wouldn't tie knots in it. I would get some smaller orange or pink thread and stitch it into the fibers of the rope. You could come up with some sort of numbering scheme such as 3 stitches is 3 varas or double stitch the 5 and 10 vara marks.
You could also use one color for varas, another for feet, and yet another for meters. Do they make three sided rope? 😉
James
Well, most witness trees were within 12 varas so like a multiplication table, I just memorized them.
1 = 2.78
2 = 5.56
3 = 8.33
4 = 11.11
5 = 13.89
6 = 16.67
7 = 19.44
8 = 22.22
9 = 25.00
10 = 27.78
11 = 30.56
12 = 33.33
It's really handy when you don't have a calculator and you're looking at an old deed. Thence North 450 varas = (11.11*10)+(13.89*10) = 1111.11+138.89 = 1250. It's simple addition and moving decimals around.
A tenth of a vara is 0.28 feet and a fifth of a vara (I have no idea who started that crap) is 0.56 feet. It's easier than dividing angles in your head once you do it.
However, I'm like Scott Ellis and I draw everything in AutoCAD in varas and scale it, then annotate it and voila, I have instant conversions. At least this method works for this East Texas surveyor and I don't have to tote anything else.
Knowledge is power.
You Could Use A 100' Fabric Tape In Inches
Texas defines a Vara as 33 1/3 inches.
3 varas = 100"
36 varas = 1200"/12"/1' = 100'
You could sew a mark at every vara and at the first tenth vara points. Calculations are easy enough to sew on to a decimal foot or metric tape.
Alternatively you could putt the constant 2.77777777' into your data collector and or calculator.
Since I have been taught to never carry n original document ino the field I have no problem converting any non foot distance into feet and writing it on the copy.
The real problem is in how you define the Texas Vara conversion.
Is it in International Inches, US Survey Inches or Texas Survey Iches?
Paul in PA
Texas vara tape
> Well im tired of converting varas to feet everytime I get to a corner that says "to a point from which a L.O. brs S1/2W, 13 1/5 vrs, a d.o. brs N1°E, 3 1/8 vrs" (yes im in Texas) So I am wanting to build a tape or chain that measures in the wonderful yet somewhat mystical Mexican Vara.
Man, I'd think dividing 13.2 vrs by 0.36 on a pocket calculator would beat the heck out of lugging along yet one more tape. You're presumably surveying a tract measured in varas to begin with, and you're applying a correction to the record bearing, right?
The other reason why I'd rely upon a vara conversion is that some Texas surveyors used non-standard varas and you'll need to apply a scale factor just to follow their work with a tape graduated in Texas varas. For example, Jacob Kuechler was a fairly prolific surveyor in Southwest and West Texas and from what I've seen of his work consistently used a 10-vara chain that was really 30-feet long, not 27.78.
There are at least one or two people that will make a custom chain (wire link chain).
Dave Ingram has spoke of them before and my understanding is that it is a part time skill and not a full time business.
Every vara tape I've used was for timber cruising and was 100vr long. We would color code certain marks with enamel paint. Speary would have us pull different distances between tree counts for a different percentage of cruising.
You could use a modern 50ft or 100ft tape and solder beads on the backside and label them as the Babbitt tapes were constructed.
I've seen white painted and yellow painted tapes that you could scribe marks and numbers on the backside.
I've always taken a description and converted everything when I first read it and note the feet values in the margins in the order they appear in the document.
vara divided by 0.36 equals feet
and
feet times 0.36 equals vara
That's the way I roll...........B-)
Texas vara tape
> > For example, Jacob Kuechler was a fairly prolific surveyor in Southwest and West Texas and from what I've seen of his work consistently used a 10-vara chain that was really 30-feet long, not 27.78.
I've found that the Mexican Grants in my home county were MUCH closer to 3'/vara vs. 33 1/3". I also read somewhere that the Vara was standardized in Mexico as 3 geometric feet. That being said, I could see how a 10 vara chain in Mexico COULD measure 30 feet.
Andy
> Speary would have us pull different distances between tree counts for a different percentage of cruising.
>
You don't mean Frank Speary (RPS 777 and LSLS) do you?
Texas vara tape
> I've found that the Mexican Grants in my home county were MUCH closer to 3'/vara vs. 33 1/3". I also read somewhere that the Vara was standardized in Mexico as 3 geometric feet.
I think the definition of the vara in use in Mexico as being three geometrical feet would have been easy for the immigrants from the United States to misinterpret as three English feet. That almost certainly is what (former GLO Commissioner) Jacob Kuechler fell into doing in his work in the 1870's.
Andy
The very same.
I did a 12 month tour with him beginning in June 1973.
He had longhand skills and taught me a lot about hard work and what it took to complete jobs in whatever weather and most any environment in East Texas.
We never took a clear path around and ran on line or as close as we could using compass techniques and random traverse combined and I did a breast stroke pulling Babbitt chains wired together to reach the other side a few times because the water was that deep on the Angelina and the Muddy and a few stock ponds.
His tools were ancient and he had no plan to bring modern equipment or techniques into play.
The best instrument he used was a one minute Berger transit atop a rigid leg tripod that he would read to the nearest 15min. It was finally retro fitted with a Beetle in the late 70s after many sitdowns with his partner Bice.
We set many 1 inch and 2 inch rebar 6ft long everywhere with a 16lb sledge.
[sarcasm]He was a joy[/sarcasm]
:plumbbob:
If you need it, I have a 50 vara tape.
Andy
> The best instrument he used was a one minute Berger transit atop a rigid leg tripod that he would read to the nearest 15min. It was finally retro fitted with a Beetle in the late 70s after many sitdowns with his partner Bice.
>
> We set many 1 inch and 2 inch rebar 6ft long everywhere with a 16lb sledge.
>
> [sarcasm]He was a joy[/sarcasm]
You know, there probably is a great book to be written that details the careers of many of the 20th century Texas surveyors. Irv Webb assembled many of the bio sketches of the 19th-century Texas surveyors published in "One League to Each Wind" and "Three Dollars per Mile", but the story didn't stop there.
Texas vara tape
I can usually drive a pickup or ATV within a couple hundred feet of a suspect corner so the space is not a big deal. I convert every day using the standard v/0.36 but I want a vara tape... well just because I do.
Texas vara tape
> I can usually drive a pickup or ATV within a couple hundred feet of a suspect corner so the space is not a big deal. I convert every day using the standard v/0.36 but I want a vara tape... well just because I do.
Well, keep in mind that if you're dealing with bearing trees 50 or 100 varas distant from the corner, the chaining factor will be significant.
For example, in Jacob Kuechler's work a bearing tree that he reported as 122 vrs distant would actually be closer to 132 varas away.
I find I have the best success finding bearing trees by calculating the stations and offsets from the line to the trees, lathing out those offsets (if nothing jumps right out) and searching along them. Where there are chaining errors on the order of 20 varas or more per mile, the offsets to the line are usually more reliable than the distances from some corner half a mile away.
Andy
I follow his work nearly every day. He was a pistol to be sure. He was a big man and when he would come to the office when I was a kid, he seemed like a giant. He probably wasn't an inch or two taller than I am now. He had a GOD complex at times and I scratch my head on some things he did.
His weapon of choice was a 3/8" rebar 3' long for corners. They hold up well.
