Ox Head and Other Tools
All professional folk have their favorite tools. 40 years ago I was besotted with my Ox Head. Nowadays the tools of choice seems to be GPS units, IPhones and Blackberry PDAs, and blueberry-flashing ear pieces. I rather like my ancient cell phone, with its odd-looking Nokia LPS-4 induction loop necklace, essential for me to hear what you talking to me about. The cell is pain to text message with because I have to hit each key up to 7 times to get the character I want. Yes, I am a dinosaur…But I also have saurian fondness for my ancient professional tools: Brunton compass, stereoscope, rock pick, camera, field notebook, beloved yellow Mars Micro 0.7 mm mechanical pencil and my Ox Head axe.
I have very few souvenirs from my prospecting life, but I still have my Ox Head axe, with its 2.5 pound head on a 27 inch hickory handle, and leather belt sheath. The axe was vital to me while claim staking and line cutting. I used it for cutting blazes on trees (slivers of bark removed to show the white tree flesh) as trail markers or to mark claim boundary lines through the bush. I used the axe at claim corners to trim a tree stump into a four sided post and then hammered brass claim tags into the wood using the butt of the axehead. The axe provided some support when sliding down slopes. I loved the evening ritual of filing the axe blade to paper-cutting sharpness. I once was really stupid with the axe and cut a long gash in my leg, but sahrp axe cut a wound so cleanly that it to healed to a long but not ugly scar. That accident felt at the time like nature’s payback to me for needlessly hacking down a mature cedar tree one afternoon for the heck of it.
My Brunton compass is one of several I have owned. All field geologists either own, or want to own, a Brunton compass, an essential instrument with a long history. The Brunton used to be called a pocket transit; indeed, I used to own a tripod that the allowed the compass to be used for simple surveying. Older brass models are worth a small fortune, more than $150 on eBay. New ones, of hard plastic, are worth a large fortune at between $250-$500. Engineers rarely know how to use a Brunton, despite it being called a pocket transit. Regrettably: graduating engineers nowadays rarely know how to survey at all…
I own many stereoscopes, which are mainly used by geologists to view stereo photographs in 3D. The techniques of looking at 3D photos is well over 150 years old and used to be grand entertainment in the days before movies. I am fond of 3D photography, and generally take two images in the field when most people take one. My experience with aerial and stereo photos spans 40 years. It is a mission of mine to encourage professionals to take ground-based stereo photos. Msot engineers and geologits immediately assume that I am talking about aerial photos when I say “stereo photos. Few listen to my evangelical messages about ground-base stereo photos ; but if you are interested, then look here.
As a geological engineer, I am surrounded by geotechnical engineers, who have a focus on the engineering behavior of soil. I am partially distinguished from the dirt guys because I know that there is more to the earth than soil: rock is very important too. I have worked in one way or another with rock for about 40 years. During that time I have owned and lost many rock picks, or geological hammers. They are too expensive to lose so I generally I also have masons hammers on hand too. They are tool sort of tool that is confiscated (read “lost”) at the airport security check-ins, which is a major pain. I sometimes wish they would confiscate cell phones: ever wonder what is is about departure gate lounges that encourages some people to talk loudly into their phones??
And, to record my observations I use a notebook. I invariably write in pencil, I cannot imagine writing in ink. I have a favorite style of mechanical pencil: yellow Mars Micro 0.7 mm. I too often leave the pencils on outcrops because I use them for scale. They are not made any more: I do not look forward to the day when my once-grand stock of Mars Micro pencils is depleted. My notes are written in yellow or orange field notebooks. The yellow ones are traditional surveyor notebooks and tend to be expensive. I buy orange forestry notebooks from Ben Meadows. I try not to lose my notebooks: they are an integral part of my professional life. I lost one in September 2008 in a swamp on Kauai. I was really pissed because the whole afternoon’s work was lost and had to be recalled from memory (thank heavens for GPS trackbacks!!). And, the book was almost full with over a year’s observations. I suppose the modern professional feels the same way when they lose their Blackberry.. (I remember being briefly upset and then grateful. I have not owned one since…) Few young engineers use field notebooks anymore and one of my first duties when spending time in the field with a junior geotechnical engineer sis to give them a field notebook and try to show them what to take notes on, how to take notes and, most frustratingly of all: how to sketch…
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