Singing Falls Ox Yokes

This is our intermediate yoke. The team was old and large enough to do serious work when they were ready for this. The beam was 5 1/2 inches thick, 7 1/2 inches deep, 48 inches long and hewn from a piece of strong fine grained Douglas Fir wood. The steel 1 1/2 inch pipe bows were 7 inches wide.

I used 3/4 inch all thread for the staple and inlaid it into the yoke beam. The washer plate is inlaid into the beam also, both on top and bottom. This prevented any twisting of the staple under heavy loads.

Here is the top detail of the staple and washer plate. The plate protects the beam from damage as well as firmly holding the staple and ring in place.

Here is a close up of the keeper pin situated in the bow. The holes in the bow allow for adjusting the bow length and the oxen grow larger. We skid large ancient wood out the forest which was left there by a timber company logging crew. The beams were 10X10 inches 17 feet long.