Making single forehead yokes

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  • December 4, 2012 at 1:38 am #44280
    bendube
    Participant

    I’m interested in trying out a single forehead yoke. I’ve seen quite a few pictures, and I think I have the general idea, but before I start, I thought I’d check if anyone has experience that they could share. I’ve (google) translated some of the german on the websites, but its not really a huge help. I’m trying the same with modern harness, as well.

    I’m probably going to start with a “Oberpfälzer Stirnjoch” just because it seems simplest, though other designs have much more aesthetic appeal. Is it necessary to use leather for the padding, rather than just cloth? How much advantage do the metal designs have? Is the “Thüringisches Stirnjoch” bent using steam, like a bow?

    Thanks,

    To those who aren’t familiar, I’m talking about these: http://www.zugrinder.de/de/stirnjoch.html

    December 4, 2012 at 1:59 am #76116
    Tim Harrigan
    Participant

    Ben, looks like you better plan a trip to Germany for the February 23-24 gathering.

    December 4, 2012 at 5:57 am #76115
    henkdemink
    Participant

    in the book an introduction to animal husbandry in the tropics of G. Williamson & W.J.A. Payne , second edition, is a chapter on a single headyoke at page 454.
    New book is over 200 dollars. So there should be another way to get a copy of the two pages.

    Henk.

    December 4, 2012 at 9:55 am #76117
    Droverone
    Participant

    I have a “Mittelfränkisches Stirnjoch”

    I could measure it and it is at least in country, although I am not in VT, if that would help any.

    December 4, 2012 at 1:12 pm #76120
    bendube
    Participant

    Hi Henk,
    Thanks for the tip. I just ordered a used version of that book for $9.15 including shipping. I figure its worth the try. If that doesn’t work, I’ll see if my library can get it on loan from another college- one of the nice perks of working for a college.

    December 4, 2012 at 8:34 pm #76113
    CharlyBonifaz
    Member

    looks like you better plan a trip to Germany for the February 23-24 gathering.

    I would even host you if you could make it 🙂
    and you would hava a chance to look at every single one of them as they are from up close

    “Oberpfälzer Stirnjoch”
    these would obviously be the easiest to make; there are 2 varieties:
    on the ones with the round “sticks” the board needs to be chamfered (?) so the sticks tend to point outwards a bit
    on the ones with the square “sticks” the stick’s head is bevelled for the same reason; the stick here needs a square hole in the board as not to be able to turn in place
    padding them should not be a problem, leather straps to keep them in place not either; padding was usually done with horse hair or eelgrass, everything else would not stand the sweat and pressure for very long; same reason for using cloth instead of leather
    as you can also see: the ends were wrapped with iron bands, that is where the strain breaks them

    “Thüringisches Stirnjoch”
    yes, they are bent and surprisingly light; their pad is a smaller, more elegant, also providing less contact when in use.
    the leather straps holding them were usually crossed to prevent sideway sliding; wood used was oak, beech, ash

    if I had any knowledge of working iron, I would probably go for one of these:
    “eiserne rheinisch-pfälzische Stirnjoche” or “Eifeler Stirnjoch”
    one could bend the iron as needed, that would most likely keep forever; iron should not stick out too far sideways, otherwise it would function as lever 🙁 and get stuck in tight places; then add the pad as pleased and a couple of straps to hold the front yoke on the horns; padding can be replaced in an instant, same goes for the straps and it is unbreakable

    a good idea for all of these is to think of flies in the summertime: while pulling in a front head yoke the animals cannot combat flies so it might be a good idea to add a net or better leather-strings to keep the insects at bay

    December 4, 2012 at 11:46 pm #76119
    Oxhill
    Participant

    Ben

    Keep us posted how this works out. We have a “Thüringisches Stirnjoch” that I would like to reproduce. As Chris offered I can share any measurements you might be interested in. It is very light and simple and would work very well for cows doing normal work. I think something more robust might be needed to harness the full effort of a big steer.

    Elke

    I see some have a couple of positions to move the straps so as to make them narrower. Do they typically come in various sizes? Is size of great importance?

    December 5, 2012 at 12:03 pm #76118
    Droverone
    Participant

    I measured mine and it’s 9.5 inches on the pad an 11 inches between the irons

    December 5, 2012 at 7:00 pm #76114
    CharlyBonifaz
    Member

    @Oxhill 37987 wrote:

    Do they typically come in various sizes?

    they do come in various sizes, as breeds and animals used were of different size (f.e. oxen versus cows)
    during the war they were even standardized (Stirnjoch D.R.G.M.) and offered 5 different sizes
    @Oxhill 37987 wrote:

    Is size of great importance?

    too small means a lot of pressure on the temple, were you don’t want it plus the draft-chains would rub along the body
    too big would make their fit “sloshy”, which would most likely result in sores

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