The Scotsman 25th November 2004

Hammer blow of threat of going metric for Highland Games

FRANK URQUHART


THROWING the hammer, hurling a huge weight over a bar and lobbing a cast-iron ball as far as humanly possible - all in old-fashioned Imperial weights - have been a traditional part of the heavy events at Scotland’s Highland Games since time immemorial.

The tests of strength came to the games arena from Scotland’s agricultural communities, where farmhands would compete in friendly trials, with the weights they used to measure grain.

While track events were forced to go metric decades ago in line with the rest of the athletics world, the 60 Highland Games societies linked to the Scottish Games Association have defiantly clung on to the variety of 16lb, 22lb, 28lb and 56lb weights for all the heavy events.

That long-standing tradition is now under threat, however, because of a growing problem in sourcing Imperial weight hammers.

The organisers of the Dufftown Highland Games in Moray yesterday launched a public appeal, asking local farmers to scour their outbuildings for 16lb and 22lb cast-iron hammer heads, as stocks are running low.

Jim Murray, a retired teacher who has been organising the Dufftown games for 33 years, said they were needed as a back-up for next year’s event, planned for 13 July. He said: "We have only one each of the 16lb and 22lb hammers. They have stopped making them that weight since Britain went metric and supplies have dried up.

"Our aim is to have a couple of spares on hand because, if the ground is hard and the hammer is thrown the wrong way, it can easily snap the shaft. It takes a bit of time to whittle a replacement shaft and it holds the games up."

Stevie Ryder, president of the Scottish Games Association, said: "We have changed our track measurements to metric but we have simply never thought of changing the weights.

"We want to keep the tradition and the heritage going if we possibly can. The events started on the farms ... and we have just never changed.

"I don’t think we will be forced to go metric in the foreseeable future, but it may come about sooner or later. When the first games can’t source any replacements, they will have to go metric and that will start the ball rolling."



I'm not posting this to "gloat". I agree that in this particular instance there is no need to change the size of the hammers used - (they could call them 7.25kg & 10kg hammers instead......)

Would disagree with the writers assertion that track events were "forced" to change. It must have been voluntary as some still run yards....

Ms. Bee Ranger,

Regarding your statement of November 26th @ 7:54 p.m.

''On November 24th retired teacher Ms. Jim Murray of the Town of Duff Highland Games, Highland, Scotland, launched a public appeal for 16 av.lb. & 22 av.lb. sledge hammers, saying they were needed for the games starting on July 13th 2005, as backup sledge hammers in case of any sledge hammer handle breakages. She claims that 16 av.lb. & 22 av.lb. sledge hammers are no longer made since the United Kingdom of Ulster & Grand Breton went napoleonic and adopted His Imperial & Royal Majesty's Napoleon Emperor's Republic of Europe & King's Republic of Italy Decadent Weights & Measures Scam.''

Bee, please give your considered opinion as to who is more stupid:

Ms. Murray
Ms. Ranger

I've just been up to the town hardware store, and all they have in stock is 16 av.lb. sledge hammers. In fact 8 av.lb. & 16 av.lb. sledge hammers are the only sledgehammers I've ever. Furthermore my unskilled opinion is that 98.23456789% of all sledgehammers manufactured in the world today are 16 av.lb. sledge hammers.

I asked the spotty kid store clerk if he had any other sledge hammers, and he said he could get the following sledgehammers for me in the next couple of days:

1 av.lb.
2 av.lb.
3 av.lb.
4 av.lb.
5 av.lb.
6 av.lb.
7 av.lb
8 av.lb.
10 av.lb.
12 av.lb.
14 av.lb.
and he already has the 16 av.lb. in stock

The kid said he didn't know if he could get any other weights as he only had the one catalog for sledge hammers.

I'm always seeing instructions to tighten up nuts with an air tool or 16 av.lb. to 24 av.lb. sledge hammer, so I assume 20 av.lb. & 24 av.lb. sledge hammers are made, if not 18 av.lb. & 22 av.lb. sledge hammers.

And even if the entire world stopped making all sledgehammers, so what? Just get the town blacksmith to cast you one in any weight you want. There must be a simpler tool made in the world, but I can't think of it at the moment. What's the matter with Scotland, can't they do anything over there? The whole place sounds like it's infested by a bunch of helpless socialist-collaborator idiots.

