[TheForge] [OT] Re: Rocks (Was: Steel...flint sources?)

[Ben Barrett]

I thought sheep, like other ruminants (or even, even-toed ungulates),
had only upper teeth in front.... Bovids, more particularly... but I
couldn't find
confirmation of this on wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae

This is a very important detail, in that sheep & goats (among others) are
not likely to be able to bite off your finger -- and also, if you happened to
be forging a sculpture of a bovid's mouth you don't need to forge so many
teeth :)

ben


On 4/19/07, Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer <artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
> And here i thought they were confused about how to raise elephants.
> In maturity, such sheep only have one opposed pair of teeth in
> front and can only consume a single blade of grass at a time.
> Copralites preserved in the permafrost are often over a meter long.
> Getting ready to the CBA spring conference in the rainy north.
> Been making a couple of buckles out of the Wagner pure iron
> sample...Sure amenable stuff to work with....pete f
>
> Mike Spencer wrote:
> >> Rocks from other regions are or will shortly become
> >> available and some are almost as nice as Genuine
> >> Alaskan Rocks(r)
> >
> > Rocks be a major natural resource product in Nova Scotia.  Retail
> > marketing of rocks is a recent development here.  Hitherto, rock sales
> > were bulk or wholesale and it was called "real estate".  One kind of
> > rock that *was* sold retail was the sort of fine, uniform sandstone
> > from Joggins used to make them big, old-fashioned grindstones.  This
> > was a very important element of agriculture as framers used them to
> > grind their sheep's noses to a point so that, when put out to pasture,
> > they could get at the grass between the stones.
> >
> > But I don't think we have any flint.  Rumor has it that the Devil
> > swept through Nova Scotia and collected up what little flint there was
> > and used it to make hearts for certain prominent 19th century families
> > in New Brunswick and Newfoundland.  Can't even get them by grave
> > robbery 'cause they pass them on from generation to generation.
> >
> >> When you get tired of one rock just mail it back and I'll send you
> >> another of your choice.
> >
> > What's this about mail, Frosty?  I already sent you the suitcase
> > handle.  Just lash it to a rock and get on the next eastbound
> > Greyhound.  Or do I need to send you the twine, too?
> >
> >
> > - Mike
> > (Somewhere east of Alaska)
> >
>