NEWSFLASH!
Nationalist Socialist People's Laborist Papist Scotland today, Friday, November 26th 2004, disbanded today the most famous regiment on Planet Earth, the Black Watch. Today, Friday, November 26th 2004, the Black Watch is in the middle of the Battle of North Babel. Scientific planning was invented in Scotland in 1702, says the Encyclopedia Britanica. But the public must not panic, the Encyclopedia Britanica is being rewritten. The regiments of the Black Watch regiment have done most of the fighting of the United Kingdom Land Forces in Iraq, as usual. During World War I, the Black Watch regiment became the largest regiment in the world with 54 regiments of the Black Watch regiment in the United Kingdom Land Forces. There were even more regiments of the Black Watch regiment in the Dominion of Canada Land Forces. Today, Friday, November 26th 2005, Nationalist Socialist People's Laborist Papist Scotland announces the creation and transfer of the United Kingdom Minus Ulster Battlegroup to the European Economic Community Army. The United Kingdom Regime announces to the common ordinary public today, Friday, November 26th 2005, that the disbandment of the Black Watch in the midst of a deadly battle, and the cobbling up of a ''battlegroup'' (whatever invention that's supposed to be) and it's transfer to a foreign potentate, all on the same day, is simply a coincidence and of no consequence to the common ordinary public.

A nationalist socialist state is a nanny state, and you always thought that a nanny wasn't supposed to kill you. Think again, if you've got any time left to think. A nanny is capable of love; a nationalist socialist isn't.

Info @

http://www.weights-and-measures.com

And topics:

old Avoirdupois Weight
New Avoirdupois Weight

Thank you Xcole.

I'll keep your advice in mind should I ever organise a Highland Games.

If all we ever did was cling to the traditions of our forebears we'd never change.

Today we would be living in caves.

The technology that makes this forum possible would not have come to pass!

Yeah and who has "roast dinners" (for example) these days anyway? We should scrap clinging to the otdated past and eat our vitamin paste.

BTW Berenger - why not make the weights in the equivalent metric and continue to refer to them in British measures?

Steve

Was on a wind-up (see the brackets).... I have no problem with 16/22lb. It's not "use for trade"

Why 16 & 22 as traditional hammer sizes anyway? Any ideas....

You're asking me to pass comment on your weirdo games! LOL!

You'll be tossing your caber next (fnar fnar).

Do you still have dwarf tossing competitions up there (or have I got the wrong country altogether now?)

P.S. What does (pronounced:) "poke mahonn" mean? Is it a 90's scottish console game?

I don't know why we use odd sized 16 & 22 lb hammers - that's why I asked. Were they standard sledgehammer sizes?

I'm certainally not going to claim that "it was really a 10kg hammer, we only called it 22lb" as these hammer weights date from the time when the UK did manufacture in imperial.

With regard to "pogue mahone" (think first word is spelt correctly, not sure about the second), that's Irish Gaelic. No Scot would say something like that!

BWMA, can Steve be reprimanded for his dreadful abusive language????
:-) :-) :-)

<<I'm certainally not going to claim that "it was really a 10kg hammer, we only called it 22lb" as these hammer weights date from the time when the UK did manufacture in imperial.>>

Why, Berenger, you're not referring to one half of the "terrible twins" ** there are you? You'll be claiming that 12" records aren't 12" next!!!! :-D

<<BWMA, can Steve be reprimanded for his dreadful abusive language????>>

Ah you see, no-one actually knows what it means (apart from you, by the sounds of it!)

I don't know what it means but I fear it is quite rude.

There was a Celtic shop in dublin which had Bart Simpson pulling a moony on the front with those words underneath - so it can't be THAT bad.

BTW - A scottish ex-colleague once said it was a saying that came from his neck of the woods. Guess that makes him a Celtic supporter then!!





** -now renamed "the ignored and irrelevent terrible cut and paste twins" (or TIAITCAPT)

P.S. When you say "hammer" do you mean "mallet"?

;-)

SteveH: "Yeah and who has "roast dinners" (for example) these days anyway? We should scrap clinging to the otdated past and eat our vitamin paste."

Roast dinners have evolved with time. One person's idea of a roast dinner are not the same as another. Few people would today give up the pleasure of a nicely prepared meal for living off paste and pills. Such a vision of the future is dumb. The idea that this need can only be met by so called tradition is equally dumb.

"Steve said

"Why, Berenger, you're not referring to one half of the "terrible twins" ** there are you? You'll be claiming that 12" records aren't 12" next!!!! :-D"

Who! Me!!!!

Pogue mahone!!!!

"I don't know what it means but I fear it is quite rude."

Yeah, I'm sure you have no idea :-p

Might the word "kiss" be involved?

"Might the word "kiss" be involved?"

Right - I'm with you now - I actually thought it was worse than that.

==========

Stan - You apear to have missed my point. Roast dinners still "work" for most of us.

Perhaps a better example would by 12" vinyl records versus mp3 files.

Sure, the second is more modern and very efficient - it even costs less. But the quality of reproduction is abysmal and, lets face it, what's more enjoyable:

[windows button] +E
locate folder
locate file
double click
sit back in office chair

or

locate sleeve
admire 12X12in colour photo on sleeve
carefully remove inner sleeve and the black disk inside
place on spinning patter and introduce tone-arm and cartridge
sit back in sofa, close eyes, and feel the hair on the back of your neck stick up.


BTW- How the hell have roast dinners evolve? Darker gravy?